← All eventsCannock Chase Gravel X
Rolling heath-and-forest Glorious Gravel sportive on Cannock Chase near Rugeley — 44km or 74km, feed stations, medal, no cut-offs. Date approximate.
A fully-signed early-season gravel sportive on Cannock Chase, with no cut-offs, feed stations, a medal and a beer at the finish. E-bikes welcome, first-timers too.
Pick your day: an accessible 44km half-day, or the full 74km rolling loop through heath and forest near Rugeley, roughly late March.
It's not mountainous and it's not a race. It's repeated short climbs over mixed gravel that quietly add up. Durability and fuelling decide your finish, not peak power.
Is Cannock Chase Gravel X for you?
- Riders wanting a first proper gravel event. No cut-offs and a 44km option make a signed, semi-supported day a realistic goal rather than a gamble.
- Steady tempo riders who meter the effort. The Chase stacks short rollers, so it rewards riders who ration rather than surge over every rise.
- Anyone comfortable on mixed surfaces. Soft heath and greasy-after-rain forest reward confident line choice and carrying momentum.
- Riders building through late winter. A March date means the long rides land in the cold, so it suits those willing to protect duration indoors.
Training plan for Cannock Chase Gravel X
A training plan for Cannock Chase Gravel X isn't a generic base build. Beina reads the event's exact demands, looks at your specific profile and the time you actually have, and maps a highly adapted plan to the start line.
- Rolling relentlessness: repeated short heath and forest climbs, not big cols, so it is durability over the rollers that counts
- Mixed surface: forest gravel plus soft, open heath tracks where tyre choice and handling pay off
- Exposure: open heath catches the wind, with the forest sheltering you in between
- On the 74km, 3.5 to 5.5+ hours of early-spring riding where fuelling discipline decides a strong finish
- Progressive Long Ride: build from 2hr toward 4.5hr on rolling gravel, mostly Z2, the core adaptation
- Sweet Spot Gravel: 2 to 3 x 15 to 20min at 88 to 93% FTP on gravel climbs for rolling-climb durability
- Event-Pace Long: 3.5 to 4.5hr at target intensity with full fuelling rehearsal, 60 to 90g carbs per hour
- Winter Turbo Endurance plus soft and greasy handling practice, protecting duration when the tracks are unrideable
- Built from your current fitness and the time you actually have
- Adapts every week as Beina learns how you respond
- Syncs your sessions straight to Garmin and Wahoo
- One clear next session, never a wall of spreadsheet
