Sorry everyone, I am officially pulling the plug on this bike in this build-off.
Today I got all dressed up in my overalls and welders jacket, kicked up the fire, fired up the welder ran four tacks on the rockers and sat down on my shop chair and remained there thinking until the late afternoon chill forced me to pack up.
I realised that I am not having fun with this build at the moment, it is a struggle to get myself outside and working in this weather and I am rushing things trying to get it done by the deadline, I am not liking the compromises I have made on the bike due to time restraints and the bike concept deserves better.
I think this has been coming for a while, and it is just the extra stresses that I am currently under that have brought it to a head. In some ways I probably burnt myself out by doing so much since I have been here, organising and taking part in 3-4 competitions a year even those in the middle of winter such as this one when with my health issues I really shouldn't be doing it, and those in the middle of summer when although my health is better I lose half my days to "Fire bans" and so end up with stupidly short deadlines...
I used to enjoy logging on to RRB first thing in the morning and checking it repeatedly during the day, now sometimes I don't bother to check in at all, I seem to have lost my sense of humour and react badly when someone makes a negative comment, thankfully I have been able to retract my responses before they became an issue, but this is not the way I want to be. Bikes are my hobby, my interest, and it should be fun and exciting, not stressful and painful...
I am going to put this build on hold for a while, and only work on it when I want to, my health is up to it and the weather is suitable, it may take quite some time, as I intend to go back and change some things to the way they should have been done in the first place, but I will keep you updated.
I still hope to jump into the Muscle Bike Build-Off come September 1st, I have a great idea in mind and that is a decent time of year for me to work outside, but aside from that I will just be plugging away on this build as the mood takes me.
I will probably only do one Build-Off a year from now on, it won't be the big annual "summer" build-off, it is just too cold here for me then, and it won't be the "winter" build-off for the reasons mentioned earlier, I will still run it and help moderate but the September-December bracket that the MBBO occupies is perfect for me, and I love muscle bikes...
Sorry to all those following the build and looking forward to the finished bike being seen soon, thanks in advance for your support and understanding.
Luke.
