欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記

I am still undecided on where I should be at on April 2nd.

My rough plan is to drive to Oudenaarde's Markt plaza in the morning to see what is going on that day and then move to one of the climbs to watch men's and women's pelotons in action. Later I may drive back to Oudenaarde. I am not sure if I can see anything interesting in Oudenaarde after the race.

So I made an excerpt of the climbs' description to make it easier for me to decide.

Men’s No. Women’s (No.) Name of the climb
Total length / average and maximum gradient / cobble stone length
Men's passing time at 42km/h (Women's passing time at 38km/h)

4 Eikenberg
1,200m / ave 5.2% max. 10% / 1200m (cobble)
13:57

5. (3.) Wolvenberg
645m / ave. 7.9% max. 17.3%
14:03 (15:23)

6. (4.) Molenberg
463m / ave. 7% max. 14.2 % / 300m (cobble)
14:21 (15:46)

7. (5.) Marlboroughstraat
2040m / ave. 3% max. 7%
14:27 (15:49)

8. (6.) Berendries
940m / ave. 7% max. 12.3%
14:32 (15:55)

9. (7.) Valkenberg
540m / ave. 8.1% max. 12.8%
14:40 (16:04)

13. Paterberg
360m / ave. 12.9% max. 20.3% / 360m
15:33

14. (8.) Koppenberg
600m / ave. 11.6% max. 22% / 600m
15:43 (16:34)

15. (9.) Steenbeekdries
1,100m / ave. 3.1% max. 7.6% / 1,100m
15:51 (16:42)

16. (10.) Taaienberg
530m / ave. 6.6% max. 15.8% / 500m
15:54 (16:46)

17. (11.) Kruisberg / Hotond
2,500m / ave. 5% max. 9% / 450m
16:09 (17:03)

18. (12.) Oude Kwaremont
2,200m / ave. 4% max. 11.6% / 1,500m
15:29 (17:18)

19. (13.)Paterberg
360m / ave. 12.9% max. 20.3% / 360m
(17:23)

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ
[Where at on April 2nd?]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. 2023/03/31(金) 14:41:19|
2. Bike Races in Belgium
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De Ronde van Vlaanderen 2023

My biggest concern is the weather around Oudenaarde, Belgium where most of the actions take place.

The weather forecast app (one of those apps on my Android phone) tells me that it is going to be cloudy next Sunday with 0% of precipitation expectation. The expected high and low (temperatures) are 9 and 3 degrees Celsius. It does not say we are going to have a sunny sky.

On the other hand, the Saturday weather is going to be wet with 100% of precipitation possibilities. The temperature is expected to stay between 6 and 10 degrees Celsius.

So the rain stays there all through Saturday and then the rain clouds will be gone by Sunday.

What am I going to do? I don’t think that I can paint on the cobble stones anywhere as they are wet (because of the rain).

If it rains all day and the ground surface stays wet, I have nothing to do on Saturday. In that case it is wise to stay here in Luxembourg on Saturday and drive up to Oudenaarde early in the morning.

Or?

How do I spend the day?

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [De Ronde van Vlaanderen 2023 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. 2023/03/31(金) 11:02:33|
2. Bike Races in Belgium
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The bigger the lie, the more believe it.

So the COVID19 was a lie. It was a big one and so many people believed it.

Luxembourg parliament has made it into law that we can totally forget about it now.

I believe that most if not all EU countries have also made it so.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [When do we wise up and the answer is never.]の続きを読む

テーマ:ひとりごとのようなもの - ジャンル:日記

1. 2023/03/29(水) 17:38:47|
2. Things European
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Dusted LP-R600 from hell

My humble small studio apartment was renovated and I had to stay elsewhere for a while. Before evacuating the room, I had to take everything out of the room. Since my small studio did not have any storage place (usually a space located in the cellar), I had to ask friends of mine to let me use their cellar storage.

The cleaning, sorting, packing and moving process was a hell. I could not believe that I had so much stuff. My Mazda MX-5 does not have decent storage space so the moving the packed stuff to the location (about 4 kilometers away) was an excruciatingly slow choir.

