欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記

I switched to SRAM group set from Shimano just because they looked (to my eyes) better and were lighter. My Cervélo RS is now equipped with SRAM RED 10-speed and Force rear derailleur. I wanted to buy RED rear derailleur but it was simply too expensive.

By the way, the Cervélo Soloist 2004 was the first road racer bike that I had ever had. At that time I chose Shimano Dura-Ace group set on that bike. I let the bike shop install all the stuff and bought it as a complete bike. Over the years I accumulated enough knowledge to assemble a complete bike on my own.

Originally when I assembled my Cervélo RS, I bought Rival group set (shifters and front and rear derailleurs) back in 2010. As SRAM (along with Shimano and Campagnolo) moved to 11-speed, the prices of 10-speed RED shifters and others got cheaper on the market. That was when I collected RED shifters and FD. Unfortunately, the price of rear derailleur stayed too expensive.

In 2015, I got used (first generation) Osymetric chainrings. It was a 52/38 set. I realized that the inner 38 ring and the rear 28 cog combination was too heavy in the mountains. During the Tour de France, I put the 34 ring back on my bike.

If I were to keep the Osymetric 38 chainring on my bike all the time, I have to use a bigger rear cog, like a 32-tooth. To capacitate a big 32 cog, I have to use SRAM Wifli rear derailleur.

I have been watching the prices of Force Wifli rear derailleur for some time. Their price has been stable so far. There has been no sign of dramatic (or desperate) fall in the price. There seems to be a constant demand for those 10-speed gears. If and when people stop demanding 10-speed gears, shops who still have them in stock become desperate to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

SRAM is still manufacturing and selling 10-speed road gears. The lowest group set APEX is 10-speed group set and others (Rival, Force, Red) have moved to 11-speed.

I am still waiting.


I have no immediate plans to move on to 11-speed gears. Two reasons: 11-speed won't make you go faster and my Zipp 404 is not 11-speed compatible.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [SRAM 10-Speed equipment is getting extinct?]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車用品 - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2015/12/27(日) 02:13:37|
2. Bikes and related things
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UCI vs. ASO (again)

It was finally confirmed by ASO that the Grand Départ will take place in Düsseldorf in 2017. The news came just a few days later that ASO had announced their intentions to pull its races (not clear if Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and la Vuelta a Espana are included) off the UCI's World Tour calendar in 2017.

I think I have written about this little story that I witnessed in Utrecht this summer. It took place at the Tour de France Team Presentation ceremony. Brian Cookson, President of the UCI entered the VIP area and shook hands with the person in charge of the entire event, of course, Christian Prudhomme. I was staring at them for some time as I knew that they had been at odds for long time.

They shook hands and may have exchanged a few words like, hello or how are you?, but they were not smiling And most significantly their eyes never met. Never!


Casino

I have been to Las Vegas on many occasions. It does not mean that I am a addicted gambler. I never spent more than 20 or 30 dollars at a time. I think I was their 6 or 7 times. Once I won (after spending about 20 dollars) around 200 dollars on a slot machine. On that particular trip (from Los Angeles, where I was living at that time by car), after paying everything (room, gas and food) I still had some dollars in my pocket left.

I am not a gambler.

Last Sunday, I visited a Casino in Mondorf-les-Bains. Mondorf-les-Bains is known as the town where the Schleck family live. It was my first time ever to enter the Casino there. One of my colleagues invited me for a drink that evening and I did not know that I was driving to Mondort-les-Bains. I just followed his car.

It was interesting to see what was going on in that Casino. It was like a miniature Las Vegas. I had a beer but did not play at all.

Vision Mini-TT Clip-on bars and its aftermath

This mini TT aerobar is on my Cervélo RS. After installing the bar, I realized several things.

The first time I saw them on TV on Ivan Basso's Cervélo R3, it was clearly visible that they had white bar tape on them. I liked that look.

Naturally, I tried to wrap some bar tape on them. I expected those caps (or plugs) that go into the bar ends would work as the stopper. I thought I could tack the bar tape inside the bar ends. I could not. The clearance between the inner dimension of the tube and the outer dimension of those plugs were too little. There was no way I could tack normal bar tape between them.

