欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記

Following the incident concerning the password theft (was it?) at ebay, users are being urged to change their passwords. Have you done it already?

I have. To tell the truth and be honest, my password had not been so strong until I changed it a while ago. I remember creating an ebay account when I was still in Germany. I did not use it (ebay for purchasing goods on-line) until I came to Luxembourg. At that time (when I signed up for ebay), I simply chose a word (French word) off a 'petit cadeau (a Tour de France publicity caravan giveaway)' package. My user name is also French words tied together.

Now my password is stronger than before. It contains minimum one capital letter, number and one of those printed on the numeric keys (!@#$%^&*. etc).

I bought two items on ebay for the last two days. They are all for my bike. They are part of preparation for the Tour. A set of titanium bolts and a carbon saddle.

These bolts will be used for the brake shoes. The current bolts are only 10 mm long. When I want to minimize the space between the brake pads and the rim, the bolts are not long enough to add any additional spacers.

I chose 16 mm long bolts. Let's see if they work well.


The carbon saddle i purchased was of a brand name Hylix. It is of all carbon composite. I don't know if it is comfortable enough for a long ride.


(image directly taken from the seller's picture including the watermark by the seller)

Today's Giro d'Italia: Stage 16 passes Stelvio, the famous and also very beautiful place. I was there once. I climbed one of the sides back in 2004, I think.

I now bought one more item (two in fact) from an ebay seller. It is something that I have been looking for a long time by now. It is a LED bulb for dynamo (dynamo-hub). I use Shimano LP-R600 (dynamo-driven light) and its original bulb is a halogen one. It is yellowish and not so bright. I changed the bulb to a different one for a brighter beam.

This one has a high voltage protection mechanism built-in.

(image taken from the seller's picture)


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Have you changed the password lately?]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/27(火) 13:45:09|
2. Tour de France
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According to cyclingnews.com, Dan Craven (I have never heard of him before but) will sign with Europcar.

OK, why was I interested in this piece of news?

I remember something but in the days I was living in Germany and I visited Stuttgart (home of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz) to watch the World Championship (of course cycling).

I watched the junior TT race. I noticed on the starting list (almost all if not all) showed typical German family names for the riders from Namibia, Africa.

Later I figured out that German emigrants before WWII? still live there and many of them are interested in cycling. As you can guess they (riders from Namibia) were so-called "white" (Caucasian) people.

I can safely guess that Mr. Craven family come from Europe. His family name is not Kraven and that means his family is not German origin? I don't know.

As a Japanese living in Luxembourg, I would add that anybody (family) should live anywhere in the world where he (they) want to live. That's all.


ass-savers vs. mudcatcher

I use ass-saver (previous generation) from ass-saver (http://ass-savers.com/). There was a brief moment when I considered which to buy, ass-savers or mudcatcher (http://www.mudcatcher.com/). I decided to buy ones (if ordered in three, the shipping fees are wavered) from the former.

A while ago I noticed that ass-savers had launched the (second?) newer generation of their products. The name is confusing as they call the newer products 'ass-savers the original'. Perhaps they want to stress the fact that they came up with the idea first. (Or did they? I don't know which came to the market first, ass-savers or mudcatcher.)

The design has been changed, I mean the physical design not the coloring schemes or patterns on the product.

I understand that. What do I understand?

1) Now ass-savers is different in its appearance from mudcatcher.

2) Now I assume based on my own experience that ass-savers is easier to install on the bikes.

3) Now ass-savers has one product on (almost) all types of saddles.

*1) They used to be almost identical in appearance.

*2) The installation on my bike (saddle) was a bit problematic as not all the saddle's rails are identical. mine (Selle Italia SLR XP 135g) has a narrower rails where it meet the ass-savers. Their solution for this conundrum was the installation point was removed to the saddle fixation point. This saddle fixation point has a standard as all the seat post manufactures have to follow.

*3) They used to have Brooks specific products as Brooks saddle rails were broader where they meet the ass-savers.

I don't have plans to buy newer ones form ass-savers any time soon but they will be on my wis list.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Namibia and Gemanry]の続きを読む

1. 2014/05/23(金) 23:08:02|
2. Bike Races
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I have been a customer of Vivium Assurances for a while (since I bought my car).

Vivium assurances is the name of the company. It is not one of the big insurance companies in Europe or in the world. I knew that.

Today I found a letter from my insurance company but something was not usual. The envelope was different.

It carried a logo of another more well-known insurance company. Bâloise Assurances.