One of the dusted items that I found was this Shimano LP-R600 bike light. I had long neglected it since I could buy better bike lights. Shimano maybe had not yet started "Pro" brand at that time.

When the market-giant Shimano sold non-component (as opposed to braking, shifting and other so-called component products) products, Shimano had to be very careful not to raise suspicions that Shimano would crash the market by making bike frames and other parts. To this date for this reason Shimano has never produced bike frames (I think).

So this brilliantly designed LP-R600 (LP came maybe from Lamp but R600 came from what associations? Certainly 600 did not represent the lumen value it produced) was intendedly a flawed product. The light source was a filamented P13.5s socket bulb. It was hopelessly dim. If it had adopted better bright LEDs, it could have really tormented makers like Exposure or other German competitors.

I toyed with it before ultimately switching to the Exposure Revo. I tried some LED bulbs but they did not satisfy me.

Dynamo-powered lights versus battery-powered lights

I prefer dynamo-powered lights over battery powered lights. The reason is simple. The former shines as long as I exert my legs on a bike.

So much so I helped some bike dynamo light launches by pledging some money on crowdfunding projects.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Ancient Shimano dynamo wheel / bike light]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. 2023/03/29(水) 16:21:22|
2. Bike Races
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The credit card

The credit card that I have been longing for has arrived in the mail!

Now I have to activate it. The card arrived as "inactive" and the user has to activate it by using it physically. Easy (?) way to achieve it is to get to the ATM and withdraw some money by using the PIN.

I did but I seemed to have failed. Tomorrow I will try again. The PIN code must be correct. What did I do wrong?


The bed framep;
It arrived from IKEA and immediately I got it up. It took me less than 30 minutes or so. The task was easy. Hannah has one more object to play on now.

This bed was the cheapest one sold at IKEA, Arlon. It serves the purpose, namely for me to sleep on it.

What I found funny and also a bit annoying was that the short messages and also the email that I received from IKEA and also the transport company. So often and so many pieces of messages I got during these two days.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [The card has arrived and the bed, too]の続きを読む

テーマ:ひとりごとのようなもの - ジャンル:日記

1. 2023/03/29(水) 13:37:14|
2. Diary
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Where is my credit card?

I was supposed to get a new one before the old one expired. I did not. I don't know why but sometimes I seem to miss some important mail.

I went to the main office of my bank and wanted to ask for a new card. I was told then that the agents were available by appointment only. I was also told to send a secure message via online banking.

I did so and the new one has been re-issued. I have not received it yet. I am hoping it arrives sometime this week.

I want to reserve some lodging online but no credit card, no reservation. I am frustrated.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [De Ronde van Vlaanderen 2023 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. 2023/03/28(火) 20:18:09|
2. Bike Races in Belgium
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De Ronde Sunday, 2nd April

It looks like that finally the dark C*VID-1* days are over when it comes to the Tour of Flanders (De Ronde van Vlaanderen). What do I mean by “finally”?

During that fake plague period the organizer had to shut the fans out from the course and had to hold most of the gathering events indoors or somewhere to minimize the number of people gathering for the events.

The city square of Oudenaarde (with the obligatory name of Markt square) used to host thousands of fans but during the dark period there were none.

Finally this year they let the fans come to the square to have fun.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ
[De Ronde van Vlaanderen 2023]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. 2023/03/27(月) 20:35:06|
2. Bike Races in Belgium
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Flanders Classics 2023

There's a site whose URL reads https://www.flandersclassics.be. It used to have smartphone apps that I believe had iOS and Android versions. They stopped the smartphone apps several years ago but its Internet site still keeps growing.

The organizer of those races boasts the gender equality by having both women's and men's race and also promising the same amount of prize money regardless of the sexes. I don't know if the ecosystem is sustainable. I just hope the organizer can keep finding the revenue for it (sponsors and TV broadcast partners).

