3 Länder Tour (Germany) Part III

So, I was on top of Weilstetten (Cat. 1 summit) around 4 A.M. in the morning.

It was a starry night and there was nothing around me. It was pitch dark!
Falling leaves made a distinct and enormous sound. Occasionally cars passed
but otherwise it was quiet and nothing distracted me except for the sound of
the gigantic falling leaves and some eerie cries of unknown animals.

I am quite used to being at pitch dark desolate places.

I painted only a little bit, namely I mean literally namely,
BOBBY, FRANK, JENS, KURT, LARS, LUKE and three CSC logos. I slept when
I was done. I think it was around 5:00 in the morning. I wake up around 8:00
and moved to Schoemberg, where Feed zone was. I slept again until noon.

And then the usual, team cars gathered and I greeted Team CSC staff, Sabine
and Thomas, the German pair.

I wanted to go to the finish but after realizing that I would not make it before
the race came. I came home.

Anyway, these are the pictures. At the feed zone I picked up two bidons
(Rabobank and ?) and three bags. Kurt-Alse Arvesen, as usual, smiled at me.

He is on the Norwegian National team for the World. I will definitely paint his
name at Herdweg. They have to go up that climb 14 times! They have to notice
something on the road even if they are not paying attentions. Team CSC riders
may appreciate my efforts (I haven't done yet) to keep their mind off the
hard climb.

The lunch was given out along the route between these two villages;

Weilen unter den Rinnen and Schoemberg.

Attentions Riders! Lunch Ahead!

This is the spot I was standing and waiting for the race to arrive. His (always

upper case letter) clothes (a piece of cloth wrapped around his waist)

was very shiny. It was gold.

This breakaway group included Luke Roberts.

The peloton was being controlled by Rabobank as its leader, Thomas Dekker,

was wearing the yellow jersey. They had to watch out NOT to let the

breakaway go too far.

As far as I can tell, Jens Voigt and Kurt-Asle Arvesen are having lunch and

the the third rider is Bobby Julich (or Lars Bak or Frank Schleck???).

I think I heard a Team CSC rider shout back at me (Frank Schleck?) but it
could have been another rider from another team. Someone definitely
shouted as he passed me. I was alone standing there. The nearest person was
more than 30 meters away. So I am very sure that someone wanted to
say something to me or make fun of me.

One thing is sure: the shouter was not Arvesen as his mouth was holding
on to a piece of sweets as you can see in the photo above.

I hope they noticed my painting 10 km before the ravitaillement.