Big Jim’s attempt to become Slim Jim

[big jim]

@wombatofludham 

 

I was lucky in the charity shops in cumbria at the weekend as I picked up a load of Xl t shirts and shirts and some shorts for a few quid each, some are still a bit of a ‘work in progress’ size but worth putting into stock just need to get me some decent jeans now as they fit like jim royles jeans 
 

I’m planning on coming to Llwyngwril on Sunday afternoon/evening to collect my mums old electric bike (and tow ball mount bike rack for the Touareg) for Dominic to use to get to work while we’re away at the caravan the rest of the summer 

Edited July 27, 2021 by big jim

[big jim]

An unexpected ride this morning, Carlisle station to the hospital after gethin broke his arm last night falling off his bike at the caravan, it’s looking like he’s going to have to have it pinned as it’s a messy break!

just waiting to down for surgery as I type 

 

 

 

 

 

[jcredfer]

Best wishes and sympathy, it must have come as a shock to everyone. .  I hope the arm gets fixed soon and the Op goes well.   

 

[big jim]

Gethin is home now, but emotional until he saw his big brother who gave him a big hug!

 

a day late with the weigh in and despite a mini blow out last night as gethin wanted loads from the take away in silloth I’ve managed to lose 5lb last week so I’m now 18.6 so that’s over 4 Stone lost so far, I think the week of exercise in silloth and the surrounding area certainly made the difference

 

not much exercise in this week other than a couple of commutes, not managed a run or decent walk so far what with what’s gone on with gethin but I’m hoping to get a run in tomorrow evening after I come back from Liverpool with Dominic who’s going for his theory test and before I go to work, next week is looking busy for work too with a coupon of commutes to Tyseley possible and I’ve got a feeling I’ve got an east mids gateway job which means I can do the circular walk around the perimeter, I may well take my running shoes and run it instead! 

[jcredfer]

Good to see the youngster back home, that can't have been the most pleasant experience for him.  Best wishes for a rapid recovery and back having fun on the bike.

 

Wow, with 5 lbs in one week, a quiet, exercise, week to consolidate it will do no harm at all.  Come to think of it, a less exciting week for you might not go amiss either.    

 

Best regards

 

[big jim]

Did a job to East Midlands gateway today where you sit around for 4 hours while the train is loaded so I went for a run around the site, I walked it yesterday to get my steps in too!

 

anyway today was a 4 mile run and I got a personal best time for 5K of 42:43 

 

 

on top of that I rode to and from basford hall to add 7 mile to the bike riding tally 

 

I’m on the 196 testing the next 2 days so that should get me 12 mile a day more on the bike mileage

 

weigh in day tomorrow and feeling pretty confident of a little bit of a loss 

 

[David Bigcheeseplant]

It may have been mentioned earlier but have you done Parkrun as these are a good way to push you. 

[big jim]

I’ve signed up for parkrun but wasn’t home on Saturday to go and do it, same this Saturday unfortunately, there is one not too far from the caravan so I may go to that one while I’m away 

 

anyway, had a treat tonight, got myself a pizza and some chicken strips, only had 1/2 of it then went out for a bit of a ride to burn a few calories off but got a bit carried away!

 

[Midnight-Freight]

As a keen runner and fitness enthusiast myself I love reading stories like this. There's no bigger motivator than when your health is at risk but it shouldn't be underestimated how much mental strength and willpower is required to do what you're doing and you should be immensely proud of what you have already achieved. It can soon become addictive when you begin to see the results of your efforts, especially when you start running and using Strava! Whilst it's not always plain sailing, as long as you look at it as a long term change of lifestyle it's a great journey to go on. Well done on what you've already done and look forward to reading about your progress.

[big jim]

Thanks for that, I know exactly what you mean about mental strength, last week I didn’t feel like exercise after gethin breaking his arm and the shifts I was on but worked through it and had a run so I didn’t fall into the rutt of ‘maybe tomorrow’

 

today for example I went to chester to see Pete Waterman’s layout in the cathedral and rather than drive over went on my bike, 23 miles

 

 

i then planned to meet a friend at the station and had a few hours to kill so I walked the city walls and back to the station, another 3.8 miles 

 

As the battery is low on the bike (and I have work later) I’ve come back on the train so will have another 2.5 mile home, get changed, 2.5 mile back to the station and a 4 mile ride to Tyseley! 

 

The bike is having a quick charge on the 153 unit back to crewe!

