#Rollerski - Parrswood to Pyramid

This route takes you from near to Parrs Wood to near the Pyramid in Stockport (M60 J1).

Length: 3.5 km (one way)

Surface: Tarmac throughout, some sections smoother than others.

Elevation change: Less than 10m

Parking: Parrswood cinema complex has parking. There is not much parking near to the Pyramid.

Services: There is a pub (The Gateway) and several chain restaurants at Parrswood. There are no easily accesible services at the Pyramid

Public Transport : You can use the tram to East Didsbury, and access the path either from B5095 Manchester Road (#1 on the map - https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4057153,-2.2186392,3a,75y,57.14h,97.53t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sT8VW-n1Cey7s5VmQXVVz5w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) or  by taking the tunnel under Didsbury Road towards Stockport, at the trail junction take the right hand turn to cross through Green Pastures estate (finish flag on the map) and down a wooded path taking you alongside the school playing fields. Buses 142, 42 and 50 also go from city center to Parrs Wood.

Route Description

In general, the route is tarmac path, minimum 1.5 meters wide. It is quite heavily used by dog walkers, cyclists, runners (it's part of the Burnage park run route on Saturday mornings), so to get any good flow going you should aim early in the day. Some sections of the path are lit, but there is a large section without any lights.

It's a pleasant, mostly riverside trail.

Points 1 -> 2

The first part of trail has very smooth tarmac but it also has the most overhanging trees, so there can be a lot of leaves and twigs. There is a bike gate half way along this section, but this is passable without clipping out. After the bike gate the tarmac changes texture, but is still pleasant to rollerski on and your pole tips do grip.

Points 2 -> 3

On the way to point 2 there is a  bend and an uphill section. Be cautious of this in both directions - on the way up someone may not see you and hurtle down hill at you.. going the other way you might be doing the hurtling! If you're uncertain, clip out, it's better than ending up in the river as the fence doesn't look too strong.

A more steady downhill leads you to a road section that is the access road for Vale Farm. There is generally very little car traffic on this part of the road so you do not necessarily need to clip out. The section alongside Vale Farm's horse fields is not lit, you don't get street lights back until the river crossing to Edgeley. At the trail split, continue straight under the M60. The path gently heads upwards.

Points 3 -> 4

Just before the junction for Kings Reach industrial estate there is a section of pavement that has been damaged by tree roots. Some parts of these could be large enough to 'beach' a rollerski.

Continue along the path, past the new office buildings. The final tricky bit of trail is just before the end, where it dips down , turns to the left and then climbs to the information board. It can be hazardous as people are travelling quickly in both directions and the corner can hide this.

Nordic Track - Getting your workouts into Strava (or other workout platform)

I've loved my Nordic Track machine - it has been a godsend when the weather turns murky and I have been using it really regularly.

However the built in computer on my machine has been cranky for a while, and it doesn't always work. I have been using a Wahoo Tickr heart rate strap while working out, so I have some data that I can push into Strava using Wahoo Fitness, but this does not give any virtual distance information. Also - Strava doesn't show your heart rate stats in the Android app unless you have some other stat uploaded (such as heart rate)

What I did was buy a cheap bluetooth/ANT+ cycle speed and cadence sensor from Amazon. There are a lot of types of these but the one I chose claimed to be compatible with Wahoo Fitness. It has 2 x magnets that you attach to the 'moving' parts and a sensor with 2 'receivers' separated by a small amount of cable.  The large part is the cadence sensor and would be designed to be near a cycle crank, and the smaller bar sensor is the speed sensor.

Attempt #1

I attached the magnets as follows
 - the flat magnet, designed for cadence I attached to the side of the foot loop.

- I attached the 'spoke' round magnet to the the fly wheel.

These were attached loosely at first - you will need to wiggle things around to make sure that as the flywheel spins/ski moves forwards and backwards that the magnets are close enough to cause a reading, without hitting the sensor. 

Then I used the provided zip ties to position the cadence sensor part on the spar in front of the flywheel, and the speed sensor near to the flywheel, level with the spoke magnet.

Use Wahoo Fitness and add the sensor.

Measure the circumference of the flywheel and change the wheel size in wahoo fitness to this value.

Start a workout in Wahoo Fitness. Now manually turn the flywheel and adjust the magnet position until you get a speed recorded. Repeat the adjustment process for the magnet on the foot binding to get a cadence reading. This is best done with your foot inside the binding wearing your normal workout shoes, as this will make the loop change position/shape.



This arrangement worked for me for several workouts.... right up until my husband used it, and his larger feet/different gait, caused the zip ties that wrapped around the track to be severed by the ski.

Attempt #2 (still working 3 months later)

So I had to rethink where the sensor were placed I noticed that on one side of the flywheel axle there was a box section and just enough space to fit the speed sensor. Some swearing later and I managed to get it attached.  But the magnet designed to go on the spokes was too big to rotate past.

A magnet is a magnet right? The one designed for the cadence sensor was more compact and some testing showed that it working.

The larger spoke magnet was attached to the left foot binding.

This new arrangement has the advantage of the battery hatch being more accessible too!

This is what my workouts look like in Strava