THE GOOD BUCK

I’ve reviewed my running statistics and until the 16th of January I’d done 37 runs in seven and a half months. Two runs since the start of December. I was slack, then I lost my mojo, then got covid, then I was scared of triggering long covid for a while. Very poor. Anyway, on the 16th I started back running. First week I started sensibly. 5 miles, 5 miles, 10k, then a bit much with a Half. The next week I did an 8, a 6 into storm winds that near killed me, then a 16 mile long run. I felt weak the day after both long runs. I don’t know if that’s because I’m dieting or if I’m triggering the long covid weakness, or a bit of both. It’s not been great but it’s not terrible either, so I’m good to train. I worked out it’s 12 weeks on Sunday until the Blackpool marathon so I dug out my Advanced Marathoning book for the 12 week plan. The plan is structured, with different runs at different paces, all a percentage of my Lactate Threshold. To ascertain that I had to try and do a flat out 10 miles. I did it today. I had no idea what pace I should be aiming for so I just legged it for the first mile, which was a not too shabby 7.03, but I just couldn’t hold that pace. I did well to finish the distance without quitting. I came in at 7.26 m/m average. I could have probably shaved a few seconds off that per mile if I hadn’t gone out too fast, but I had no way of knowing. My best LT was a 6.42 m/m pace, so after over half a year of hardly running at all that is surprisingly not terrible. Now I can set my zones and crack on with the training plan next week. Also in running I scored a bargain this week. My music earpieces were a bit cheapo. Bluetooth, but the balance is way off, the left is whispering while the right is too loud. I finally bit the bullet and bought the posh Shokz ones that all the cool kids have. They were bloody steep. £119 for the basic set or £179 for the bells and whistles, tons of bass, Tory ones. I got the basic ones. £119 is a ridiculous amount. I ordered them from Amazon, as it was the same price as the Shokz site and next day delivery. While I was waiting for the delivery I went back to the Shokz website to get a screenshot to post to social media. They suddenly reduced them. £94 for standard, £127 for Tory. With a 10% first purchase discount (only available on the dear ones) I got the £179 earpieces for £116! I returned the Amazon ones for a refund. Still a lot, but a bargain that I got the Tory ones for less than I’d paid for the standard the day […]

We’ve just had a week long freeze in the weather. Worse, it snowed at the start of it, so it the pavements and the back roads around our house remained frozen into rutted ice sheets. The first day, when it was fresh snow, I was forced to ride in on my pushbike. I just couldn’t risk the motorbike. I made it in, but it was well scary. I was off the next day. I had been looking at a decent E bike, quite wide tyres, but it was in Scotland. Then I spotted a local E bike, £50 cheaper, 7 hours less driving, and with 4″ wide tyres! It’s a BEAST! I was so confident riding it that I got cocky and went over the park and over a hill. Unfortunately the kids had made an ice slide of the path on the hill and it had been snowed over. I came straight off. But after that I was zipping back and to to work (avoiding the hill) without a worry. It’s a weird sensation, you set the level of assist, start pedaling, then the motor accelerates the bike away. The downside is after only about 15 miles the battery was nearly drained. It says you can freeze the battery to reset it’s capacity to hold a charge. I’ll give it a go. But the only time I’m going to be using it is when it’s too snowy/ icy to use my motorbike to get to work. That’s less than a 6 miles round trip, so the battery is sufficient, really. A new battery is £180, and I’m not going to be using the bike, so it’s kind of pointless. The main thing though is that I can relax now. Up until now I’ve been getting anxious every time the temperature drops in case I smash up my motorbike or break bones on my pushbike. Now I don’t care. The E bike charges over snow and rutted ice with barely a wobble. Cool. My bits for the Harley finally arrived today. I fitted the new petcock/ filter and the new detent clip. Then I set the gears to the exact setting. I rebuilt the primary side and gave it a go. I’ve got neutral and I can shift through the gears! That job is done and dusted. I think the petcock/ filter must have been at least partially to blame for my final problem. It just felt so much better. An instant, lively response from the throttle. It still dies as soon as you take choke off (on tickover) but I think I can just adjust the intake screw on the carb, and the tickover speed to sort it. That is, as far as I know, the very last job. Then I can MOT it and ride the bloody thing. I hope I like it, lol. Later, Buck.

After watching that video a few times I’m now confident that as soon as my clip arrives (snail mail from the States. Something like $20 fast delivery, or 42 cents slow. For a few bob clip. I’ll wait. Just on principle.) I can strip that side of the engine for the last time, fit the new clip, and set the gears exactly. The instructions say I need a number 32 drill bit. No idea what that is, but it works out as a 2.96mm diameter. I went through everything that could serve, drill bits, nails, screws, etc with my micrometer and found the exact size! Yay. In my mind that job is done and dusted. That just leaves the ‘only runs on choke’ problem. I was watching a video on that. Some Yank doing a really detailed breakdown of possible problems. He said you go through everything else before you mess with the carb. Good batttery (brand new), charged. Check. Good battery connections. Check. Spark plugs (brand new, gapped) check. Tank not rusty. Check. Fuel filter/ petcock… Ooh, possible problem. Rather than risk it I’ve ordered a new petcock/ filter (it’s only £30 and it guarantees that’s not my problem). Fuel line. I had some new line lying about so I fitted that. Check. Then it’s that carb seal (brand new). Check. And finally the carb (brand new). Check. In passing he did say one thing that really cheered me. “The Chinese (reproduction carbs) are really kicking our ass. Are they 100% as good? Pretty much.” Good to hear, especially so begrudgingly, as mine is a copy carb. The only other variable is jet sizes and when I checked they were the right size for the 1200. That was a long winded way of saying, once I’ve fitted the new petcock with the new filter, I’ll have virtually a completely new fuel system. Therefore I’ll have ruled out everything except the settings. So it should just be a matter of adjustment then. It’s getting hard to imagine the Harley ever being on the road, but maybe… We’ve had some snow and bits of ice. Luckily it’s been my days off. The roads seem OK now, so I should be alright for getting to work tomorrow. But it’s started me off thinking about a new bike. One that is light, low seat height, naked and has low power. So I can put my feet down and hold it up if it starts to slip on ice, and if it does go over doesn’t smash up increasingly irreplaceable 30 year old fairing plastics. Obviously the up sides are I get to shop for motorbikes and get a new motorbike! The downsides are storing a third motorbike, insurance, and if I’m only using it for a few days a year, recommissioning the carb, worrying about the tank rusting, battery going flat, etc. I’ve just had a genius idea. A fat tyred E bike! Downside is I don’t get a new motorbike, but plus […]

