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In the space of 3 weeks I’ve gone from not having cycled in months, to reluctantly forcing myself to commute to maintain my fitness while I rest my foot, to new (second hand) faster bike, and now I’m on to getting a turbo trainer (the indoors trainer thing you stick your bike on and can connect to training programmes online.) Obviously, because I’m me, I picked the worst possible time. The shops are all sold out of cheap ones due to everyone panic buying fitness equipment for lockdown. We are heading into the second wave/ new lockdowns and winter, which is the traditional time for buying indoor kit anyway. So even the second hand stuff on eBay is selling for nearly new price. I managed to track down a really good trainer at Decathlon through a strange advert link. If you search directly on their site they say they don’t have any and you have to buy dearer ones. Through this advert, which presumably Decathlon bought, you can still get the trainer though. Odd. I have been scouring the adverts at every opportunity but due to all of the above, but the only cheap one I saw said “Heavily used. Would suit a beginner or someone with turbo trainer repair experience.” Err, no thanks. There was a sale on eBay for the model I eventually got, it was “Ex display”, scuff marks, no box, presumably no warranty. That went for £30 more than the brand new one, with 2 year’s warranty, I’ve just scored! If you imagine a fat bloke on a cheap bike, it would look like this: Quite why he’s wearing a crash helmet on a static, indoor, bike is another question. Or sunglasses. …Next day. Decathlon emailed me to say my trainer was ready for collection so here is the actual set up. It’s not ideal, but until my uber-shed arrives that’s where it will have to live. Setting it up was an ordeal. I had to fit the cassette (gears) to the trainer 3 times. In the end I had to read the instructions. For shame! Then the bike was wrong. The chain was all gunked up and stiff, so I had to clean and oil it, then the front gear derailleur wasn’t working. It’s just been sat there, pampered, indoors. How can it have stopped working? Anyway. Then I had to set the trainer calibration and link all the software. It took me 3 hours just to get it set up. I had trouble collecting it as well. As it’s my day off I’d taken Wendy’s car into the garage so had no means of getting the dirty great lump home. Typical. The car was only in for a bulb. I’d tried everything and couldn’t get it out. The garage guy had tried and failed. I had to take it back today. He was going to strip the headlight unit out and then get the bulb out. I was a bit gutted about home much […]

It’s been a funny old couple of weeks. I started cycling to work to try and maintain some fitness and avoid having to have the front door widened. It was begrudgingly, unwillingly, and ungraciously done. But necessary, so I set to it. It wasn’t as terrible as I remembered. Obviously the weather turned cold immediately. Because of course it did. Within a few days of cycling I was going for commute Personal Bests, then, following my usual, somewhat exhausting, obsessive pattern, I had a whim for a faster bike. The next day I wanted a faster bike. Then I spent a week constantly searching the internet because I *HAD TO HAVE* a faster bike. I was looking at second hand bikes in my (budget) price bracket, reading the reviews, checking the brand sizes, the equipment spec, etc, etc. The curse of the internet is as soon as you start researching anything the reviews always say “that’s OK, but this one (3 times the price) is way better. And what you really want is the this one (over a grand dearer)” I am thinking of maybe getting back on a turbo trainer and renewing my torture sessions on the Sufferfest (the online cycling thing) so I wanted a bike with a 9 speed minimum back cog. Basically the only game in town was the Decathlon (sports store) own brand Btwin Triban range. They are not as low a riding position as dedicated road/ racer bikes, but they are good spec and cheap. I was looking at the basic Triban 5, which is about a year 2000 or so bike, so there’s a risk of stuff being worn out. I actually had one lined up but the guy who was selling it was taking at least a day to reply to each of my questions, and couldn’t arrange a viewing. While that was all happening I came across a Triban 520, which is a much better bike and they only started making them in 2016 (I think) so a lot newer. The Triban 5 was going for £150, the 520 was going for £270 but it had an option for offers. I put in an offer for £240 and got it! Yay! When I was looking on eBay the other 520s were over £100 dearer. Also, it’s hard to get a bike in my size. I take a small or XS, they are definitely the exception to the norm. Anyway, I got it. It took me an hour to sort out the slack brakes, adjust the seat and handlebars, reposition the gear lever/ brake and pump up the tyres. I noticed a bit of a buckle in the back wheel and the handlebar tape was a bit of a shoddy job on one side. I got the wheel straightened and bars re-taped the next day for £17. Job’s a good ‘un. Actually, that was before I had the handlebars rewrapped. He’s done it all in black, but at least it’s a decent […]

