欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記

velowire.com has updated its prediction of the stage layout of the Tour de France 2015.

Anyway, careful reading of the site (and gazing at the prediction layout map) made me realize that there could be TWO BIG transfers next year. OMG! I don't like it.

Two years ago we had a huge transfer (between the Pyrenees stages and Bretagne stages).That year I slept several nights in my car because the transfer between stages were relatively long. I could not find camp sites between those long transfers.

Two big transfers will be (if the prediction by velowire.com is correct) between somewhere (Vannes / Plumelec ) in Bretagne (Brittany) and Pau (the Pyrenees). Thank God that we have the first rest day to make the transfer.

The second big transfer will be between l'Alpe d'Huez and Paris. These two transfers will make up to 1,200 km. It means a lot of dough going to the French highway authorities.

On both occasions, riders will fly. Most of the staff will drive. Official cars, those publicity caravan mobiles and media people also drive.


A couple days ago I installed the beta 3 version of OS X 10.10 Yosemite on the SSD inside my MacBook Pro. It runs very well. Today (September 3) Apple released the beta 4. I will update the system. 853 MB of update files will be downloaded.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Tdf 2015 Stage layout (predicted) rumors Part II]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. 2014/09/30(火) 22:02:28|
2. Tour de France
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The tasks were;
1) to swap the batteries
2) to swap the HDD with SDD
3) to swap the optical drive with SDD

I did not compete the task number 3. This will be done later. A supplementary task resulting from task number 2 is to house the extracted HDD inside an external USB case. Done!

Now the new battery is being charged. It will take several hours before it is fully charged. I will not disturb the initial charge. I am writing this on my iPhone 4. Those tasks were easy. I just forget to check the sites like iFixit (or so) to learn the proper method to replace the optical drive. Anyway, I just wanted to finish closing the back lit quicly.

Now the original HDD is inside a USB external case. The next time I boot up the MacBook pro, I should not forget to hook it up to the USB ports. Did I write "USB ports"? Yes the USB case I purchased came with a Y-cable. Two USB ports should be used to ensure enough juice is there to power up the HDD. I did not know that the case needed a Y-cable. My MacBook Pro has two USB ports. OK not a big deal.

Yesterday I downloaded the beta 3 version of Mac OS X 10.10 on the hard disk drive. The installer sits there. I boot up the MacBook Pro from the external drive (OS X 10.9.5) and start up the installer to install Yosemite beta 3 on the internal SDD. This should work. I am excited.

So this is what the battery health status looks like after installing the new battery.



5855 mAh x 10.95 = 64.1Wh

I think this battery is really OK. Please look at the "cycle" count! It is the first charge!


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ
[Charging up the battery (replaced MacBook Pro battery)]の続きを読む

テーマ:Mac - ジャンル:コンピュータ

1. 2014/09/28(日) 17:57:56|
2. MacBooks and Macs
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My iPod touch (purchased from the USA to be used as a backup GPS navigator) is so-called a fourth generation model. Its latest (or should I say last) iOS version is 6.1.6. It works fine.

A while ago I wrote about its compatibility (or usability) with elgato eyeTV W. There was an issue that it could not finish the login process into the (1:1) WLAN that eyeTV W provides.

I (kinda) solved it. Simply use BootP instead of DHCP. That is it.

Going Settings>Wi-Fi> and touch the Wi-Fi name (elgato etc...) and choose the BootP option. This way, the login process properly ends and after this you can use the device normally.


Yesterday, I updated my iPhone 4 to the latest iOS version 7.1.2. Then today I jailbroke it.This will be the last time I jailbreak it as this iPhone 4 is pretty much soon out of support by Apple. No more OS updates, then no need to jailbreak again!


Now (Sunday, 28 September) I am watching the road race (World Championship in Spain) live on the Belgian TV (la deux HD and later la use HD). It is raining in Spain (oops! it does not rhyme!). It does rain in Spain.