Well. My first trip to watch the road race live will be Gent-Wevelgem 2023. It is held Tomorrow as of this writing, Sunday, March 26.

I did my homework and so far my plans would be like this:

1. Luxembourg to Ieper (Grote Markt) 05:00 to 09:30
2. Men's team presentation 09:50 to 10:50
3. Ieper to Scherpenberg (men's 1st and 7th climb / women's 1st and 5th climb)
4. Going home

And very very unfortunately the weather seems to be a disaster, rainy the whole day with 100 % precipitation forecast. If the ground is wet I can not use my water-based paint at all.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Flanders Classics 2023]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. 2023/03/25(土) 08:43:08|
2. Bike Races in Belgium
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The Blob (1988)

I thought I had seen it long before when I was a teenager. Wait a minute! 1988 was around the year I was a college student still. I thought I was much younger when I saw it.

Is this a remake? I thought the one I had seen had a slightly different story.

A quick check on the internet (Wikipedia) taught me that there have been a lot of remakes.

1958 The Blob (original with Steve McQueen)
1972 Beware! The Blob
1988 The Blob

So the one I saw turned out to be the second remake preceding the one I just watched. The plot of the 1972 version matches the one I remember.

Watching the movie (from 1988), I noticed some Mag-Lites (seemingly 4D) being used by the soldiers in biohazard suits. Yes, back in 1988 those Mag-Lites had been popular especially in California (Ontario, California the headquarters of Mag Instrument and Hollywood, California).

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [The Blob (1988)]の続きを読む

テーマ:映画感想 - ジャンル:映画

1. 2023/03/23(木) 16:56:46|
2. Diary
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UCO Mini Candle Lantern Review

I bought this mini candle lantern. I thought it would be useful while on a camping tour staying in a tent. I have never light it on till now. Now I have, I have something to say about it.

UCO has several models of candle lanterns. As far as I see (through google search) there are a tall thin model, chubby model and this mini model. The tall thin and chubby model seem to use the same chunky candles specifically one and three respectively. Chunky candles with a thicker candle wick are likely to produce more candle power, thus brighter than ones with a thin wick.

The Mini models use a tiny cup candle typically found on cafe / bar or restaurant tables in a glass. They (those tiny cup candles) flicker and emit a gentle beam not to blind or distract people sitting at the tables.

I should have known. Or I knew already that this UCO Mini candle lantern would not be bright.

I was a bit disappointed by my own stupid decision to get one.

Would it be a useful in a tent? I don't think too much so. Would I take it on my next camping tour? I am not sure.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [UCO Mini Candle Lantern]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:趣味・実用

1. 2023/03/22(水) 21:07:06|
2. Camping in Europe
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Mag Instrument Mag-Lite 4C and Streamlight Ultra Stinger

I acquired an old battered Mag-Lite 4C about two years ago. I did not buy it. I got it for free. I found it lying on a shelf (free of charge) at a local recycling center where I worked at that time.

I did not think much of it until recently. I got fascinated by it when I learned that it had been over manufactured 32 years before. It was until recently that I knew it was at least 32 years old.

I like the shape of Mag-Lite 4C. A C-cell battery is sized at 26 millimeters in diameter and 50 millimeters in length while a D-cell battery is sized at 33.2 millimeters and 61.5 millimeters respectively.

A 4C has a much thinner body than a typical D-cell Mag-Lite does. I like this thinner shape.

Streamlight UltraStinger looks much like Mag-Lite 4C. They are about the same in their dimension.

Now I am looking for a good deal on Streamlight UltraStinger on ebay. I am looking for the old incandescent bulb model but not a newer model with an LED. Most of them (if not all) are from the United States of America where Streamlight operates but they are made in China nowadays anyway.

It has to be cheap as the shipping fee is exorbitant because the shipment is handled by UPS, Fedex or others who are very quick but charge a lot in return.

To add insult to injury, we have to pay additional so-called import charges in proportion to the price I pay for the item when something is brought into EU from outside EU. Outrageous!

Amazon Germany does not have many Streamlight products but Amazon UK has slightly more for some reasons.

