Archive for the ‘General’ Category

As a record for ourselves and anyone else that might be interested, we have a page detailing the E46 M3 technical specs. We will update this page as and when we receive suitable information. If you would like to add anything, leave a comment here or use the contact form!

This is an authentic BMW M division advert.

There is a new shed in our garden to replcae the old one that fell apart. Keeping with tradition I created a timelapse of the build on my Canon EOS 20D. To test out the video quality from Vimeo, I have uploaded it here and embedded it below. I think that it looks good, especially considering that I uploaded a compressed video to start with.

EDIT: Updated video to HD version, you might need to let it stream a bit.

I have added some photos to the gallery. You will find new albums from a scuba diving trip to the Maldives and a short trip to Vietnam!

After picking up the car, nearly every corner that I drove around caused the rear LSD (Limited Slip Differential) to make a sound like a walrus mating. If you want the full story about this rather large can of worms and why I don’t think a local “non-BMW” garage did the work they claimed to have done - read the full article and check out the photos.

It is safe to say that the front tyres on my car were not safe! When I picked it up, they were well beyond the fine line of safety. In fact, as you can probably see from the photo on the left, the treads had vanished and were through to the canvas. Due to the uncommon size of the tyres (225/40/19), the local tyre fitter had nothing that would fit, therefore I had the opportunity to order the tyres of my choice!

The original Continental M3 tyres were not available. The Good year F1 Assymetrics are not made in 19 inch. My third choice was the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2’s! As these were available, they were ordered up quickly and fitted as soon as they arrived!

Voila! They are even filled with Nitrogen, a gas that will maintain a more stable pressure across a range of temperatures. This will aid handling and fuel economy… but who cares about economy on a race track!

To kick start the strength exercise habit again, I have decided to focus on something that I can do anywhere, even whilst travelling. This is quite important at the moment as travel for work was the initial disruption to my gym habit. My focus at the gym was to build up my core strength using the bench press which builds a lot of the upper-body muscles.

The site hundredpushups.com has put together a training program that requires you put aside a very small amount of time 3 times per week. At the end of the six-week program (variable), you should be able to perform 100 push-ups. This sounds like a great idea and since progress should be quite quick, it will be motivational and fun.

Before you can start on the program, you need to figure out your current ability by taking the initial test. I managed to complete 25 push-ups meaning that I am in the third column for weeks 1 and 2. I did not think I would get quite that high so I am quite pleased! As per the recommendation, I will start Week 1 on Monday!

After a few years looking and dreaming, I have just bought my first M car! A 2003 silver/grey e46 M3! I am quite pleased because, for the most part, it is in good condition. There are a few things that need attention, check out the dedicated diary page for this car! More pictures here!

Welcome to TrainTrail
You are invited to join us as we re-commit our efforts to improving our health, fitness and aiming for a positive work/life balance.

Like most of us (you know who I mean), over the years our level of activity has decreased as other priorities have taken over; kids, work, home, new partner, new sofa etc. We know that we should be doing something about our health and deep inside we really want to be doing something active; but somehow we never have enough time to get to the gym, go out for a run or even oil up the chain on that bike hidden in the shed… Well that’s where it was the last time I checked in 1991!

We have made a commitment to get fitter, healthier and make sure that we get the most out of life. A simplified lifestyle and appreciation for the simpler things can only make us happier. Right?

From what we can see; happy people live longer! As long as the Gods support our attempts to survive a little longer and we don’t get run over by a bus.

But what is this website all about? We figured that we need to commit to and stick to a fitness plan. That is where you come in! Apart from being able to read about our attempts, you can join in and become a part of the TrainingTrail community, sharing tips and feedback, working together. That is our commitment!

As we progress we will share what we learn, the good and the bad. Any suggestions, tips or products tested on this site are fully researched and properly tested, with input from professionals where required.

