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Things are coming together. After all my talk of why I couldn’t fit an aftermarket exhaust silencer (“end can”) on my bike I got talking to someone on Twitter. He said to try a certain brand, so I went and looked. They said you could just straight swap the can, no retune, no remapping the computer for the fuel injection. Huh. Entirely contrary to what I’d read. They were obviously selling new, expensive cans. I looked on eBay and someone was selling one for £39.99. I waited until the last minute and got my bid sniper bot to put in a bid. Got it for the opening price! Get in! I stuck it on yesterday and compared it with a decibel app, not much louder, one or two Dbs. Super. While I was fitting it I had a look at some other stuff. Apparently the exhaust is fitted with a butterfly valve, so it blocks exhaust gases up until 3,000 revs (making it quieter while you are warming the bike up, and, not coincidentally, making sure it meets industry emission standards at test levels) then opens up to make it racier when you are starting to rev. That is a good feature by me. I can warm my bike up without getting lynched, bike goes RAAAAAARRRGGGHHHH! when I open it up. The confusion lies in the fact that the computer that runs the fuel and the butterfly valve is set up to run with the back pressure of a standard exhaust, remove that and things go pear shaped. This is where Power Commanders come in. They are a plug in jobby that, by some techno voodoo, makes the computer do the right fuelling for any specific set up. The trouble is they cost about £300. I looked under my seat to try to locate the servo (motor) to the exhaust (butterfly) valve, and there was a power commander! Woo-hoo! I was told this bike was stock, that was a fib, but if it saves me shelling out £300 I’m OK with it. So, three components: end can, exhaust valve, power commander. I have to say I’m out of my depth. I have no idea how to synch the three. I looked online for a fancy garage that does dyno testing and remapping in the North West, and the best one is in Warrington! You know how I took my VFR800fi in to a fancy garage, they took a week or so to service it, but the back brake still felt funny? So I rang them up and accused the highly skilled mechanic of not doing his job? Then found out Honda have linked the brakes on that model so no matter how hard you stand on the back brake it won’t lock up? So I had to ring back and apologise? Guess what? *sigh* Anyway, I’ve booked it in for next Friday. They said they can stick it on the dyno and check if the fuelling is working for that […]

More ups and downs with my training. I went out for this week’s fast run on Saturday and just had nothing. It was shameful. I don’t know whether it was starting off at race pace, not fuelling properly beforehand, wearing too hot clothing, all of the above or nothing, but I just couldn’t. I ran 1.6 miles and had to stop and get my breath. I turned around and came home. I was devastated. On Sunday I got an early finish so forced myself out. I was going to do the 8 mile run I’d done the week before. Set off at a relaxed pace for a mile, a mile faster, faster, a mile breather then belt it back. 8.37, good start, 7.23, good, faster, noticed I was doing 6.45 pace, sod it, let’s do it! No breather, straight into race pace! I did the first half mile, turned a corner onto a straight and the wind was in my face. I had to dig in and really push, got 6.46, turned around and had to get my breath back at race pace. I had to use every mental trick I have to keep going (it doesn’t hurt any worse, just keep going to the corner, to that lamp post, done a mile and half, that’s three quarters, this is furthest I’ve done at this pace, another quarter mile and I’ll quit, etc) did it in 6.44. Redeemed myself. I had to stop for a few breaths, then continued at a jog for that mile. Got 8.10, OK, it’s back on, upped the pace again 7.32, and an extra .3 of a mile to make it a 10K in 47 minutes. All in all, pleased with that.   The other good news is after noticing my position on the bike on that picture I’ve given it some thought and think I’ve got it. There is a 4 inch bar that connect the headstock to the handlebars. I’ve ordered one on a 45% angle. (£10! Get in! Somewhat cheaper than a £2K+ TT bike.) Flip it upside down, that’s an inch drop for the handlebars. If that’s still not enough to get my back flat I’ve seen some handlebars where the elbow rests are basically resting on the handlebars (mine are an inch above) that would be £60. And they are way cool. They look like a Klingon Bird of Prey. They look like this, when fitted: That’s the brand name ones, but I have just discovered Chinese rip-offs on eBay. Yay the Chinese! Hopefully that will do me for a season, strip my bike down to basics, get a proper aero position, fitted shoes, and I should be good to go. That’s running and cycling on track. And I started my swim lessons! And I went! The regular guy wasn’t there, so some young girl was taking the class. I quickly got bumped up from ‘crap’ lane 1, where I said I should start, to lane 3. She said I […]