 

already done 61 miles on it this week and broke the 500 mile mark too

 

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by big jim

[big jim]

Absolutely smashed it on the bike this week, still got Sunday to go (bike has been left in Bescot for tomorrow!) but so far I’ve covered 120 miles since Monday 

 

walking has been pretty good too, 8 miles 

 

just need to get another 1.9 miles running in and I’ll have done my quota for the week with that, hopefully get it done Sunday afternoon 

 

 

rode from wolves to bescot earlier on as well as a 16 mile leisure ride around Nantwich and crewe outskirts 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by big jim

[big jim]

A good result last week in the end, over 100 additional miles in the bike and broke the running distance total too

 

 

had a look through apple health and compared July 2020 to July 2021 activity, certainly moving a lot more this year than last 

 

 

 

away to the caravan later today for a week or two so hopefully get a few bike miles in but certainly going to get a few miles walking in 

[big jim]

Weigh in day today, and the great news made it below my 18 Stone goal…..

 

I started at 22.9 Stone on 17/2 and today have got to 17.13 Stone so a total loss of 4st 8lb (30 kg) in about 6 months 

 

I’m not feeling very well today though, been rough for a couple of days now, had a bit of a stomach ache for a few days and got soaking wet on the ride home from basford hall on Monday and caught a chill so I’ve not really felt like exercising much, managed a couple of miles walking so far, a slow 5 mile trundle on the bike and a swim this morning but I’m giving breaking any goals a miss this week and just relaxing in the caravan, (I think I may have overdone it a bit last week!)

 

However next weight goal is going to be 17 Stone and see how I feel (and look) when I reach that to maybe try for a bit more as long as I do t start to look ill! 

[jcredfer]

That's a fantastic achievement and no easy task, by any measure, you've worked hard for that and real credit is due for the steady, consistent, persistence.  

It does sound as though you may have caught a chill, or just need a step back after all those miles last week.

 

Perhaps you might permit me to mention that an occasional rest in the routine is good for the body to cleanse and replenish.  Maybe, when the body is suggesting a less demanding time, it might be an idea to just watch the weight and count the days later.

 

Either way, I hope you feel back at 100% + very soon, best regards.

 

[big jim]

yeah, i definitely overdid it last week but also realised the last couple of days id eaten quite poorly due to the shifts i was on not being good for eating at decent times 

 

 despite staying in my weight watchers points balance i’d had plenty of protein but practically no vitamins and more than my usual amount of carbs, which ive avoided in large quantities for 6 months,  then getting the chill on the ride hit me for six, i slept for a good 12 hours last night but i felt much better by the afternoon after some food so went for a walk again, by this evening i felt like a ride so did a steady 3 mile round trip to the shop in town for supplies

 

i am planning on doing a ride from cockermouth to keswick if the weather is good the end of the week, 11 mile each way so not too bad (but quite a climb in places)

 

 

 

 

[big jim]

Broke the 600 mile mark on the bike today, still got another 12-15 mile to go today to get back to cockermouth 

 

 

 

rather a sharp drop after 5 miles! 

 

 

 

 

 

[big jim]

The ride back was fun, a solid 2.5 mile 950ft climb a few miles in then mainly downhill back to Cockermouth via the whinlatter pass, the first climb near killed me though, had to get off twice to walk the bike up for a couple of hundred meters but rode the rest at a steady pace in low gear! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jcredfer]

Those are significant climbs, are they beyond the endurance of the electric system, or is there enough storage, when starting with a full charge?

 

 

[big jim]

It did feel like it was assisting a bit but it certainly wasn’t powering me up that hill like a rocket, I think it was at its limit, it’s a strange one but I think with the highest (biggest cog)  gear if you drop below 10mph on a climb like that it struggles but once you get a bit of speed up maybe where the climb eases a bit it seems to kick back in and give you a nice push and enable you to drop a different gear 

 

that climb in ‘turbo’ mode and high gear at the start really hit the battery charge quite quickly taking it from 70% to about 45% in the 2.5 mile but the rest of the run being downhill or fairly levelish meant it only dropped down to about 30% by the time we got to cockermouth 

[jcredfer]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

It did feel like it was assisting a bit but it certainly wasn’t powering me up that hill like a rocket, I think it was at its limit, it’s a strange one but I think with the highest (biggest cog)  gear if you drop below 10mph on a climb like that it struggles but once you get a bit of speed up maybe where the climb eases a bit it seems to kick back in and give you a nice push and enable you to drop a different gear 

 

that climb in ‘turbo’ mode and high gear at the start really hit the battery charge quite quickly taking it from 70% to about 45% in the 2.5 mile but the rest of the run being downhill or fairly levelish meant it only dropped down to about 30% by the time we got to cockermouth 

 

That's really good, I'm surprised it can store all that amount, very impressive.  I gather, from the % figures, that it doesn't recharge when going downhill, but it's still a long boost time.