Bâloise's name base been known to me for a while. I think it came to my attention years ago when its name appeared in the row of the Belgian Tour (http://www.sport.be/rondevanbelgie/) sponsors.

It appears that Bâloise purchased Vivium. In the envelope there was a sheet of paper inside. It had a Q&A in French. Basically it says that I don't have to worry and don't have to do anything.

I don't know if Vivium was an independent company before or already belonged to Bâloise group. Anyway, it just so happened.

Bayern Rundfahrt (May 27 - June 1) Germany

Baloise Belgium Tour (May 27 - June 1) Belgium

Trek Factory Racing is participating in the Bayern Rundfahrt, the only German stage race, a survivor. There were a lot of stage races in Germany when I first came here in Europe (2003). There were even a stage race called (when translated into English) the Tour of Germany. They all disappeared into the air.

Sunday, June 1st. What should I do? Drive to Germany or Belgium?


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ
[My insurance company was obviously sold to Bâloise Assurances]の続きを読む

1. 2014/05/22(木) 15:20:47|
2. Info Luxembourg
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The last 21 km of the stage 7 of TdF 2014, according to the ASO's site www.letour.fr, will be like this. I did my best guessing by reading the time table with the help from Google Earth.


(image-01: a track made on the Garmin BaseCamp)

From the city of Maron, the finish is 21.0 km away. "Maron (D909-D92)" (as written in the time table) means the intersection of D (D-epartment or Prefecture that Nancy belongs to is responsible for maintaining the road) 909 and 92. On the BaseCamp the track is about 21 km.

Meurthe-et-Moselle (54) is the prefecture to which Nancy belongs.

I may be at the climb of Côte de Maron or Côte de Boufflers. The reasoning is that the next stage is a mountain stage and I have to be in a hurry to get to the mountains. Then it will make sense to be closer to the Alsace area toward the evening.

These climbs are not too long but I don't see any other attractions on the course, except for maybe the feed zone, which is a bit far away from my next destination. I will see.


The Tara, the hero cat, is on the news. I have written here repeatedly that I love cats.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [TdF 2014 Stage 07 the last 21 km, according to my reading]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/21(水) 15:42:44|
2. Tour de France
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The time tables on the 'http://www.letour.fr/' site made me busy for the last several days.

I had made "TdF 2014 report" back late last year or early this year. It was meant for friends of mine who had shown their interest in my "Let's follow the TdF 2014 driving a well-equipped motor home!" plot.

It did not materialize as they eventually backed out. It did not matter to me.

The report was complete. It is the base plan for the Tour. In this report I had to use "interim feed zones" to make the transfer estimate as realistic as possible.

I often go watch the peloton at the feed zones when the stage is flat.

The feed zones are in the middle of the stage around 90 km from the start. Assuming this assumption is correct, I made interim feed zones.

I was verifying my assumption. Many of them proved to be wrong. One of them was almost exact. My interim feed zone Collondon of Stage 11, I think, is about 8 km from the actual feed zone. On Stage 11 Collondon is at 85.5 km just before the Sprint point. The actual feed zone of the day could be Boissia at 94 km.

Now I have to edit the my own plan "TdF 2014 report" up to date by inserting the actual info and deleting the wrong info and also by adding the camping sites info.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [TdF 2014 Course verification]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/18(日) 22:30:56|
2. Tour de France
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My (beloved?) Garmin BaseCamp was updated to version 4.3.1 and today it crashed!

Sh**********t!

Whaaaaaaaaat is the f*ck?

When I started it up, it gave up a message that "list" something is corrupt and its backup date is also corrupt.

I think this new version was a piece of sh*t. I hope Garmin will correct the mistake or apologize to the users.



OK, the damage report.

The waypoints are there. All the routes are there. All the tracks are there. The damage was done to their (waypoints, routes, etc) attribute, specifically, "list" information. Now I have no lists.

Lists are kind of categories given to the waypoints (or routes, tracks etc.). You have a lot of places you want to keep and if there are so many places, you want to keep them listed (or categorized) to your favor.

Lists can be countries that the places belong to or others like (in my case) TdF 2014 or Camping Sites.

Now I have hundreds of waypoints without listing information. I have to re-list them again. F*CK!

D*mn you Garmin!