I’ve been making a few attempts to return to running, in between bouts of plague weakness, but every time I do my foot immediately starts hurting again. Happily, all my races have been cancelled this year, so I’m not losing out. The one that looks to be actually happening is the Warrington Way, a 40 mile loop of Warrington. That’s in November, due to the small field and the natural separation over that distance, it looks promising that it can take place.  I was hopeful about doing that, but my foot is just useless. I’ve had enough of it. It’s been 21 months of bothering me, now is the time to rest it until it heals properly. This can take up to 9 months. I’m going to test it every 3 months. The thing that decided me was the plague weakness. It progressed from recurrent, 2 or 3 day bouts,  to 2 solid weeks of feeling wasted, to a greater or lesser degree, every day. I decided to seize the plague ridden day and rest. It was that constant that I’d accepted that was it, my life was plague weakness from here on in. Then I noticed I’d been 3 days without it, 4 today. It’s not permanent. Yet. That is such a relief. Nasty, nasty bug. My resolve has cracked and I’ve fallen off the veggie wagon. Again. In a karmic balancing of the scales I am back to pushbiking to work now, (to try and maintain some fitness and not die of morbid obesity now I’m not running) so I’m not destroying the planet as much that way. Not that that is a great consolation to the poor animals. I had a sweet and sour pork and fried rice from the Chinese on Saturday. Wow. Literally the first thing I’ve properly tasted in about 3 years (since I got that bad cold that wiped out my sense of taste). Sorry piggy, but you didn’t die in vain, at least. I’ve done a few things in the garden. I was looking at how to lay shed bases for when my uber-shed arrives (in 5 months!) and saw these plastic gravel grids. The idea being you dig, then level an area, lay a weed suppressant membrane, click the grids into each other, then fill with gravel. This makes them strong enough to drive and park cars on, so easily strong enough to hold a shed.  I wanted a bit of a test run, and fancied a gravel path. I have a pair of muddy boots in a bucket by the door for any time I want to walk down the garden, a path would stop that.  It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The big thing I’ve learned is to buy a ton of sand. You can level off the dirt and tamp it down with a plank or by stamping on it, but my dirt is cleggy so it sticks to whatever is squashing it and lifts up again […]

I’ve been making a few attempts to return to running, in between bouts of plague weakness, but every time I do my foot immediately starts hurting again. Happily, all my races have been cancelled this year, so I’m not losing out. The one that looks to be actually happening is the Warrington Way, a 40 mile loop of Warrington. That’s in November, due to the small field and the natural separation over that distance, it looks promising that it can take place.  I was hopeful about doing that, but my foot is just useless. I’ve had enough of it. It’s been 21 months of bothering me, now is the time to rest it until it heals properly. This can take up to 9 months. I’m going to test it every 3 months. The thing that decided me was the plague weakness. It progressed from recurrent, 2 or 3 day bouts,  to 2 solid weeks of feeling wasted, to a greater or lesser degree, every day. I decided to seize the plague ridden day and rest. It was that constant that I’d accepted that was it, my life was plague weakness from here on in. Then I noticed I’d been 3 days without it, 4 today. It’s not permanent. Yet. That is such a relief. Nasty, nasty bug. My resolve has cracked and I’ve fallen off the veggie wagon. Again. In a karmic balancing of the scales I am back to pushbiking to work now, (to try and maintain some fitness and not die of morbid obesity now I’m not running) so I’m not destroying the planet as much that way. Not that that is a great consolation to the poor animals. I had a sweet and sour pork and fried rice from the Chinese on Saturday. Wow. Literally the first thing I’ve properly tasted in about 3 years (since I got that bad cold that wiped out my sense of taste). Sorry piggy, but you didn’t die in vain, at least. I’ve done a few things in the garden. I was looking at how to lay shed bases for when my uber-shed arrives (in 5 months!) and saw these plastic gravel grids. The idea being you dig, then level an area, lay a weed suppressant membrane, click the grids into each other, then fill with gravel. This makes them strong enough to drive and park cars on, so easily strong enough to hold a shed.  I wanted a bit of a test run, and fancied a gravel path. I have a pair of muddy boots in a bucket by the door for any time I want to walk down the garden, a path would stop that.  It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The big thing I’ve learned is to buy a ton of sand. You can level off the dirt and tamp it down with a plank or by stamping on it, but my dirt is cleggy so it sticks to whatever is squashing it and lifts up again […]

I’ve bought a 1988 V twin, shaft drive, naked Honda as my next challenge. The camera flatters it, it’s a bit rusty and the paint isn’t as lovely as the on the pictures. Apparently it was stood for about 14 years, someone put it back on the road last year, and it’s blown up. The guy selling it said he thinks it’s dropped a valve into the barrel, whilst running. (Which will have done all kinds of damage to the front pot.) Here is the one of the front spark plugs. I’m inclined to agree. The manual says you can strip the pot with the engine in frame, which is a bonus, but it’s still a huge faff. Just to move it into the shed (I’ve relegated Nath’s to outside, under plastic) I had to remove the seat, tank, side covers, air filter box, (must get a new air filter) take the radiator covers off, disconnect the radiator hoses from the engine, then remove the radiator. Once I’d done that I was free to move the bike into the shed and start work. There was a bunch of other fiddly little jobs that took twice as long as you’d expect, but I got there. And I’m here. To be honest, that all looks deceptively pristine. I’ll take the cylinder head off tomorrow. Then it’s all going downhill. Fun times. I gave it a go. There’s quite a bit to it, not just unbolt the head and pull it off. I drained the coolant, then the oil. This came out in the oil. It’s not large, but it looks like the stuff of which the engine is made. And nothing metal should be in the oil, especially not that size.  Oh dear. Then I had to take two 10mm bolts out. I turned the engine over a bit by hand to get at them, but you’ve only got about 3/4 of a revolution then it jams solid.  Oh dear, oh dear. I can’t revolve it far enough to get a socket on it, to apply my breaker bar or impact driver, to stun it loose. All I could get on was a small 10mm spanner and that was rounding the bolt head. I was very frustrated. It’s simply impossible to access because I can’t revolve it and the frame is in the way. I was despairing. Beaten at the first hurdle by a 10mm bolt, and a dead engine with metal in it. I gave up.  As I was putting my tools away I realised the solution was in the statement. I can’t access the bolt because the frame is in the way, so remove the engine from the frame. I said to Wendy, “if there’s metal in the works I’ll be getting a replacement engine anyway.  Either that or strip it right down…” As I was saying it I realised I’d lost sight of the goal. I was rushing to get the bike back on the road and ride it. […]