欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記

Tour de France 2025
A very useful site
Cycling Stage
(https://www.cyclingstage.com/tour-de-france-2025-route/)

Preface:
This whole plan could not have been made possible without the very helpful information provided by this site. I wish I had known this site before.

I did not get the detailed course information (of the TdF 2024) until sometime July 2024 when the official site finally revealed it.

It was too late for me to plan everything before leaving for the first stage (Stage 10). I had to improvise or decide in a hurry for the transfers. I could not inspect the routes before leaving (on Garmin BaseCamp). I made some errors and wasted some time and money by taking the wrong (or not so optimal) routes.

My Garmin Camper 660 (with the latest map updates) knows a great deal of European roads but it does not know the road blocks enforced by the Gendarmairie officers for the Tour de France.

In the mountainous areas, on most occasions detouring around those very road blocks is not possible. This is where you have to decide what to do. Chances are the longer time to consider you have, the wiser decision you will come up with.

Namely, which is better, 1. taking a long long detour to get to the destination or 2. waiting for the road block to devolve after the passage of the race (a couple of hours) and getting past the road block?

Moreover, which is better, 1. skipping a stage all together to beat the road block time limit (around 16:00) or 2. getting to the road block late in the evening (and spending the night there) and climbing up the mountain on foot or on a bike the next day.

This is my initial plan for the Tour de France 2025 at this moment (as of November 2024). I plan to take a long vacation (or just quit the job) to follow all the stages of TdF 2025.

When I plan my camping tour in my tiny Mazda MX-5 with my Hannah (a tiny female cat), I plan things ahead using my trusty Garmin navigation device (Camper 660) and the BaseCamp software.

How do I plan it and what do I plan ahead?
What do I plan?

a. Where to watch the peloton at

b. How long I should drive to reach the overnighting point after the stage

c. Where and how to spend the night


Explanations:
a. Where? A climb. On rare occasions I choose a scenic spot.

Once I chose "Passage du Gois" because this was a very scenic place (a thin strip of path appears only when the sea level goes down).

I like watching the race. I prefer watching the peloton go slow so I can watch individual riders. Naturally I prefer ascending locations than flat or descending locations.

I seek for climbing locations even for so-called flat spring stages. The profile information provided by the official site (letour.fr) is just a small picture file and it is absolutely impossible to know how steep those climbs are by looking at them.

On the other hand, "Cycling Stage" site has interactive maps (map locations and their corresponding locations on the profile graph). One knows the gradient numbers.

b. How long I should drive?
c. Where and how to spend the night?

In France there are so many commercial camp sites. Some say that there are more than 3,000 or 5,000. So I don't make reservation beforehand but I try one on my way as I drive.

Those ones (commercial camp sites) near the start or finish tend to be full (no vacancy). At camp sites in remote and rustic areas I just can get there and ask for a place to stay at the reception (Accueil).

During summer, they accept people who arrive after usual office hours. Often you find a piece of paper telling that those who arrive to find the empty reception office have to call "this number". At some places, you find instructions on the paper telling that you can stay and pay in the morning.

It is perfectly OK to camp on the side of the road on the evening and night on the course awaiting the peloton the next day. Not anywhere but where there is ample place.

People stay in the mountain where no other accommodation is available. I do this a lot. I look for places where I can stay off the road as I can let Hannah free so tht she can freely play in the wild. My Hannah is accustomed to being let free in the wild.

There are signs along the roads, in villages and cities pointing to camp sites and the navigation device has camp sites locations. I try to check in one of them before 20:00. Some camp sites have bars or restaurants that stay open until late hours and most of the time they can let you sign up for the night even later in the evening.

When I have a long transfer in short time, I spend the night in my car. For example, most of the time, the last Saturday stage (before the Champs-Elysées stage), one has to drive 400, 500, 600 km to get to Paris. I drive all the night to get there. I take a short rest at the gas station along the French tollway.

Side trips?
I rarely take side trips. I did take one. I visited Mont-Saint-Michel on my way to Brest. In 2025 I am tempted to visit Omaha Beach if possible.

Index:
What I planned so far:
Chapter 1 (Stage 1 to 7: Grand Départ, Normandie and Bretagne)
Chapter 2 (Stage 8 to 10: Transition to the Pyrenees)
Chapter 3 (Stage 11 to 15: the Pyrenees)
Chapter 4 (Stage 16 to 21: the Alps)

(to be continued . . .)