How did the mechanic at Team CSC (I know most of them who were working for Team CSC in 2004) manage to wrap some bar tape on them? Some vinyl tape on both ends (starting end and finishing end)?

I searched for 'Vision Mini-TT Clip-on' on the Net for some images. Most of the time, they appeared that they were naked (no bar tape) while in use. Should I leave them naked?

Solution? I would like to try a cotton bar tape on them.


Garmin Edge mounts

I was using SRAM's Edge mount on the handle bar. It was (and still is) fine. When I installed the Mini-TT Clip-on bar, I removed the mount. How should I mount my Garmin Edge back again on my bike?

The distance between the two bars (parallel Center to Center) should be about 7 to 8 centimeters. It can be as narrow as 6 centimeters.

If I keep the distance at 8 centimeters, there is barely enough space to leave the SRAM's QuickView on the bar. As the QuickView requires about 9 mm of footprint.

How should I do? It puzzles me.


The end of anonymous Prepaid SIM card

As already announced earlier soon after the terrorists attacks in Paris, purchase of prepaid SIM cards in Luxembourg requires submission of identification papers. Those who use prepaid SIMs already in circulation will be requested to submit their identification papers to the mobile phone operators.

Today a news article appeared on Wort.lu's site. It will happen soon but gradually. They (phone operators) don't want all the customers (up to 200,400) rush to their counters at the same time. It will be a chaotic mess.

So I will wait until an SMS message arrives on my phone.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [2017 Düsseldorf Grand Départ, etc.]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車レース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2015/12/25(金) 03:13:09|
2. Bike Races
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This site (referred to me by a friend of mine who also follow a lot of bike races in Europe) has been update to 016 version of the Tour de France.

http://campingstourdefrance.nl/

It is a site which helps people like me find suitable camping grounds near the stage parcours. It has bee updated.

The Paris-Nice info has been revealed to the public. I have enjoyed watching the prologue (or first stage near Paris) almost every year since I came to Europe.

In 2016, the first stage is a prologue which takes place near Paris. The city is called 'Conflans-Sainte-Honorine' and is not too far away from Paris. March 6th Sunday can be a cold winter day. I will be ready as my Ford Ka will be equipped with winter tires soon (as soon as Tomorrow).

I am not too sure but I would like to visit Conflans-Sainte-Honorine next year to watch the race.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Tour de France Camping and Paris-Nice 2016]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車レース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2015/12/17(木) 15:59:37|
2. Bike Races in France
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Today on my way to work sitting in a bus, an ad at one of the bus stops caught my attention. That was the advertisement announcing that Decathlon is coming to Arlon, Belgium.

Of course, I was in Luxembourg (city of Luxembourg) at that time. When a big chain store opens in Arlon, Belgium, it is meant for people in Luxembourg. IKEA has a store in Arlon, Belgium.

The opening (ouverture in French) was set to December 18. It is Friday.

I would like to drop in on the store on Saturday. Maybe they have special promotion sales or something.

I wish they had that camping shower thing in stock but I know the chances are slim. In fact, when I checked the site (decathlon.be), I found out that no stores in Belgium had it in stock.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Decathlon (sporting equipment store chain) is coming to Arlon, Belgium!]の続きを読む

テーマ:ヨーロッパ - ジャンル:海外情報

1. 2015/12/16(水) 23:33:07|
2. Info Luxembourg
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after almost five years (of use), I finally bought (at this moment ordered and paid for) a set of winter tires (and matching wheels) for my Ford Ka.

I did not buy winter tires because I did not drive during Winter (December - March period). I did not need them.

This time I decided that I needed them as I am changing a lot things in my life soon starting this Winter. I will move to another location within Luxembourg. I will quit my current job and start afresh. I have to driving around this Winter to make above things happen.

It cost me roughly 440 euros. The material will arrive on Thursday afternoon and (when it does) I will let them installed on Friday.



In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ

[New tires and wheels for my Ka]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車用品 - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2015/12/14(月) 19:13:16|
2. Ford Ka
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This dynamo light (similar to the Magniclight in principle - Eddie current) created by Reelight (Denmark) funded by Kickstater was supposed to be delivered to the project supporters by the end of December 2015.