 

Where you mentioned the speed dropping below and the gear you're in, I get a similar thing with the ordinary gears.  There seems to be a connection with going slow in a gear, which can be really hard work, then if I change down and pedal very hard to get up speed, I often find that it's possible to change back up again and it seems much easier than before.  It seems that the legs like particular minimum revs and get tired quickly at less.  Maybe that's just an age thing...   

 

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by jcredfer
Addition

[big jim]

I wouldn’t like to have tried it in a normal bike despite it feeling like it was struggling a couple of times

 

had we not stopped in Costa and plugged the batteries in for a boost for about an hour and a half they certainly wouldn’t have lasted for the round trip, the problem with Doms bike is it has lights to say how much battery is left but at the moment as we’ve not ran it from full charge to flat we’ve no idea how much power each light represents, it will vary dependent on motor exertion obviously but we need to find out how many miles it will do on a full charge on an average run, the book says it will do 35-40 miles like mine but I’ve yet to get more than 30 out of it 

 

I’m thinking of getting a power inverter for the car and hard wiring it with decent cables to the battery so I can give the bike battery an extra boost while travelling by car, I want to avoid plugging into the cigarette lighter socket as the wires are a bit small on those and will overheat, looking on line I think a minimum of an 800w inverter is required, the mains charger is rated at 2.5A at 220-240v and I will need 8 or 10 gauge wire, any advice will be welcome! 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

A general rule with 12 volt, and other low voltage, wiring is to use as thick a wire conductor as you can get away with.

 

This does depend to some extent the size of the connectors on the battery and Inverter.

 

The shorter the length, the thinner the wire conductor can be for the same voltage drop.

 

A good source of the better, more flexible, heavy wire is Midland Chandlers at Preston Brook, though the boat places at Nantwich Basin would be more local to you I think.

 

Boat places are also a good place to find inverters. Even if only to get some idea of the different size and ratings available.

 

Information and advice should also be available…

 

With inverters, be aware that not all are the same quality.

None are 100 percent efficient, so there will be some power loss in the conversion from 12 v D.C. to 240 V A.C.

 

The Inverter will consume energy even when it isn’t connected to anything on the 240 V output.

 

Even when switched off at the power switch on the inverter, some power can be consumed keeping some internal capacitors charged.

 

To avoid a flat battery on the vehicle, it is good practice to fit an isolator in the positive feed from the battery to the inverter. A fuse of the appropriate rating for the load, inverter, is also highly recommended.

 

A good solar panel on the vehicle to keep the battery charged is also a good idea, especially if the vehicle is mainly used for short trips, and/ or not used frequently.

 

Remember when working on the wiring that a 12 volt vehicle battery can deliver sufficient amps to weld metal together if short circuited! 

[big jim]

I was thinking of using a quick release plug like I’ve got on my car amp wiring (10 gauge) so there will be just the wires from the battery going into the plug and I will plug the inverter in while I’m driving and the car is running, I could probably get away with less than a meter of cable if I terminated the lead in the cabin below the glovebox as the battery is below the wiper scuttle vent 

 

https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/car-amps-and-subs/vibe-fastplug-quick-release-amplifier-and-sub-box-connector-318774.html

 

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

What is the battery capacity on you bike? I picked one with the largest capacity as we have a lot of hills. It will easily do 40 miles around the Dark Peak with over 4000 feet of vlimbs but battery management is critical. I use the least I can get away with on the outward leg so I can use more later if I am tired.

Body weight is also a factor, I am probably less than half of the point where you started your campaign.

 

Getting the balance between what power level and gear to use also important. I've done about 5000 miles electric and my regular runs are now almost in auto pilot as far as power and gears are concerned. The Snake Pass climb from home has one section of 1000 feet in about 2 miles. My controller has eco, tour, emtb and turbo settings. The first half mile is the worst bit so I start in turbo and about the 8th click on the gears until I get the momentum and rhythm right then can knock back to tour for the rest unless the wind is against me. 

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Just caught up with this thread. Well done Jim with all your efforts to becoming a class 33/2.

Alternatively, you could get one of these...