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Tour de France 2025 and the itinerary]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. 2024/11/26(火) 21:35:13|
2. Tour de France
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I am guilty of being a sloth

I have to do something about it. I have to do something to make me feel like doing something. [Sloth, i am being a]の続きを読む

テーマ:日記 - ジャンル:日記

1. 2024/11/16(土) 21:41:36|
2. Diary
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Pet Cosplay costume arrived!


I have been considering getting one of these for a long time. I have seen a lot of videos of cats and dog wearing this "psychotic knife-wielding little creatures" on the Internet.

I finally ordered one from AliExpress. It arrived and I saw it. I did not know as I did not take too much attention to the details but it turned out that it had two parts. There were the "body" part and the wig.

I wonder when I should try them on my beloved Hannah.

D.O.G.E. The Department of Government Efficiency
This is (I guess) a proposed plan and the name is not yet fixed. They (the soon-to-be new administration) are dead serious about bringing this department forth but I wonder whether they really name it like this. I mean DOGE, seriously? I like it.

In English: 続きをどうぞ [D.O.G.E.? ]の続きを読む

テーマ:日記 - ジャンル:日記

1. 2024/11/14(木) 19:39:35|
2. Diary
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I bought a new knife from Amazon (Germany)
I bought one.

For some time I have been looking for a sturdy knife for my camping trips.

To save money and have my beloved Hannah (cat), I choose Airbnb hosts who allow pets, inexpensive motorist hotel (simply motel) rooms where pets are allowed or camping sites where usually pets are allowed when the trip requires a place to stay at night.

On long camping trips, I take a minimum set of cooking equipment with me. That's when I need a cooking knife.
It must have a very safe sheath. I have to keep it inside the car, in a bag, in the dark tent and so. If I take a wrong step on the blade or grope for something in a bag and mistakenly stab myself in the palm or so, that can ruin the camping trip.

I usually take a Victrinox folding knife (so-called Swiss Army knife) with me. It stays safe as long as the blade is folded. I like it. Alas, it is not suitable cutting vegetable or similar stuff.

This knife come with a Kydex sheath and also with a neat belt clip. It should do the job well. I think now that it was a bit overkill.


According to the spec sheet;
Blade weight: 198 g
Gross weight: 387 g
Blade thickness 4.2 mm
Overall length: 218 mm
Blade length: 98 mm


In English: 続きをどうぞ [I bought a knife for camping trips]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. 2024/11/12(火) 17:58:14|
2. Bike Races
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Justice for P'Nut (seems to be the correct spelling)
One of the deciding factors (or moments) of the Election 2024 was this tiny fella.

Sadly by the time I got to know him, this poor guy was already euthanized by some authority (The Department of Environmental Conservation = DEC) from New York State.

Obviously, his old TikTok followers got so upset. I was upset, too. Who would do such a thing? The action against this little creature and his fellow racoon seems so cruel and unnecessary. At least they could have waited for a longer period of time before the euthanization.

People were very upset. An article that I found reported that there were 14 bomb threat calls made against the DEC offices in New York State. Bomb threat calls are the standard reaction to incidents like this as this action was taken by not individuals but by a certain organizational entity. Those threats so far never realized.

NY (state and city) seems to be one of the strongholds belonging to the Democratic Party. So I don't think any immediate changes will take place there. I hope soon this DEC loses its cockiness and starts acting as it should (like conserving wild life but not destroying it).

RIP P'Nut and F'Red.

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [Justice for P'Nut]の続きを読む

テーマ:日記 - ジャンル:日記

1. 2024/11/09(土) 21:33:44|
2. Diary
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The battery died on me! Woe!
I went to my car and I pushed the engine start button on my Mazda MX-5. The starter motor turned a bit with a wimpish grief.

D*mn! Not again! My MX-5 for some unknown reasons has a weak heart. I know what is wrong with it but what I don't know is what is causing it.

I know something is constantly consuming a certain amount of electricity more than it should be even though the engine is off. Some systems (computer memory, security and etc.) are always on but...

When this happened, I used to take the battery off and bring it inside the room before hooking it to the charger. It took half a day or so to charge it fully.