Once I decide to get a secondhand Streamlight UltraStinger, I have to be very careful not to overpay for them. Most cheap used UltraStinger do not come with chargers or even rechargeable batteries. If I am going to buy chargers or batteries additionally, the total price will be more than or as much as a new LED UltraStinger that could be obtained from Amazon Germany or Amazon UK. I don't want to be stupid shopper.

I am not going to buy the genuine part charger nor genuine part batteries. I have to devise a way to put the 18650 batteries into it to power up the flashlight.

Am I going to get a third-party LED upgrade such as by Lumens Factory (lumensfactory.com)? It is an interesting product but I don't think I am going to jump on it soon.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Do I need a Streamlight Ultra Stinger?]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:趣味・実用

1. 2023/03/22(水) 19:58:52|
2. Miscellaneous stuff
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My Mag-Lite 4C was made between 1990 and 1991

According to this blog (maglitehistory.blogpot.com), my Mag-Lite 4C was made during the period between 1990 and 1991. This makes it at least 32 years old.

Wow! I did not think that it was so old.

The durability of Mag-lites are legendary but I never thought I was going to believe it myself. It is functional and the those rubber parts (switch cover or O-ring seals) are still soft without cracks.

Mag-Lites have seen better days during the 90's but I believe the production has dwindled since then. I saw decent amount of Mag-Lites sold in Germany (I was there between 2003 and 2008) but even earlier Luxembourg years. Now I don't see them at all in Luxembourg.

I wonder why.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Mag-Lite 4C like an old soldier]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:趣味・実用

1. 2023/03/20(月) 22:18:21|
2. Diary
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I have known this phrase for more than a couple of decades by now.

More and more I get to appreciate this principle these days. Seeing the complexity of the features on newer cars, I get baffled. Cars are equipped with so many so-called safety features beyond really essentially safety features like ABS.

Anti-lock Braking System was good. At least the idea of ABS was good. It sure helped the driver control the skidding situation on gravels, icy surfaces and slippery roads.

My Mazda MX-5 ND (year 2017 model) is equipped with way more features like the one that restricts gas when the system detects the skidding of one of the rear wheels or the one that warns us with an alarm sound when it detects the car crosses over lane marks on the road.

I always cut these two features off all the time. They really annoys me. I don't think I ever need them. I would rather install the LSD (Limited Slip Differential) and make this senseless system totally moot.


In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle]の続きを読む

テーマ:愛車と日常 - ジャンル:車・バイク

1. 2023/03/20(月) 20:19:20|
2. Diary
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Hiking

Around Vianden, Luxembourg

I'm currently staying at a youth hostel in Vianden for the moment while my humble studio residence is being renovated.

Vianden is one of a few sightseeing spots in Luxembourg.

There are not so many sightseeing spots in Luxembourg to tell the truth. It is after all a tiny area of land in a hilly countryside surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany.

Vianden is a tiny sleepy town by Our river (tiny) located in a tiny valley. On one top of the hills, there's a castle built with stones.

According to a Belgian guy, my dorm mate, the foundation of the town and the castle was founded by the Romans, the ancient Roman empire people.

It's a small castle and by no means a spectacular one. It costs 10 Euro to enter the castle so I hesitate to reach for the wallet.

The town is sleepy one with the usual cafes, inns, hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops. I had to stay one week and I didn't know what to do.

My dorm mate recommended me to go on a hike around Vianden. He was here to do so away from the clamours of his hometown.


I did. I wandered in the Forest and the surrounding areas for two hours and three hours on Friday and Saturday respectively.


Shimano LP-R600

I own this: Shimano WH-3N71 (20-spoke Dynamo Hub front Wheel)

I also own this: Shimano LP-R600 (9.6 V / 5 Watts)

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Going on a hike around Vianden, Luxembourg]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:趣味・実用

1. 2023/03/20(月) 18:23:58|
2. Bikes and related things
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De Ronde van Vlaanderen 2023

The last time I drove to watch this race was last year and the race organizer was adamant to stop people from coming to the race. They blocked almost all the cobble stone sections and climb sections.