I made a hot water using the "newly acquired gas burner' in the Trangia and brew a cup of coffee. Room temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius and the inverted gas cartridge method (liquid-feeding) works. Only thing you have to do is be very careful as to how much you feed the liquid gas into the burner. Sparingly, otherwise the burner will cough.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [elgato eyeTV W and iPod touch (4 gen)]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/28(日) 11:20:48|
2. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch
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The postman rang the bell this morning just as I was preparing to leave for work. A small package containing two of gas burners that I ordered from China arrived.

I was going to pick up a package that failed to be delivered (I was away) the day before in the afternoon.

Later....

I picked up the package at the local post office. I haven't opened it yet. I'll unpack it later in the evening. Transplantation of the batteries will take place later (or later in October when Apple releases the public version of Yosemite and Lubuntu 14.10 is released).

Review of the gas burners

I did not expect to receive accompanying bags with them. How sweet and considerate of the manufacturer! Here I have two of them.


This side view enables one to see that this one is certainly deferent from the ones sold in the GB as "Go System" burners. That does not mean that they are manufactured by different makers.


The bottom side of the burner. If you turn the burner head counterclockwise, it will come off and you can separate the burner head, the leaf spring and the rest.

It (or they) did not sit well in the hole of the Trangia. The leaf spring did not snap on the rim. I bent the spring so that it would sit. Now they sit better.

I lit the burner (one of them). It burns well from simmer to full power. No problem. I have not yet tested the burners for the performance under liquid-feeding. I hope they perform well.

Oh, they don't sit in the Jetboil Helios burner frame because the leaf spring is too wide (30 mm). If the leaf spring is narrower (17 mm or less), it will sit, I think. It is not too difficult to make a leaf spring that would enable these burners to fit in Helios frame. Only some springy metal is required. Some springy wire would do, too.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Gas burners for my Trangia arrived]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/28(日) 02:07:26|
2. Camping in Europe
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I found a slip notification saying that I have a undelivered package to be picked up at the local post office. The number suggests that it is from China and it contains the battery that I ordered two weeks ago.

Quick! I will pick it up tomorrow morning. I will try to find time to install it in the following days.

Please look at the current health status of the battery! It contains only 21 percent of the original capacity. I guess my MacBook Pro can stay on on this battery about an hour or so.


Installing the battery requires opening the back lid. Opening the back lid makes me think of doing the following two things;
1) Swapping the CD/DVD optical drive with the mini SSD (taken out from HP Envy-14)
2) Swapping the main HDD with the Toshiba 128GB SSD (recently purchased)

I intend to install Lubuntu 14.10 (for the moment beta-1 status and to be released in October) on the mini SSD.

I intend to install Mac OS X 10.10 on the main SSD (beta-3, ditto and also to be released in October).

Should I wait till October?


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [MacBook Pro's battery seems to have arrived]の続きを読む

テーマ:Mac - ジャンル:コンピュータ

1. 2014/09/25(木) 14:37:23|
2. MacBooks and Macs
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According to velowire.com (my favorite site), the last stage before Champs-Elys&eacue;es could finish at Alpe d'Huez. Oh my god, if it is true, I have to drive more than 630 km to get to the Avenue de Champs-Elysées.

I like Alpe d'Huez but I don't like Alpe d'Huez when there are too many people. Some people bring engine generators to juice their amplifiers to play the music too loud.

There are other factors that I don't like to see Alpe d'Huez one day before the Champs-Elysées stage.
1) Too far from Paris (630 km)
2) A huge traffic jam at the foot
3) I am tired (from climbing)
4 No DVB-T


It is not confirmed but it will be in a month (Wednesday, October 22nd in Paris).

The general layout is that it starts in Utrecht, the Netherlands and finishes in Paris before going counter-clockwise (the Pyrenees first and then the Alps).

According to the excellent site afore-mentioned, it has two rest days in Pau and Gap, which is very likely.

First stage (Grand Départ) will be an ITT stage. There could be a TTT (Stage 5?) but there seems to be no final ITT before the Champs-Elysées stage. The final Champs-Elysées stage will start later in the afternoon. There is no words about the second edition of Women's race on the Champs-Elysées but it will take place next year, I believe.