Now I have the device for this kind of occasion. I bought a starter aid device. A tiny portable Lithium battery pack that I bought a while ago (about a year ago?).

It worked! I took it out of the rear boot (trunk) and hooked it up to the weak battery. I crossed my fingers (not literally) and voi-la!

Fate favors the prepared mind!

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [Battery died on me again (for how many time?)]の続きを読む

テーマ:自動車の整備＆修理 - ジャンル:車・バイク

1. 2024/11/08(金) 17:59:48|
2. Mazda MX-5
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Some shopping
I recently made a bunch of purchase on AliExpress. They are not so significant but I just want to write something about them. How many item shave I bought this time?

I wanted to buy Trump campaign goods for a long time but haven't done so. Trump 2024 Campaign goods to be specific like Maga T-shirts, baseball cap or flags. I don't know why I did not back then (early spring).

I finally decided to buy one of them. A T-shirt with that iconic photo (President Trump raising his arm shouting "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT" fresh blood on his face with some Secret Service people trying to shield him and the Stars and Stripes flying in the back printed in front and with FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT, of course.

This was not existent back in Spring 2024 as this incident took place just recently. This photo shows his tenaciousness, resilience, will power, resolution, toughness and so on. I thought this was way better than just "Trump 2024". I will be proudly wearing it while attending UCI road race events.

I also ordered 2 T-shirts with James Dean with his iconic Porsche 550 Spyder. I like James Dean and his movies. I like the Porsche 550 Spyder. So why not?

I ordered some items for my Streamlight flashlights. They include some LED bulbs, coil springs and clip-on holders.

I will try to bring my Streamlight JR back to life with one of these LED bulbs somehow. Some soldering and gluing is definitely necessary but technically it should be feasible. The LED bulb body has to be smaller 4 mm (millimeters) and it should accept 3 Volt DC. The kit includes LED bulbs of various colors, sizes and voltage.

The coil spring should fit the Streamlight Ultra Stinger. As one Ultra Stinger came (a used eBay purchase) without one.

The clip-on holder should fit almost any flashlights.

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [Some shopping]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. 2024/11/07(木) 22:33:56|
2. Diary
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Trump wins!
I am relieved that he has won the election. Those so-called "main stream media" have not admitted their defeat (reads the demise of Kamala Harris) yet as of this writing.

Eventually, she has to concede.

Tour de France 2025
I have been plotting the known locatins on my Garmin BaseCamp. I am keeping important locations like (frequently used cities, climbs and others) as waypoints. They have to be well sorted and categorized so that I can find them easily.

Some of them are totally unknown to me and the others are already kept as waypoints like Col du Tourmalet or Mont Ventoux, of course.

It is now easy to spot the climbs because there are several sites that let you look for climbs. They seem very extensive and very meticulous. Some of them seem to encourage you to subscribe to it by a monthly fee. It has been the trend nowadays.

The organizer has published on its site the maps or profiles of some of the stages. So far I have very scarce information on Stage 5 (ITT in Caen), Stage 8 (sprint finish), Stage 9 (ditto), Stage 11 (ditto), Stage 15 (hilly), Stage 17 (hilly), Stage 20 and predictable Stage 21 (Champs-Élysees). They are not too important and I even think I'll skip (forsake) some of them in order to secure to beat the road closure time limit.

Cycing Stage
(https://www.cyclingstage.com/tour-de-france-2025-route/)
Cycling Stage

This site predicts or just shows just how the stages will be like in details. Amazing! I got the information I needed.

I benefited greatly from the information that this site provides. I did not know what to do with Stage 20. I did not know anything except it is a hilly stage. Now I have an idea where to go to watch the stage.


In Japanese:続きをどうぞ
[Tour de France 2025 and MAGA]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. 2024/11/04(月) 14:40:20|
2. Tour de France
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November 5th, The Judgement Day!
It is Monday, November 4th now as of this writing. I am anxious and worried about the "Day". The day the election is held in the United States of America.

I am not a citizen of the U.S.A. who are eligible of voting nor I live there. I live in Europe.

I hope that (ex-)President Donald Trump makes a comeback. It seems likely but one has to be aware of possible (and insanely illegal) manupulation of votes on the side of his opposition.

Another eBay auction item
I am not going to buy it but I found someting very insteresting on eBay.

