On the bike and on a mission:
and just about to cross the finish line:
Every other picture looked like a sad, beaten, old duffer who was half dead . Which, to be fair, is 50% better than I was feeling.
The other good picture is one I took today. It’s not easy trying to do a selfie with your bike. I’m quite made up with this this then:
The ‘Blade is as much art as function. Someone spent a lot of time and effort making it look that good.
I’ve been weighing up the pros and cons of that exhaust endcan. It’s titanium so very light, but huge and too quiet. Apparently their are all sorts of sensors built in to the exhaust system though, so you really mess with the fuelling and such if just swap the silencer for a more raucous one. Which means buying a full exhaust system (£££££££) and a power commander to sort out the fuelling (£300) and the garage to fit it, probably.
It’s like Wendy rightly said after I spent all that money converting my W650 into a cafe racer, “buy the bike you want.”
I wanted this because it was an unmolested, original bike. It will far exceed my ability as it is in standard form, I’m not going to spend a grand or so just to make it sound a bit fruitier.
One thing about it I will be changing is the seat. It’s rock hard.There’s no rush for that though, I doubt I’ll be doing many more miles this year ‘(it’s not seeing salt). But maybe next year, comfy seat, road trip? A quip nip to Germany?
I noticed the forks were set slightly differently so I looked it up today and reset them back to standard, then one turn extra to stiffen them up. Also tightened the chain.
The other thing I’m doing now is starting training for a sub 3 hour marathon. I spent ages yesterday working out the amount of weeks until the race, the end distance, then working back in a steady and sustainable fashion to my starting point. I drew up a chart of date, distance, weeks to go.
If I can stick to the chart I can do it.
I went for my first run since the tri today. It was hard and humid. My target time is 6.45m/m. I started off slow to avoid tendon injury, 8.46, 8.27, then tried a fast mile. 7.42. Total disaster. I thought I’d lost my fast mojo. I did another few slow miles then tried again. As soon as my watch beeped for the mile I charged off. It was beastly hard but I kept going. Finished that mile in 6.42! Yay! It’s back on! Then slogged home for 2 miles.
It nearly killed me, but that’s the first step on the plan done. Then I looked at the plan “Week 1, run ½ mile”
Super.
I’ll have to see how it goes. I may have to have a slack year (no tri-s) and focus on getting sub 3.
And so, said Zebedee, to bed.
Buck.
PS
The forks set up wasn’t a step forward. Over bumps it was trying to buck me out of the saddle. I’ve looked up a complete set up guide for this exact model (there are 6 different things to adjust) and set it to that. Trial and error. If that’s not right there are set-up experts who will fine tune it to your exact weight.
Another thing I’ve learned today, never, ever do a long run after a fast one. I ground out 18 slow, painful miles, but it was hellish and dispiriting. The only good to be taken from it is I wanted to quit after the first mile but kept it going. So a good exercise in mental discipline.