In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [TdF 2015 Stage layout (predicted) and my plans]の続きを読む

1. 2014/09/21(日) 21:16:51|
2. Tour de France
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FALSE ALARM! It was not the package from the United States of America. It was a package containing four sets of bottle cages. Sorry.

Now (Tuesday, September 16th 2014) I don't have the item in my possession. It has arrived at the local post office. This afternoon when I peeked into my postbox, I found the notice that the package was waiting for me at the local post office.

Let's analyze the situation. It left the USPS sorting facility at the JFK airport, NY in the evening of14th of September (it was already 15th here in Europe at that time). It supposedly flew to an disclosed airport in Europe not far from or in Luxembourg. It was already at the local post office in the morning of 16th. Wow! Quick!

It took 12 days for the package to leave the North American Continent but it took only (or less than) two days to reach me in Europe.

Anyway, I will pick it up tomorrow (17th) at the local post office. I will see how it works with iPod touch (4th generation) and iPhone 4. They are supposed to be fine with these devices.

It seems to work with both iPhone 4 and iPod touch (4 gen). The device has its own battery inside. It arrived with with its battery empty and sticking it into the iPhone did not make the device recognized by the iPhone. Using a hot (connected to the wall charger) microUSB cable helped. From both the iPhone and iPod touch, I could operate the device using the eyeTV mobile app downloadable from Apple iTunes Store.

For further review, please wait for a couple days.


I did not download the public testing version of Mac OS X 10.10 beta 2. At this moment, Apple has already released the beta 3 to the world. Should I download and install? Should I wait? I have already purchased an SSD to use it as the start-up drive for Yosemite.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [elgato eyeTV mobile (30-pin) for iOS devices review]の続きを読む

テーマ:iPhone - ジャンル:携帯電話・PHS

1. 2014/09/16(火) 22:53:21|
2. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch
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The battery that fits (I hope) into the MacBook Pro 13 Mid-2010 has been ordered. It was already shopped from Hong Kong. It is on the way. Almost (or all) of the sellers claim that their batteries are original without the original box. The capacity of the battery, according to the sellers, is the same as the Apple genuine battery. The seller gave a tracking number but the info is not so detailed.

So how did I decided to buy the one I bought? They all offer similar prices (excluding the shipping) and the descriptions are the same. I chose the seller who had sold more pieces than others had. Otherwise, I could not decide which seller or battery to buy (from).



Burners dimensions
I realized that diameter of the hole where a alcohol burner or other (gas/multi-fuel) burners go in on the Trangia cooker is 7 centimeters and that the diameter of the hole where the gas burner go in on the Jetboil Helios stove is also about 7 centimeters.

The gas burner unit of the Jetboil Helios won't fit the Trangia because this unit (a unit because it is a set of burner head, ignitor and the adapter that holds the previous two things) is not shaped for the Trangia.

I think the gas burner unit that I ordered for Trangia will fit the Jetboil Helios without any modification. The only thing I am not sure about is the height of the burner head. It may be too close to the bottom of the pan. There is no positive reason to put another burner in the Helios but I will try this combination to see if it works.

My Huawei 4G modem (sold as Orange Domino) has recently began turning itself off during use because the battery inside it goes too low to continue to operate. It was fine when I bought it but its battery may have gone weak.

Maybe I should get a AC/USB charger that is capable of charging iPad (up to 2 A a.k.a. more juice). This way, the device can operate while charging the battery instead of discharging the battery.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [MaBook Pro's battery ordered and burners dimensions]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/16(火) 02:02:00|
2. MacBooks and Macs
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I bought (ordered) something back on September 1st on ebay. It was shipped the next day from Albuquerque NM (New Mexico!). It meandered a bit before showing up in Los Angeles CA. It was processed there and departed from the facility on 4th of September. After the departure, it was quiet.

Today, 13th of September it mysteriously showed up again on the tracking information window saying that it is now at the address of the title of this entry.