I'm not 100% sure if Garmin is really responsible for this fiasco. If it is not, I have to apologize.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Garmin BaseCamp Updated! (on my MacBook Pro)]の続きを読む

1. 2014/05/17(土) 16:59:53|
2. GPS Navigation
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Yesterday and partly today early in the morning while watching the Tour of California (here in Luxembourg, I can watch the live broadcast of the last 2 hours of it on Eurosport-German version), I traced the city (village) names and mountain pass names on the time table of the Stage 9 of TdF 2014. Previously this stage's details were completely unknown. Only the names of start and finish cities were known.

A couple days ago I noticed that they added all of the time tables to the course info page. Now I can (if I want and painstakingly search those names and plot those on my Garmin BaseCamp map) trace the course even though no map info is available.

I was very curious about this stage (Stage 9) because it takes place in a secluded area (Alsace) and the start/finish places indicated that the course of Stage 8, Stage 9 and Stage 10 must be criss-crossing.

I only had time to trace Stage 9. With the help from "Wikipedia" and Google Earth, I think I have deciphered almost exact race course on my map.

Now I have a tentative watch plan for the Alsace stages.

I would like to stay in the mountains and ride my bike. I will have to drive (my car) between the stages but I want to minimize the move as little as possible.

Look at this clip that I made on Garmin BaseCamp! The race course of Stage 10 is in light green and the race course of Stage 9 is the other path (from Linthal to Grand Ballon). They share the intersection of Le Markstein.


Compare these two images! The dark red line is Stage 9 and the light green line is Stage 10. They share two places; Le Markstein and 3 or 4 km stretch near Osenbach.








In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ

[Happy riding days in the Alsace during TdF 2014?]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/16(金) 14:48:03|
2. Tour de France
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I visit this site (http://www.letour.fr/) not regularly but rather frequently. It is a bit of obsessed behavior by now. It was a traumatic experience back in 2011 when the Tour had the team presentation ceremony in "le Fou du Puy", I did not have the admission ticket to this Theme Park. I overlooked the link that said that the entrance is free but you have to register to get the tickets.

In 2012 (Liège start) and in 2013 (Corsica start), there were no tickets needed to see the team presentation as the ceremonies were held in open public places.

This year the ceremony will take place in an enclosed place. I found this out and I registered to get the email notification for the ticket sale. I booked the ticket.

Anyway, the site (ASO's TdF site) gets updates unannounced. You have to be careful not to miss anything important.

Today (May 14, 2014) I noticed that the race route information has been updated. Time tables are now available. The time tables include the names of the cities that peloton is passing, sprint points, categorized climbs but feed zones.

I can tune in the almost exact race course by using the information available there.



In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Tour de France 2014 and my preparation]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/15(木) 00:23:05|
2. Tour de France
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1) Selle Italia SmooTape (the first generation - 2.5 mm thick):

I bought this Selle Italia SmooTape (2.5 mm thick) while ago. I think they (Selle Italia) had already introduced newer models. I am not sure that their new "SmooTape Corsa" is a continuation of the one I have.

Anyway, simply put, it does what it promises.

The tape winds itself flat on the bar. Selle Italia advertises that this smooth taping is made possible by the unique profile that they invented.

I think the smoothness is partly achieved by the their choice of the material. My first generation SmooTape is very soft. It is a synthetic material similar to those materials found in plumbing. You may find the similar soft material where heat insulation is required. I don't know how to describe it but it is something like that.

It is really thin on both sides. So thin that I think I may accidentally rip it by simply rubbing the tape the wrong way. I am a bit worried. I hope it lasts.

This is not really a review of the product. The real review will come later.

So Today I bought a mini multitool thing. It has a plier on it. I finally finished assembling my bike. Now I have to ride it to make the final adjustment.


2) SRAM RED (2x10) component:

The shifter is made of plastic (reinforced) , carbon (reinforced material) and some metal. I used to use the mixture of Rival and Apex components. I haven't ridden the bike yet. One thing I can say is that the shifters feel plasticky in a good sense. I don't feel like clicking something made of metal.

Let me make it clear that I am using;

a. Shifters (RED)
b. FD (RED)
c. RD (Force)

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Selle Italia SmooTape (2.5 mm thickness) Review (kind of,...)]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車（スポーツ用） - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/13(火) 15:28:51|
2. Bikes and related things
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This year's Tour de France is scheduled to start in Leeds, Yorkshire United Kingdom. I have already booked an arena ticket. This ticket gets me the entrance to the Team Presentation Show (I would normally use the word ceremony but the price of the tickets makes me say that it MUST be a show this year).