I’ve started on my next two impossible challenges. Going sub 3 hours for a marathon, then going sub 10 hours for a triathlon. I’m hoping to get the sub 3 in April on the Manchester marathon. I’ve made a training plan and it *just* has me running half a mile extra each week at the blisteringly fast (for me) pace of 6.45 m/m. I accidentally started at a mile instead of half a mile, so this week I did 1½ miles to keep it up. That’s not all the running I’ve been doing, obviously.  My long run last week was 18 miles, today I’ve just run 20. This is going to have to stop. It’s a brilliant exercise in mental toughness and discipline but it is horribly painful and I’m risking overuse injury. Also it’s really discouraging to struggle so badly on a long-ish run and have your pace drop right off, when you are aiming to be going longer and faster.  I’m thinking now that the sub 3 is going to be so hard I may have to accept just getting faster this time, then do it next time. That’s as nothing to my second challenge. The sub 10 Iron tri. My PB, this year, was 13.17. My swim was 1hr 40, I need to knock 40 minutes off that. Transition 1 (T1) was 11 minutes, need to just run through, 4 minutes max. My bike was 7hrs 01, I need to get to 5hrs 25 T2 was 7 minutes, needs to be 4 minutes My marathon was 4hrs 18, needs to be 3hrs 26. Look at those figures! Apart from the transitions (just run through) the only one I’m confident I can achieve is the run. I’ve finally managed to enrol with a swim coach at Orford leisure centre. Wendy’s workmate goes to the same class, he says the instructor is a well respected triathlete coach. Apparently he wants to know exactly what you want to achieve, then is brutally honest about whether you can do it. I’ve been giving it some thought, I’m arbitrarily setting the bar at 3 years. I’m thinking: I’m 52 now, I can get fitter and stronger but my body will get older and slower. It’s not a battle I can win. I reckon I can force my body to do as it’s told for another 3 years, beyond that I’ll have to wait and see. I will be telling the coach then that I want to do a 2.4 mile swim, in an hour, within 3 years. If he says it’s not possible I’ll still train and try to prove him wrong, but at some point I’ll have to lower my sights. I hear competitive knitting is the next big thing. All of this may come to nothing. I may never even get a sub 3. I always have unrealistic expectations of what I can achieve. Then I achieve it anyway. It’s going to be a sad day when I am forced […]

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I forgot to say, while I was looking for a 954 FireBlade I had my eye on a few. The others were higher mileage but had upgrades. I’d narrowed it down to 3 that I really liked and was undecided. I was leaning in favour of the one I got, and decided to do a history check on it. You could get one check or three checks for the price of two, so I ran the other bike other as well. I had been struck by the wording on the ad, but not unduly. “Had if for more than 3 years and never been trashed or abused in my ownership…” In my ownership.  The check came back, it was an insurance write off in 2012! That was the best £4.99 I’ve ever spent. The other bit of good news I forgot is my legs. Yesterday on the bike the pain in my knees was so bad I thought I’d broke something. Then I forced them to run 26.2 miles. The best I was hoping for was being able to finish before the injuries crippled me. Last night I could barely walk, but as today has worn on it’s faded to a bad stiffness. I think it may have just been abuse soreness rather than an actual injury. That’s a relief. I can give it a few days to fully recover then I have to crack on with my speed training towards a sub 3 hour marathon. And start swim training. The fast boys (and girls) were out of the lake in fifty odd minutes, I was 1hr 40, again. Just looking at the breakdown of my race. I came out of the lake in position 884 (out of 880, possibly) I finished in position 485, overall. If I learnt to swim…   More for my benefit here are some stats. 1,025 entrants. 929 started the race (told you it was awful weather. 96 clearly had more sense.) 849 finished the race. 58 Did Not Finish (DNF) 16 Cut Off (told to stop as they were too slow) 4 Queried (something fishy about results, I assume) 2 Disqualified.