First I thought that it went to Jamaica (country) but it did not. I googled the address that and found out that the address is just next to JFK airport. It took 9 days to fly or train across the USA. Haha! It is nearing Europe. From Jamaica NY, I guess it flies to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

It is quite a journey. I got to know some exotic names like Jamaica NY and Albuquerque NM. I knew how to pronounce Albuquerque back in the days when I lived in the State when Bush Senior was in the White Office and subsequently Bill Clinton was sworn in. Now I know how to spell it.


I've done a lot of camping in France and other countries. I don't remember seeing other people using Trangia cookers. It looks like I am the only one.

I think they bring gas cookers most of the time as they (gas cookers) are easy to operate. Some hardcore campers bring multi-fuel burners as they (multi-fuel cookers) can make a statement.

Alcohol burners are for the rest of us? It is economical to cook with the spirit burners and the spirit (almost pure alcohol, ethanol) is available virtually everywhere. When I go on a trip to follow the Tour, I won't be home for 4 weeks. I did not want to bring too many gas cartridges (doing so is not safe anyway) or hunting for the compatible ones.

Other campers that I encounter are not doing a four-week trip so they bring a few gas cartridges. If you just need a gas cooker, you have a lot of options. The choice does not have to be the Trangia. Trangia cookers are an overkill for casual summer campers. That is why I don't see others use the Trangia, I guess.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Jamaica NY 11430 (USA)]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/14(日) 16:08:17|
2. Diary
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First, this is the image of the gas burner sold as Trangia compatible from the United Kingdom. It has a preheating pipe running over the burner head.


And, this is the image of the gas burner from China. It does not state that it is Trangia compatible but I believe that it is.


Don't they look similar or almost identical? The color of the tubes looks deferent but it could be just caused by the lighting effect.

Later I realized that UK seller's burner has 8 holes in the center and Chinese seller's burner has only 6 holes in the same place. They are not identical after all.

The biggest difference between them is the price. I don't know if the more expensive UK seller's product is made with superior material. I can buy two Chinese ones with the price for one UK AND still have some money left. I can almost buy three Chinese ones with the price (including the shipping fees) of one UK merchandise.

So I bought two of them. I only need one but it was so cheap.

What do I do with two of them? One is a spare initially.


I opened the tent I bought a short while ago.


It is light and way smaller when folded and lighter than the one (I bought at the Decathlon store) I have, which is very good. It is smaller when put up but big enough to be a shower room.

The seller (on ebay) posted a series of images. So I knew it would look like and what I would expect. The quality of the tent is OK for the price, I think.

The fastener for the entrance is made of plastic material not of metal. This fastener can be a problem in the future.

The bones are of metal (springy steal) and seem to be durable.

The only thing I did not like was the lack of the hook on the ceiling. I knew it did not have one when I bought it. If it should be used as a shower booth, it should have a hook for the portable shower bag. I have to make one for myself. It won't be too difficult.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Camping Berth tent review and the gas burner (for Trangia)]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/13(土) 00:36:00|
2. Camping in Europe
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4. | コメント：0

Wow! The battery inside my MacBook Pro 13 mid-2010 is dying. The last time I wrote about it (a week ago) the battery health diagnostic program showed that the current max charge was 39 % of the original capacity but now it is only 29 %. It is rapidly dying than I thought it would be.

Now it is really high time to order a replacement battery from China. I don't have any plans to go on a trip with my MacBook so the performance time on the battery is no issue at al for the moment. I am more concerned about the rare case reported by some users that the battery gets swollen and the unibody case gets damaged.



In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [MacBook Pro 13 mid-2010 battery woe Part II]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/10(水) 15:18:46|
2. MacBooks and Macs
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4. | コメント：0

I recently bought a used jetboil Helios (2 litter) cooking system from Spain, yes its previous owner lives in Spain. It (my Helios came from Spain) does not have any bearing on the essence of the equipment at all.

I used it once in my room to cook a kind of pot-au-feu to check the equipment. It worked fine. The gas burner has several advantages. If the gas burner is capable of liquid-feeding, it has more advantages over alcohol burner.