That was the first ticket I needed. Today I booked round trip ferry tickets between Calais and Dover. I am crossing the English Channel from Calais in the afternoon of Wednesday, July 2. After landing on Dover, I have to drive several hundred kilometers up to Leeds. I think I will stay overnight somewhere close to Leeds that evening.

The return ticket is for the late evening of Monday, July 7. I will watch the third (and the final) stage in the UK somewhere near London and then head to Dover by car. I hope I have time to enjoy London.

Anyway, the tickets are secure.

I had a confirmation note by email on booking. I expected to have PDF form tickets attached to it. Instead, it only contained text. Checking in is possible by giving the "Reference Number". I think they would issue tickets from their handheld ticket printer or something.

Now I will start looking for camping sites in the UK and other places where I intend to stay overnight.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Ferry tickets booked! (Calais-Dover)]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/12(月) 16:57:53|
2. Bike Races
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It has been like being in Belgium for the last several days here in Luxembourg. The weather has been like that of Belgium. Sunny for one moment and then rainy for another moment. The sun and the thick grey clouds take turns several times in a day.

Overall, we have had rainy days this week.

My bike is coming along albeit slowly. The chainring has been repaired (the previous entry).

My Ciamillo Negative G brakes have been modified with new cam arms (invented for "micro" but retrofittable for older brakes).


(image-1: micro cam arm)

Now the highlight of the Spring maintenance: making Nokon and an inline (tension) adjuster mix together for the FD line.

SRAM RED's FD comes with an adjuster. It is safe to assume that this inline adjuster makes it easier to make the FD function better with this device.

Now my bike is almost done. I am excited. My bike has become lighter (to lift up).


Update: There was a major (or minor) hinderance to completing the assembly of the bike.

My bike frame Cervélo RS 2009 (2010 model?) has its FD bracket riveted on the frame. And as you may know some (non-aero frames) Cervélo's frames use the squoval (square-oval) shape thing. The seat tube is round (to accommodate a round seat post, of course) but immediately after where the FD bracket occupies, it turns to a beefy squoval shape tube. The rivet touches the SRAM RED FD's chain watcher and consequently the chain watcher never gets into the spot it should.

I had to grind the shoulder of the chain watcher off to fit it. Cervélo users should be warned!

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Rainy days in Luxembourg]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/11(日) 06:36:21|
2. Bikes and related things
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I have this "FSA Carbon Pro ISIS" crank set for several years. I bought it in Germany. It was on sale. It did not come with any packing material. I can safely assume that this one (along others on sale at that time) was intended for "bulk" distribution, meaning that FSA sold them to bike shops, bike manufactures and others without package stuff (boxes and instructions) at a lower prices. They were meant to be sold to the consumers as part of a complete bike.

Sometimes those shops have more than they can put on bikes and sell them at a slightly lower price. At that time I got it, ISIS standard was getting obsolete. Shimano had introduced their Hollowtech II bottom brackets.


(image-1: FSA carbon pro ISIS right crank)

Anyway, I have been using it for a long time by now. There is a problem with the right crank. I have been aware of this flaw for some time now but haven't done anything to it.

The reason for not doing anything to tackle the problem was that I did not find the right tool to disassemble the right crank and also that I was lazy.

I looked for the right tool and found it and then purchased it some months ago. Here is the thing.


(image-2: Lezyne's BB tool and a threaded ring to fix the spier arm)

It is a piece of tool meant for some bottom brackets (Shimano etc, or some others). I was not 100% sure if it fits but I bought the tool anyway. I tried it and (as I had hoped) it fit.

The PROBLEM is that the chainring is wobbling. You know, like a wheel out of center (not true) with some spokes too loose or too tight. This causes the FD setting a headache as the chain touches the FD where chainring is closer to FD.

I think this is causing the problem.

(image-3: The carbon surface where the spider arm is set is not even but a bit bumpy)

I will try to file some carbon composite material off and fit the spider arm again to see if the problem goes away.

Update: I did what I had to. Using some coarse stone (for sharpening knives), I flattened the carbon composite surface where the spider arm is placed. Then I put the crank on the BB without tightening it and turned the crank round to see if the wobbling is minimized.

Success! The wobbling was visibly obvious before but now it is almost unnoticeable. I think it is now "true."


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [FSA (Full Speed Ahead) ISIS Carbon Pro Crank (right) disassembled for inspection]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車（スポーツ用） - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/09(金) 14:28:57|
2. Bikes and related things
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An important note: I have nothing against this company, Nigrin (https://www.nigrin.de/en.html). I am just writing my diary and this name comes up in it.