We are also working on some really cool features for the site, that will be available to you all over the next few months. As our tagline states, we want to keep our training on track… and we want you to do it with us.

Good luck!!

Shane & Mark

For the first few weeks of riding, I was having a big problem with the ‘L‘ plate, it kept catching in the rear wheel and eventually rubbed itself down to an ‘I‘ plate. To try and sort this out, I have been buying a number of metal brackets to try and modify the rear end so that this doesn’t happen. I took apart the rear end today which was a learning experience in itself. After some fun and games, I came up with this nicely curved solution!

A bit of bouncing on the seat was done as a pre-ride test to see the result. So far so good… the ‘L’ plate went nowhere near the wheel. I guess the real test will be at the week-end when I go out for a ride with the lads!!

I just used Monolingual to recover nearly 4GB of space on my Macbook Pro’s HDD. I am very tempted to try the option that removes the PPC elements as it seems to be quite safe. The application’s FAQ says this;

You can use Monolingual to remove non-Intel architectures for your installed applications (even if some of the applications are PowerPC-only; Monolingual is smart enough not to remove PPC forks if those are the only ones in the universal binary). However, you should not strip the System frameworks if you want to use Rosetta.

I have no idea how much space this could save though. For some reason the main OS X Library directory is huge so I need to find out more ways to regain some space. Got any ideas?

Phrixus.co.uk has just had quite a lot of updates over the last week.

• • My theme has had a few adjustments to keep it up to date.
  • There are more navigation options.
  • The archives page has been rewritten.
  • My very customised Gallery 1 installation is now gone and has been replaced by a more integrated Gallery 2 version.
  • The Travelogue no longer links to a separate blog. I could never be bothered to apply updates etc. Now it is integrated into the main site using Google maps rather than the custom flash map I used previously.
  • The photoblog image on the homepage is now a random image from the photoblog album.

Leigh could not have asked for better weather for his CBT! I am quite jealous as I went out in a storm! Either way, the boy Brookes done good! Well done, mate! To celebrate his success and get the most out of his week-end rental, Leigh came round on the lawn mower (bike in front below!), and we headed out for a couple of hours.

It was such good fun going nowhere, I can’t wait for someone else to get a working bike. At this point I am the only person that can go out. From my short experience, it is more interesting when there is someone else around. This could be due to the classic sound of Leigh’s single cylinder or the indicator ticker that I could hear from my bike. But in all seriousness, I think we had a good afternoon… here’s to next ride!

Dave, in a stroke of unexpected intelligence, has invested in the “The Official DSA Theory Test for Motorcyclists CD-ROM“. This computer based tool allows you to revise the various subjects that are covered by the theory test.

The really useful part of the application is the mock tests. You can actually run through an example test, with the same time constraints to see how you do. There is also feedback available on the test so you can see which areas need a little more study. We ran through a mock test and luckily passed. I think we will do a few more before we take the actual test though!!

I have now been able to ride a motorbike for a couple of months. In that time I have probably only covered about 100 miles due to the weather but I can feel my confidence and ability growing each time I go out. The Suzuki Bandit I am riding is fantastic, though this can only be compared to the Honda CB250 I used for myCBT. On the whole, I am comfortable riding the bike and have no problems with it’s performance. I am most likely riding it too slow in fact but I will walk before I run!

Aidy (Whose bike it was originally) has been helping me learn a bit about the bike to. He has kindly shown me the basic maintenance tasks that need to be done, so in effect, we have given it most of a service. We installed new brake pads (Kindly sponsored by Gringod .com!), changed the oil/filter and tensioned the chain. Doing these jobs is great as it helps me get familiar with the technology. At this stage I would need the Haynes manual close at hand for any major repairs but I plan to learn as much as possible about the mechanics. I think this is vital for me as I plan to use the bike for travel much as Aidy did before me. In fact, he has just posted some videos I sent him links for on this subject. If these dont inspire you and give your wanderlust a kick start, I dont know what would!