I drove there early in the morning but after finding the blockage, I drove home. I was disheartened.

I think this year all of these madness has been lifted. I hope we, the fans, are allowed to be on the race course without any restrictions.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Recent trend or just temporary measures?]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. 2023/03/19(日) 21:38:47|
2. Bike Races
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It is that time of the year!

March, 2023 has been there for a while and I am ready to travel.

Gent-Wevelgem 2023
Sunday, 26 / 03
Men's edition:
Women's edition:

Dwars Door Vlaanderen 2023
Wednesday, 29 / 03
Men's edition:
Women's edition:

De Ronde van Vlaanderen 2023
Sunday, 02 / 04
Men's edition:
Women's edition:

Scheldeprijs 2023
Wednesday, 05 / 04

De Brabantse Pijl 2023
Wednesday, 12 / 04

Paris - Roubaix 2023
Sunday, 09 / 04

Amstel Gold Race 2023
Sunday, 16 / 04

La Fleche Wallonne 2023
Wednesday, 19 / 04

Liège - Bastogne - Liège 2023
Sunday, 23 / 04

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [It is time for me to travel]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. 2023/03/19(日) 20:11:54|
2. Bike Races
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Trangia compatible gas burner

I have used a Trangia cooker stove for years. I guess I have used it since around 2006 or so.

I switched to the gas burner around 2009 or so. I had long wanted to get one, the genuine (Trangia) burner but the price kept me from getting one.

I then found seemingly a compatible burner on the internet. "Seemingly" compatible as the seller on ebay did not specify the compatibility anywhere. I thought the compatibility was obvious.

I ordered two sets as they were cheap. They were way cheaper then than they are now (2023). I repeat that I bought 2 sets thinking that I would still have one more when one goes unusable.

So I have been using one since its arrival and it worked very well until a couple of days ago.

Its burner head is made of some stainless steel and has numerous holes. It also has stainless steel mesh sheet lining in the back of the burner head. It is a typical construction for a camping gas burner head, I guess.

Over the course of use, the heat and oxidation begin to corrode the material, the mesh lining has deteriorated and crumbled off partially. When this happens, the flame goes inside the burner head and further burns the thin mesh sheet lining making the oxidation/corrosion process accelerate.

The burning (small explosion) noise reveals the symptoms and eventually the use of the burner becomes unbearably uncomfortable.

One remedy for this is to reline the burner head but this head construction makes it virtually impossible.

The other remedy, although not really proper one is to make the air intake holes before the burner head smaller to choke the burner.

The latter hack kinda works because choking makes the gas mixture (butane and the air, in other words our atmosphere, 20 % oxygen and 80 % nitrogen) too rich or too much butane and makes it harder for the mixture to burn until it meets more air at the burner head (on the surface of the burner head).

Of course I will eventually use the other spare burner that has been kept in the bag for over 10 years.

I guess or I can guess that the primary air intake holes are a tad too big (there are four of them) judging from the burnt mesh lining. So I will choke the holes of the new one before using it.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Trangia cookware and gus burner]の続きを読む

テーマ:アウトドア - ジャンル:趣味・実用

1. 2023/03/17(金) 18:33:15|
2. Camping in Europe
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Is 40542513 a prime number?

Why ask? Well, it's the serial number of the 4C Mag-Lite that I own and I just wondered if it was so since it was obviously an odd number by the look of it.

I found a site on the internet that would answer such a question. I tried it and it told me it was not.

I wondered what prime number or numbers could divide the number without fractions.

On a hunch, I divided the number by 3, the second smallest prime number and voila! It was cleanly divided. I soon found that 11 also could do the trick. I stopped investigating the matter there but I was amused to see it.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Mag-Lite 4C, just a flash light]の続きを読む

テーマ:ひとりごとのようなもの - ジャンル:日記

1. 2023/03/16(木) 17:17:05|
2. Diary
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