An alcohol (spirit) burner has also some advantages over gas burners. Let's compare them.

Gas burners (capable of liquid-feeding) are better than alcohol (spirit) burners in these ways.
Ease of control - simmer to maximum (just to turn the dial)
Easier to ignite and distinguish (just to turn the dial)
No soot

Spirit (alcohol) burners are better than gas burners in these ways.
Ease of purchase (available at almost any supermarkets)
Fuel is cheaper

I love my Trangia with the spirit burner. I did like it when I had to rub the bottom of the pan because the soot builds up after use. I don't know how much alcohol I should pour into the burner when I start cooking. If the alcohol is less than needed, I have to pour more. Pouring alcohol into the burner is not so easy without spilling unless you have a special sprout bottle from Trangia, which I don't own.

I wanted to buy a gas burner that fits in the Trangia. The genuine gas burner (made by Primus) is for some reason expensive. The genuine multi-fuel burner is even more expensive.

I found a less expensive compatible burner on ebay. Later I found even cheaper compatible burner on ebay. The former comes from the United Kingdom and the latter comes from China and I believe they are identical.

The latter is ridiculously cheap compared to the genuine gas burner; four times cheaper.

Should I get one? It does not hurt. OK, I will.

Oh, Apple has finally unveiled the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Should I get one? No. My old iPhone 4 still works.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ
[iPhone 6 (and Plus) and a gas burner for the Trangia cooker]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/09(火) 23:35:01|
2. Camping in Europe
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4. | コメント：0

It was foggy in the morning almost all the way from Luxembourg to Fourmies. The fogginess was from extra moisture in the air to really foggy. The last 20 km to Fourmies was the foggiest. By then the sun was up and it was bright outside so the hinderance of the bad view was minimum.



I was there two years ago and I vaguely remember the route I took back then. I remember going through the city of Chimay, the beer brewery (used to be monastery brewery) on my way to Fourmies. So I was a bit puzzled when I did not see the signs indicating the Chimay city boundary. Thick fog obstructed my view and I did not notice?

It turned out on my way home that I did not pass Chimay on my way to Fourmies. I took a different route through France. I noticed this because on my way back home I did go through the city of Chimay and saw extra signs indicating that this was the city where a famous beer brand operated. I saw patches of seeming huge wheat field around the city along with cows grazing in between those patches.

Are they burley patches? They looked tall and had definitive wheat stalk tips (already ripe) but the leaves were like those of corn plant (huge).

They must be burley to be cropped for brewing.

The start and finish site was just like the way I remember from two years ago. Almost exact and I don't think I could find any difference between my picture memory and the real one.

On my way home my Ka showed this.

It is closing to 70,000 km.

Oh, the reason I took a route that passed through Chimay was that Garmin nüvi 2340 showed me a wrong way. I don't know why but it showed me the wrong way.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [GP de Fourmies 2014 Part IV]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. 2014/09/08(月) 14:29:48|
2. Bike Races in France
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This is actually the second impression but the title continues.

Today (September 7, Sunday) I went to a smallish French town called Fourmies to watch a road bike race named Grand Prix de Fourmies.

I tried my eyeTV W there.

Before going into these details, first I have to write this. I wrote that eyeTV W (software) did not 'kinda' work on my iPod touch (4th gen.) which was on iOS 6.1.6 (latest and probably the last version).

The latest software (eyeTV W) is for iOS 7 and it indeed works on iPod touch (4th gen.). It (hardware and software combined) did not work well for the first time.

Later I learned that Apple allows users to download older versions of apps if the hardware or software limitation requires it. So I downloaded the older version of the software (intended for iOS 6).

Now back to the topic subject. I used the eyeTV W (hardware) with my iPhone 4 in Fourmies. It could tune in up to 26 stations or so. Then I tried it with my iPod touch.

This time, I could log in to the WLAN provided by the eyeTV W and could get to the setup screen. The last time I could not.

I started scanning the stations. It (hardware started scanning) failed in the middle of the scanning process. It (software) reset itself. I tried several times to no avail. iPod touch got kicked out of the WLAN every time. I don't know why. I have to try the combination (hardware and software).