Things were going well (I suppose) until I (along with the co-supporters) received a notice email telling me that it would not happen until sometime February 2016.

The reason for the delay according to Reelight is that they had received some parts from their suppliers that did not meet their standard. They were not happy so they decided to change their supplier for that parts.

OK. After getting a delay notice from Limits Technology (Limits pedal power meter / Indiegogo), this was a bit of disappointment. My Christmas gift No. 1 (Limits) and No. 2 (Neo) are not coming in time.


One of the news articles that caught my attention was this one that appeared on several sites on the net. A Chinese billionaire is interested in purchasing one or more Grand Tours (of cycling road race). It means that this Chinese tycoon may purchase the right to the stage races from those organizations that operate the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana.

Really? I knew that Giro d'Italia organizer had financial problems.



In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Neo (by Reelight) will be delayed ]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車用品 - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2015/12/10(木) 16:35:17|
2. Bikes and related things
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I like Tour de Suisse (Tour of Switzerland, if I may, in English) for several reasons.

(in ramdom order)
1. Beautiful mountains and sceneries
2. Less crowded traffic and fewer crowd (than those of the Tour de France)
3. More (valuable and abundant) 'petits cadeaux' (free stuff from publicity caravan and at start/finish)

The only complain that I have is that over there diesel fuel is more expensive than gasoline and my Ford Ka uses diesel. Things are relatively expensive there but I only buy cheap food so no damage is done.

Next year (2016) the Tour de Suisse has a very interesting stage layout. Take a look at http://www.tourdesuisse.ch/.

I wish I could go and watch all of the stages this coming summer.

The highlight (at least one of the highlights) will be the climb to Rettenbachjoch. Rettenbach is a well-known name to any cycling fans. I always wanted to climb there.


A while ago, I wrote about camping shower equipment. Today I looked for a similar device on Decathlon's site. It is a big sporting equipment store chain in France, Belgium, Germany and many other countries.

Was my search fruitful? Yes.



In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Tour de Suisse 2016]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車レース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2015/12/03(木) 01:35:23|
2. Bike Races in Switzerland
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It has been a long standing wish to have a cat. It was not possible for me to keep a cat with me as I did not have an apartment contract that allowed me to keep small animals.

Soon I will move to a bigger place where I have the freedom to keep animals. Hopefully I will be getting a cat soon.

I am going to adopt a cat but not buying one from a breeder or pet shops. I would like to adopt one when she or he is small. I am going to train her or him to be car travel capable. This needs a bit of explanation (and maybe excuses).

I adopted two cats (siblings male and female) when I was still living in Japan. The reason (or my reasoning) to adopt two cats together was not to have them over-meowing (like left alone and missing accompaniment) when I could not be there. Of course, I had a job then and had to leave for work.

This worked. They had each other all the time and did not miss accompaniment. They grew up to be very quiet cats.

One thing that I could not try was to make them mobile. They hated to be onboard a car. I had much trouble to take them to the vet by car. As soon as the car moved, they got restless and jumped around.

My entire vacation is spent on following bike races. I follow them by car. What should I do with my cat when I travel? Should I leave him or her home? I don't want to leave her or him. I want to take her or him.

I don't have any preference for the gender of the cats. I had female and male cats once and they were equally lovely. Male cats may be competitive and show signs of rivalry with neighboring male cats (if any). Female cats can be more docile than male cats although my male cat was very gentle.

This time I want to begin with a baby cat and I carry it as much as I can to make them a bit less motion sensitive. Cats are known for their keen motion sensitivity and this is one of their signature features as a species.

I am saying that I will try to numb it a bit. Totally killing their motion sensitivity will be a catastrophe. I try to only numb it a bit so that I can take my cat on a car travel. I will try to train my cat to ride a bike with me.

Is it considered to be OK? Is it going to offend animal rights activists? I think it is far humane (if this term can apply to this situation) to have cats' motion sensitivity numbed than to keep birds in the cage.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Am I getting a cat?]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車レース - ジャンル:スポーツ

1. 2015/12/01(火) 01:49:21|
2. Cats
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