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‘Back’ing It In

Last week I wrecked/tweaked my back at the gym. It's the first time something like this has happened and I tweaked it good; all while stretching no less. I thought little of it at the time and started my workout as usual, figuring it would work itself out. Probably a bad idea as that made it worse. So out of action all week I was, coming home after work each day and icing it and/or heating it until repeating again the next day. I didn't sleep well and was in a less than stellar mood for most of the week. I've heard people talk about throwing out their backs, but I kinda scoffed as it, figuring I was too young for that, or that it didn't hurt that bad. Wrong on both accounts.

So the past several days consisted of me trying my best to not whine and complain about it to Gina, but having to tell her to some extent why I wasn't doing anything and just laying on the couch (or floor) everytime she'd see me. I'm not often that idle and this was a hint something was up. Although possibly the biggest tip-off was that I played Tourist Trophy on the PS2 three days straight. I never play video games anymore, but after dusting off the old PlayStation, I was hooked.

So I started out with a street-based Yamaha R6 (of course), won some races and acquired a couple cool vintage race bikes – one of them being an old '80 Yamaha 250. I used that to enter one of the umpteen-Series Challenges offered, where I somehow won a tricked out Kawaski ZX-10 with some fancy bits and pieces on it (so says the description). I guess the bike was originally a Suzuka 8-hour bike and it even came with some nice green leathers (JB would have loved it). They don't disclose the horsepower, so I'm sure it had to be unobtainium-level stuff.

The funny thing is I entered another Series Challenge and completely dominated against bikes I was originally racing the 250 with. I crashed four times in the first race and still won. Once I got the hang of the thing, I entered in some Unlimited Cup, but the bikes were still no match for this unobtainable Kawasaki beast. I had dusted off the PS2, started playing this game I had barely taken out of the case originally and was loving it. Yes, yes, I was using the heating pad while playing, so I considered this treatment. Maybe that explained why my hands were breaking into a sweat, but I doubt it.

Through all this, what prompted Gina with the biggest complaint (with a heavy sigh and rolling of the eyes) was that I of course had to go into the setup of the bike and change the gearing for each track. "What are you doing??" she asked, disgusted. "You don't need to change gearing – it's a video game!" I could only smile and keep plugging away at the overall ratios for this new short track that would surely need better acceration out of the corners.

The best thing about all of this is that I got more flak for modifying a bike in Tourist Trophy than I did for wrecking my back and laying around all week in the first place. Gina's awesome.

Yesterday, the back felt better and I decided to visit the gym. Nothing crazy, but I was able to do some weights and run on the treadmill without any issues. Hopefully Wednesday will go well and then Thursday I can get back and do a spin class.

As for the ZX-10, it wasn't perfect. It did seem to run wide coming out of corners …. I might need to try a few things and see if I can fix that … You can alter suspension settings after all.

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 | POSTED AT: 8:36 AM
FILED UNDER: General

2 Comments on “‘Back’ing It In”

paw wrote on 3 June, 2009, 9:02 PM
Ha, keep up the good work Gina!

Ed, try a little preload in back
Eddie wrote on 5 June, 2009, 7:30 AM
Good call. I added preload and won again. You’re good.

Funny – they have front and rear rebound, compression, preload and spring rates. And they call compression “bound” …