This combination fails because the scanning process takes too long and the Wifi connection between the two hardware can not wait??

When I choose the Wifi network by eyeTV W on my iPhone 4, it does log in. The network gets a check mark. When I do the same with my iPod touch, it does not really get the check mark. This is the difference. It seems that eyeTV W (hardware) does not accept the log in from iPod touch (iOS 6). I don't know why.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [elgato EyeTV W first impression and others Part III]の続きを読む

テーマ:iPhone - ジャンル:携帯電話・PHS

1. 2014/09/07(日) 21:42:21|
2. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch
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4. | コメント：0

Not finished! This entry will be complete by Tuesday when I come back from the race.

Trek Factory Racing riders:
Calvin Watson
Danilo Hondo
Danny Van Poppel
Fumiyuki Beppu
Giacomo Nizzolo
Grégory Rast
Laurent Didier
Markel Irizar

The official site (http://www.grandprixdefourmies.com/) is slow at updating the site. I hope that they will eventually do before Sunday, September 7.

It turned out that this coming Monday I am not working and so naturally I thought about having a cycling day. Where? My plan is that I take my usual camping equipment along with my bike and stay in that area.




Tour de Eurometropole (Circuit Franco-Belge)
http://www.circuitfrancobelge.com/
October 2nd - 5th (Thursday - Sunday)


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [GP de Fourmies 2014 Part III]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. 2014/09/06(土) 12:01:32|
2. Bike Races in France
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4. | コメント：0

I got this MacBook Pro via ebay auction in 2014. It is fine. The seller kept the original box. I guess he used this MacBook with much care and love. It had no dents and it is almost scratch-ree.


The battery cycle, according to the diagnostic program, is 309. Its health was in green and kept the maximum capacity of around 80 % of the original.

I used it daily and now as of Sepember 5th, the battery's health status is in red and keeps only 38 % of the original capacity according to the diagnositic program.

Maybe it is time to buy a new (claimed genuine but probably not genuine) battery sold on ebay. They come (most of them) from China.

Today, I deep-discharged the battery (played a movie and let it shut down itself). Now I am charging the battery while keeping it off.

I will check the health status after recharging and see how bad it is.

I am writing this entry on my iPhone as my MacBook Pro is off for the moment.

Changing the battery inside the MacBook Pro is not too difficult. I can do it.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ
[MacBook Pro 13 mid-2010 battery woe]の続きを読む

1. 2014/09/05(金) 23:18:17|
2. MacBooks and Macs
3. | トラックバック：0
4. | コメント：0

Reading the article on the cyclingnews.com, I remembered the name of the 'Col' that I could not recall while writing an entry several days ago. It was the name of the mountain pass that is said to be the highest pass in Europe that normal automobiles can pass. Col de la Bonette, that was.

The article also says that the Tour will feature those well-known places like l'Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux. Wow, exciting! Wait a second! Back in 2011 (I think) the last stage before the Champs Elysées stage was held on Mont Ventoux and I had to give up going to Mont Ventoux because it was too far away from Champs Elysées. I hope they just finish on top of Mont Ventoux and have a separate ITT somewhere closer to Paris. I keep my fingers crossed on that one.

I stayed on top of the pass and found it really fascinating. I stayed at the altitude of 2,600 meters I think. The pass goes up to 2,800 meters but it is just an extension to the "actual" pass at about 2,600 meters. You don't have to go up the extra 200 meters to go over the pass, you can simply take a short cut.

It was cold in the morning and it went below zero degrees Celsius (below 32 F). Frozen!

It was a wonderful experience. The only drawback was that it was in the middle of protected National Natural Park area and not road painting was allowed, no letting your pets go (I mean pee) was allowed (and someone got a fine for that), no open fire was allowed, no music and giving out the small gifts from the publicity caravan was allowed and almost everything was forbidden. We were allowed to stay there only because the Tour was coming.

So we had a kind of funeral progression of cars when the publicity caravan came.