It is an Ultra Stinger. I liked it not because it was beautiful or in prestine condition but because it was old.

The serial number was young. It got my attension. The serial number was an odd number that did not end in 5 or 9. I thought it could be a prime number but it turned out to be otherwise. A bit of shame.

6773 is the number and it could be expressed this way. 13 x 521 = 6,773

The tailcap showed;
STREAMLIGHT / MADE IN USA / PATENTED / NORRISTOWN PA

This told me that it was made before 2001 when Streamlight moved to Eagleville PA. Yet it was not as old as one of my Stingers (serial: 002610 and also with NORRISTOWN PA).

I can say this because my old Stinger also says "PATENT PEND" meaning that by the time it came off the production line the patent was still pending.

There is no information (I could find) on which to determine the manufacturing date of these Stingers. Having said that, I assume that my old Stinger was most likely produced in the first year of its production (1994).

I want to buy one if its serial number is a prime number or younger.

I don't know if there are Ultra Stingers that have "PATENT PEND" on them.

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [Tour de France 2025 and Ultra Stinger]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. 2024/11/04(月) 14:27:12|
2. Tour de France
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How dangerous are they against a bike theft?
It makes me sad when I hear those incidents.

Once I heard it from the person who actually had her bike stolen directly. It was several years ago when Luxembourg hosted Festival Elsy Jacobs. There was a Japanese rider. She and her teammates got their bikes stolen before the final stage at the hotel. They (the team) scrambled to ask around and gathered spare bikes from other teams in the morning. By the time the stage began, riders had makeshift bikes so they could participate the stage.

I found an interesting article on the Internet concerning the safety of European cities.

Numbeo
(https://www.numbeo.com/crime/region_rankings.jsp?title=2024-mid&region=150)

Europe: Crime Index by City 2024 Mid-Year.

How interesting! How intriguing!

How dangerous is my city? City of Luxemourg, the capital of country Luxembourg, is placed at 94 th. Is this low enough? It is very curious that around 100th I can find very familiar cities in Europe like Vieena, Austria (89), Lisbon, Portual (91), Amsterdam, Netherlands (94), Bucharest, Romania (98), Madrid, Spain (102), Copenhagen, Denmark (106) for example.

These cities are maybe OK as I live one of them and I feel OK. Not great, though as personally, years back I had the window glass of my MX-5 smashed and some stuff stolen on the street at night. Sometimes my former workplaces have seen break-ins. A friend of mine also had a break-in. It is not safe but I am not alert all the time. I have to be careful.

I am a fan of road bike races and travel mostly by car to visit various cities. Here are my experience.

7. Liège, Belgium: 7th place! Bravo!
It was when this city hosted the Grand Départ (the opening stage of TDF) when I had the window glass of my Ford Ka smashed and several items were stolen. In broad daylight! I was attending the Team Presentation ceremony on Thurday and when I got to my car, two Belgian Police officers were already there! Obviously they tried to reach me when they found this miserable state.

They were kind enough to call "Carglass" (a major car glass repair company in Europe) and drove me (I followed them in my breeezy Ka) there to make sure I would get it replaced. And I did not even ask them! They asked me to file the damage report in Luxembourg. Before they left we shook hand.

Years later not 100 meters away from the parking spot where I had the window smashed, the same Ka also saw a quite break-in (although this time nothing was broken) at night and I got a couple of things stolen.

5. Montpellier, France: 5th place! Hallelujah!
I am visiting or at least passing this city in 2025 as the Tour de France designates this city as the rest day location and the start of the 16th stage. This means the teams, press people, caravan people and all the entourage have to stay there for two nights.

I hope they (teams) have a secure way to guard the bikes against theft.

28. Lille, France: Good Job!
The Grand Départ is hosted by this city in 2025. I will visit there for sure. I have to be extra careful not to be involved in any criminal activities. I will stay a couple of days there. From the Team Presentation night (Thursday) to Saturday I will be

31. Toulouse, France:
This city hosts a stage and a rest day in 2025. I also wish the safety of bikes.

26. Barcelona, Spain:
In 2026 Barcelona hosts the grand départ.

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [How dangerous are Toulouse and Montpellier?]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. 2024/11/04(月) 13:37:29|
2. Tour de France
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