Things were all going badly. I’d totally lost interest in my motorbikes and I couldn’t sell them. Work looked like they were messing me about on purpose so I was looking for another job. And my achilles was limiting me, and I was quitting in advance, not even attempting the Blackpool marathon.
The agency have been creeping my start times earlier and earlier. Last week they gave me an 05.20 start. I decided to draw the line before they had me on 02.00 starts. I declined the shift. This week they only gave me two shifts, both of them 05.00 – 06.00. I was sure it was on purpose. Either do it, or get no work. I declined them. I thought they wouldn’t give me any work for the whole week. I was looking at other jobs, which made me sad because this is the best one. You know your shifts a week in advance and get a finish time. The money is good and I get a lot of downtime, which is also nice, but mainly knowing your home time. Anyway, they gave in first and gave me three shifts, two 09.00 starts and a sucky one that starts at 13.10, but I’ll let that slide. I don’t need to get another job! A different, full time, driving job would suck in many ways. Virtually every other driving job wants 12 hours out of you each day, and you just never know when you are going home. My training would go out the window. So, happy to be staying here.
I was looking at maybe doing an brand name Ironman next year after LEJOG, when I should have legs of steel. Quick glance said it’s £700! Bloody hell! I was rabbit-holing then, so I looked for cheap ones. There’s one at the end of August for £250. I mentioned it to Wendy, and she casually remarked that I’m not doing marathons at the moment. For some reason that was all it took. I had planned on skipping Blackpool marathon on Sunday, and I was worried as my BPD is getting less with age, so is my willingness to suffer and persevere. When she said that my brain switched on again. I’m doing it. It’s going to hurt and it’s not going to be a great time, but I’m not quitting before I start.
The other thing is my bikes. I had a bike mechanic come around the other day to look at the CB550/Four. He didn’t make me an offer but he got chatting about possible faults, and mentioned the valves. I did a pressure test and it is low, but within the operating range. As soon as I started messing I got back into it. Today I did the compression tests again, then with 2 big squirts of oil in each cylinder. The compression was a bit higher, so the rings are worn, but presumable the big loss is from the valves. Apparently it’s common in bikes that have been stood. If you shock the valves (smack them with a lump of wood, which is playing to my strengths) it can loosen the crap enough to get the engine running, then the engine will clean itself. While I had the tank off I noticed an an unattached wire.
That ran to the coil.
D’oh!
I reconnected it and gave it a go.
It fired up! Only for seconds at a time, then it died, but it shows there is nothing fundamentally broken on the bike. I watched a bunch of videos. I can gap my points, set my ignition timing and valve timing for the price of a £7.00 electrical test light. I’ll do that. If that doesn’t fix it I think it’s almost certainly the carbs. There are video on that. If I can get it up and running, I could run it for a bit, then, if the compression doesn’t come back, strip it to do the valves and rings. That would be fun. Now I’m in two minds as to pulling the advert and keeping it.
Happy days. I’m engaging with my interests again and things are working out.