Next year if and when this pass is used as a finish of a stage, I will not stay there to spend the night. I will climb the mountains from the bottom of the mountain. I am very tempted to have that freezing morning air again but I have done that before so I will try something else this time.

I think ASO will make the first presentation of the 2015 edition in October (normally Wednesday toward the end of the month).

This will be good reference to the pass info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_de_la_Bonette

As far as I remember, DVB-T (digital terrestrial signal) did not reach on top of Col de la Bonette-Restefond. I remember setting up a satellite receiver and a parabola antenna there.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Tour de France 2015 rumors]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. 2014/09/02(火) 23:04:12|
2. Tour de France
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On my way home from SNCT (where you get your automobile's registration and renewed), I dropped by a supermarket (Cactus, if you have to know the name) to buy the material for the pot-au-feu. Oh, by the way, my Ford Ka passed the technical check and it is good for the next two years.

What I bought at Cactus (pronounced something like cut-ooh-s in French) were the following:
A Pot-au-Feu mix package, how convenient!


The content of the package is from three countries.
Leek, carrot, onion, parsley and celery are from Germany
Turnip is from France
Potato is from Luxembourg


A package of Mushroom.



A package of Mettwurscht.


The first item is a cost-saving and also time-saving package for someone like me. I don't want to pick each item inside the package. The second item is for the flavor. The third item is for the base taste.

Next year when I am on the Tour (of the Tour de France), I will be shopping differently. I will buy similar vegetable individually in larger amount (for 4-5 days). I may buy frozen vegetable mix bags to use them as a cooling agent inside a cooler box. I may also buy some frozen sea food (shrimps or fish filets) or frozen meat (most likely chicken) to use them also as a cooling agent. I don't want to buy a package of ice cubes just for cooling.

Anyway, here is the recipe.
1. Pour some oil in the pot and bring it hot.
2. Throw minced base taste item (meat or fish) in the pot.
3. Throw minced/sliced flavor vegetable (mushroom, onion, garlic, leek or others)
4. Lightly sauté them.
5. Pour water and bring it to boil.
6. Throw other vegetables (minces, sliced or so) in the pot.
* You can throw vegetable hard to cook first or you can mince them smaller to cook quickly.
7. Wait until everything is cooked
8. Add some salt.
Finish!

Preparation time (mincing, slicing or chopping): 10 minutes (estimated)
Cooking time 15 minutes (ditto)

I cooked. It was fine. The ignitor's cable broke off. They were glued initially but the glue had been deteriorated over time, I guess.

According to the official site (http://www.jetboil.com/), Jetboil fans are called "jetheads." I think this Helios system was not too popular among them. The critical shortcoming of the Helios, I guess, was not being able to be used with the hanger kit. It does not hang. It has to stay on the solid level ground. Jetheads wanted to take Jetboil systems in the high mountains.

Helios has a successor, the Joule system. This Joule system, of course, has a hanger kit accessory. It can hang. It does not need the solid level ground. It is free.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Pot-au-Feu cooked with the Jetboil Helios, first try]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/02(火) 14:17:10|
2. Camping in Europe
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The package has arrived from Spain, where the previous owner lives. He used it on 5 occasions as he described on the ebay. Maybe it is tree, maybe not but it does not matter as long as it is in a good condition.

The verdict is, ... (drum roll)... Good!

The cozy (the neoprene cover that traps the heat inside) had been burned slightly. It is functional so the verdict is still good. The four pictures that the seller put up did not show the burn and the description did not mention it.

The lid is slightly deformed but this is a normal deformation that happens to all lids (the deformation happens even before use). The windshield (polycarbonate material?) has a small slight cracks but it is also normal wear. The pan has slight scratches in on the bottom inside but these are normal scratches.

I did not buy a brand new item so this is OK except for the undisclosed cozy burn.


So the initial function test has been made. The igniter works fine and the gas burner get fired up immediately.

Overall I am happy to get this stove at the price I paid the seller.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Jetboil Helios Cooking System has arrived!]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2014/09/02(火) 09:50:00|
2. Camping in Europe
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