I’ve had a good 24 hours.
I was stressing for a few days as I’d lost all power on the Harley. It had most of the electrics working before I stripped it. When I was putting it back together I had a bit of a mix up with the battery cables. The one that comes from the left of the battery actually fits to the right of it. And they are both black cables with nothing to distinguish positive from negative. I had a moment and fitted the cables the wrong way around then had nothing when I tried hotwiring the ignition again. I was stressed out thinking I’d blown all the fuses. I did some research, it doesn’t have fuses, it has breaker relays. I’ve no idea about that, I’ve never come across them before. I reread my electrics for idiots book and was going to try and track down how far the power went. I fitted a new ignition last night and in doing so noticed a third wire. It’s been apart for weeks, I’d forgotten.
I HAVE ELECTRICS!
That’s a huge win. I’ve just sold a bike because I couldn’t repair an electrical fault.
The barrels are supposed to be getting done this week, so next week I should have it all rebuilt. Then, hopefully, it’s just finish off the electrics. If I can get it running it is going to be so weird to have it actually on the road.
The other thing is: running. Finally! It’s getting very close to the Frankfurt marathon and I’m still not committed to a training plan. I do the odd few 8 miles runs. I’ve done no consistent training for 3 months and no long runs for 2. I declared I was going to do a 20 mile run today. I was thinking I might fail, or if I finished it I would suffer so much, and be in such a state, that it would give me motivation (/fear) to train again. It was a gamble, because going from occasional 8 straight to 20 is asking for injury.
Anyway, I set out today. I kept it at an easy pace, 8.10s to 8.50s, I was just after a finish. I’d said I’d try and keep it 8.30 to 9.00. I did a there-and-back, at the turn around I was feeling good. I kept expecting it to hit me and stop me, but at 15 miles I had enough in reserve that I was able to run a bunch in the 7.30s and kept all the last 5 at sub 8 to claw it back to a sub 8.15 (8.13) average. Slightly amazed at that. An 8m/m marathon is slightly under 3.30. That wouldn’t be too shameful given the lack of training.
The other good thing, is I seem to be through the rough patch at work. I have a system in place now for *everything* so I shouldn’t get any more issues. And it’s still mad busy. I’ve been doing 5 days one week, 6 days the next, for the last 3 months. After I blew loads on the Harley, all the bits for it, then another VFR, I felt I had to get us some money in the bank again. I might do one more 6 day week, to pay for the work on the barrels, then I’m going back to 5 days. Actually, I might do 5 days and book a day’s holiday. We’ve got enough now.
Nice to be able to do a positive blog.
Laters,
Buck.