After all my speculating on the wealth I was about to accrue, the agency have let me down. I got 5 days on the week I was expecting 6 (the 6th is where you earn £34 an hour), then last week I only got 3 days, this week I’m going to get a maximum of 3. I booked lots of appointments for Mondays as that is my day off, but the agency keep asking me for Monday, so I think I’ll add that to my available days.
This makes my next thing more difficult. I’ve decided to get back to my challenges. After a year of slacking, I’m going to get back on the sub 3 quest. I don’t know if I’ll have the time to be able to train as consistently as is needed but I may never have that time, so now is as good as any time to start.
I did Camille’s bread and butter 8 miles with 10x 100m strides (sprints) today. Well, most of it. I did the miles and 8 and a bit strides then tachycardia felled me for about 15 minutes, so that was that. Back it tomorrow, then rest up until Sunday’s 17 mile half. (It’s 2 miles to the local half, so I jog there and back.)
I’ve had some fairly good news with the Sportster. I went out for the ride and the handlebars are in the right position now. The levers pull without pain. It’s a good riding position. I think I’ve nailed that. But when I took it out I noticed the headlight was out. It was stood for 20 years, the wiring is a bit delicate, I was fearing the worst. I got bored and decided to have a look this afternoon. I was expecting to have to start prodding wires, checking connections and generally failing to understand what the hell was wrong. I’d already looked for the number for the Harley garage to get them to fix it. Anyway, I took the headlight out, then thought I’d best rule out the obvious. I plugged a different bulb in and it worked. It was just the bulb. Unfortunately it’s a sealed unit. The bulb is built into the glass of the headlight. So you can’t just change a bulb, you have to replace the whole unit. I looked on AHR customs and they do a plug-and-play LED light replacement. I’ve ordered it and hope it will fit. If so, that’s the Harley good to go again.
Now I’ve got the right handlebars I’m going to order a shorter brake hose for the front brake. The lowered bars make it bend in an upside down U shape. That can’t be helpful. Also on the bars, I’m going to look at how I can get my indicators to work with mirrors on the handlebars. At the moment the indicators are attached by a bolt that runs through the hole into which the mirrors are supposed to screw. If I can work that out I can throw away the useless bar end mirrors and buy some new grips. That would be the bars issues all sorted. I could do with shorter cables, but the ones fitted are brand new so I’ll wait until I need to replace them. I need to adjust my clutch (it’s almost impossible to find neutral), but that’s about all my problems for now. It’s getting dangerously close to being a useable bike.
I forgot to say, the indicators are proving their own special challenge. They fit by tightening a nut onto a ball joint. It’s not a very secure arrangement. One indicator turned around one time, and then shook itself off another. I’ve only done a few hundred miles. Harley’s are so rattley, it’s like riding a pneumatic road drill. Anything not 100% secured is going to shake off. I’ll see how the indicators/ mirrors situation pans out. If I can keep these indicators (which I like) I may have to break out the welder to stop them dismantling themselves. I’ve tried super glue and pvc gasket sealant stuff.
I mentioned in my last post about the Bonnie and how I was comparing it to touring bikes. I had a mental image that mine had a big screen. It does not. Odd.
I’m looking at this for winter.
Not pretty, but a shedload more protection. I can swap them back as soon as it warms up again. If I fit that and bar end muffs (it already has heated grips) I should be fine for the winter. I bought a new pair of waterproof trousers and the next wet day I’m going to try my boots, combat high. If I can stay relatively warm and dry on the Bonnie I don’t need to stress about getting a winter bike. And, as I said last time, the Bonnie is so low to the ground I should be able to walk it out onto the main road when our road is iced over.
Get the Bonnie big screen when it gets proper cold, continuous improvement on the Sporty,… I feel like I’m actually getting there.