In my last blog, two weeks ago, I was trying to get back into running, and struggling with the Harley. Things went very pear shaped after that. The running triggered the covids again. I spent a week wasted with weakness and lost all my mojo. I’ve had enough. I’ve stopped running for the time being. I’m going to try again in another week, then every month, until I can do it without triggering more weakness. I forced myself to keep training for 18 months last time, being fall-down weak after loads of runs, but I just can’t face it this time. Losing my mojo also affected my willingness to get into the shed and crack on with the Harley. I couldn’t face that either. I built it up into an insurmountable problem in my mind. I was so sick of it I was considering taking it into a garage to have them finish it off. Then, being me, I started obsessing over a new bike instead. I’d been looking for a while, just window shopping to kill time. It grew into a all consuming fixation. As it is want to do. I wanted a Triumph. I was torn between a classic Bonneville, a modern Street Triple or possibly the really expensive Street Twin. I had 3 sites open on searches on my ‘phone. I thought I’d struck gold when someone advertised a 1967 Triumph Bonneville for £1,000! Supposed to be his dead dad’s. I was having a terrible night’s sleep so saw it at 03.00hrs. I rang him at 03.15 and was first to reply. I thought I had it. Autotrader sent me an email later that morning saying they’d removed the advert as a suspected scam. The seller didn’t get back to me. I couldn’t resist it, it was too beautiful and too much of a bargain, but when it fell through I felt oddly relieved. My VFR has been running perfectly since I rebuilt the starter clutch, and I have my project Harley on the go. I truly don’t need another bike. I’ve closed the open searches off my ‘phone and let go of the obsession. It was so all consuming that although I want to post a picture of the Bonnie to pretty up an otherwise dull blog post, I am actually a bit scared in case it sets me off again. Yesterday I forced myself into the shed. I still have the last two problems with the Harley; it won’t go into gear from neutral and won’t run without choke. I dropped the oil, took off the clutch cable, foot peg, gear lever, engine casing, primary cover and clutch. Yet again. I stripped the clutch while I had it off and refitted the new clutch spring plate. I looked in the manual to make sure I was fitting something the right way around and noticed something I’d missed before. The detent plate only fits one way on the 5 pins for the gears, but the pawl […]

Last blog I was tentatively hopeful that I was over the long covid symptoms. I was free from weakness for about 5 days then in hit me again. For a whole week. I’ve been free of it for 10 days now. I don’t know if it will come back, I hope not, but I’m certainly not getting my hopes up just yet. I’ve been running scared from it. I’ve just been working and resting. Even these last 10 days of being OK, because I’m scared of triggering it again. Today, as it’s my day off, I went for a 10K. So far, touch wood, I’m not weak. Run again tomorrow. Work has been limiting my desire and ability to run. Working 5 days, mostly over 11 hours, and it’s extra stressful at this time of year. I’ve got one more hectic week of long shifts then I’m off for 5 days, which takes me past boxing day, 2 days in, then 3 off. Then it’s January and hopefully work will drop off. I’m knackered. I’m going to work back from Blackpool marathon and set my start date for training. As easy to do as say, it’s January the 8th. That gives me 16 weeks to train. That gives me 3 weeks to get up to speed before I start (not including this week as it’s too hectic). I also said in my last blog about changing the starter motor on the VFR750. The operation was a success, but it was doing the odd whirr on start up still. I ordered a repair kit (and a new gasket) for the starter clutch which I was going to replace on my next day off. Then on the Saturday before I was off the bike refused to start at all. I had to take Wendy’s car to work. Obviously, the job immediately moved up from desirable to essential. I fitted it on Monday as we had a storm on Sunday. The worst part was spending ages trying to scrape off the old gasket from the engine casing. No oil leaks, so I must have cleaned it up sufficiently, and since then it’s been starting fine. Irritating that I fitted a new starter motor for nothing, but at least it’s fixed, hopefully good for another 30 years. And I have a spare starter motor now. The Harley is not so good. The bit finally arrived for the engine, I threw it back together and tried to fit the exhaust. I’m not so sure. It seem to have no clearance. Even tilted over to the other side on side stand there was only about 4 inches. I’m going to have to improvise a bent pipe to push the pipes up at the back. I decided that was a cosmetic thing, to be fixed when the bike is running. It’s still not. So I refitted the original exhaust system. The last two problems remain. I thought adjusting the enrichment would have cured the inability to run […]