Today (May 5 2014) I bought a "Nigrin Ketten-Reiniger -für Motorräder- (in English, Chain-Cleaner -for motorcycles-)" at a local shop. Before this last winter, I bought Nigrin's chain lube for motor cycles. The product's exact name I don't remember and I will write it here when I find it in my room.

So I bought one product to lube my bike (its parts) and another product to clean them.

I bought this lube for my bike but at that time I knew this product was not for my bike. You may ask why I had done that. You are right. I did what I should not have done and I am now sorry that I had done so.

I expected to have a snowy winter. As I had already written here before, chain lube was a headache. I was also annoyed that almost all lubrication got lost after riding through snowy paths including the lubrication on the brakes and Nokon beads.

Normal lube products intended for race (sport) bikes will not do. They wash off easily after a ride through snowy roads. Because they are specifically made in that way, easy to apply and easy to wash off. Precious things need intense care. In other words (or in an easier to understand expression), "wax on and wax off."

Bicycles intended for city use get less frequent maintenance and the chain lube products applied to them must stick for a long time (months and years?).

This Nigrin chain lube was good. It stayed. It stayed too long because it never snowed this last winter (almost none at all). This sticky lube product stayed on the chain or brake (not on the brake shoes) and dusts and fine sand grains also stayed there.

An apparent effect of sand grains on grinding parts is wear. Now I have to pay for it. The abrasion of the brake parts (Ciamillo Negative-G Ti) is significant.




(image-1: Negative G's arm)



(image-2: This part is clearly worn)

The wear on the cam and its counter part is significant and the images above clearly show.

I will never use this lubricant for motorbike again. Never!


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Chain lube is a very important part of tuning a bike]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車（スポーツ用） - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/05/05(月) 16:27:42|
2. Bikes and related things
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I write about three topics.

1) my iPhone 4
2) overhauling my bike
3) re-touching my plan for the Tour de France

1)

My iPhone 4 is old. I purchased it on my way home from the race watch trip of Paris-Tours 2010. After watching the start, I headed for the Louvre (Museum) in Paris. The museum is, I think, open on Sundays and the Apple Store located at the basement level near the entrance to the museum is also open on Sundays.

I bought one with no contract and SIM-lock free.

It is a fine piece of phone. It has iOS 7.0.4 on it. I jailbroke it and that is why it is stuck with this version of iOS. The latest version of iOS for my iPhone is 7.1.1. It works but iOS 7.0.4 is a bit too much for the CPU and the limited amount of the memory installed inside it.

The other woe about it is that the home button is very unresponsive. I have to push it really hard to make it function. It is so annoying.

I have jailbroken it because I want to use the "virtual home button."

It would be nice to have a new one. I would buy a new iPhone if my current one got broken. As long as it works, I will keep using it. I guess that by the time I get a new iPhone, the iPhone would be called iPhone 6S or 7.


2)

My bike needs it. It has to be cleaned and reassembled with SRAM RED components. I use NOKON for the brake and shifting cables. I like the look of it.

SRAM RED FD comes with a cable inline adjuster. The FD is better maintained with a inline adjuster, of course. Slight cable tension adjustment makes the front shifting smoother and quicker.

The problem is that Nokon system was not invented (I am guessing) with adjusters in mind. There is no mention of installing one in the Nokon installation manual. I scratched my heads over this.

I came up with an solution. It worked but was not functional. I used this (http://jagwire.com/img/products/lg/BSA0441.jpg); an inline adjuster from Jagwire. I had to drill down the screw make of aluminium to make it accommodate the Nokon inner liner.

As I wrote earlier, it worked. It was not functional because the dial was too small and too slippery. It was a good idea but this Jagwire inline adjuster was not intended for Nokon in the first place.

This time, I will try another way to install an inline adjuster. Installing a normal (by normal, I mean the non-Nokon that normal cable) cable under the bar tape and then install the inline adjuster there. After that I put Nokon beads. The inline adjuster and the 'normal' cable has to be tightly put together. I may need to use some strong glue or some other means to make them stick together. Let's see if I can make it work.



3) Yes. My original plan was to rent a motor home to follow the Tour. Now I am sure that I will be using my own car. This means a minor adjustment. I can move quicker but I need stops at various camping sites.

First thing I have to do is to nail the time of ferry crossing date and time to book tickets. It has to be done quickly. [Nokon cable system and cable adjusters are not friends.]の続きを読む

1. 2014/05/04(日) 00:42:35|
2. Bikes and related things
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