Stages 13 & 14 - Stein am Rein to Meiringen - 182 km total

Sorry, didn.t have cell or internet yesterday. All is well in Meiringen, Switzerland. I.m going to watch, or try to, Jeff Grant.s quadathlon from Thun to the Schiltorn. But had a great ride today with Rolf, and it rained yesterday. I will have to report when I get to Thun where I will be staying with the Sommers, may not get internet tomorrow either..... Will try and stay in Murren near the Grants. Ok, this internet cafe is closing, I will try and find another after dinner. Life is good!

Stage 12 - Stein am Rein to Disentis - 85 km by bike, 150 km by train
I rode the southern half of the Bodensee and fortunately got an early start. It started raining around noon, and didn.t let up. So I took the train to Chur, got off, then decided I needed to keep going because it was over 275 km to Murren where I would meet the Grant.s. I took the train as far as I could to Disentis and bedded down for the night. Judging by the scenery, I didn.t miss too much and missed all of the rain.

It reads, ATTENTION FART EXIT. Uh, huh, huh!
Along the southern Bodensee, near Lindau.

Stage 13 - Disentis to Meiringen - 97 km
I knew today would be a true climbing day, which was the other reason I wanted to get further along on the train. If I hadn.t gone as far as I did by train, I wouldn.t have made it to Murren for sure. It was overcast and rather chilly and I had thoughts of a warm train ride instead. But then my new friend Rolf cruised by pulling his B.O.B. trailer. This was about 8k into the ride and I was just getting warmed up so I was then keeping tempo with him. I rolled up beside him and we started talking. He was heading to Meiringen and said it was about 100k. So we talked and had a great time getting to know each other. There is comfort in misery with a compatriot, so we climbed, and climbed.... The first pass was the Oberalp, but I.m not sure of the distance or elevation gain. At the top we sipped cappuccino and tea, put on more clothing, then bombed down the other side. It was about 7 degrees Celsius at the top, or mid 40.s Fahrenheit. We rolled through Andermatt and on towards the Sustenpass, the mother of all climbs so far on this trip. It was about 18k with about 3600` elevation gain. It kept going and going for a long ways. I thought I could see the top, but once we got to that point, there was still another section just as long with switchbacks at the top! Near the top Rolf picked up the pace to 10 kph to try and stay warm, and get to the next coffee and pastry stop ahead. Then we froze down the other side, me without enough clothing, especially hand and feet protection. It wasn.t raining, but when you.re in the clouds, there is still plenty of mist. At the end of the ride we were both thanking each other for the company and I confessed that I had thought of riding the train earlier in the day, but now glad that I hadn.t. Thanks Rolf, see you in Bern this week!

Rolf!

Sustenpass - The road continues up through the clouds on the lower left, with two sections afterwards. We were only about 5k into the climb at this point.

A little culture in Meiringen. The good thing about band music is that it.s multi-lingual, especially with a bier! This town is very quaint and lies in the valley between two mountain ranges. There were waterfalls everywhere and it was an overall breath taking sight.

Stage 12 - Friedrichshafen - Stein am Rein - 97 km

Man, yesterday was a pain trying to find a place to stay. I knew I didn.t want to stay in Lindau, too many tourists, but it wasn.t until about 6:00 before I found a place. I didn.t go to the Zeppelin museum, I guess leaving off all of these tourist things to do gives me a reason to come back! That has been one of the good things about this trip, I get to see the towns in a more "raw" sense and it helps me know where I will come back to and where I won.t! I got out of the main touristy area on the north (German) side of the lake, and now I am on the NW Swiss side. Very cute little town here, I think it.s worth a stop so far. I usually tour the town a little before and after dinner. I saw one of many "public" beaches along the path before I got into town so I went back there for a few hours. It.s a public beach, as long as you pay the 2.50 Euro! Fortunately it wasn.t a nude beach, I don.t believe I saw anything that I would have wanted to see without a bikini, banana hammock, one-piece, SOMETHING! But the water was very cool and it was good to get a dip in the Bodensee then catch some rays, read my book, listen to some tunes and just chill. I wish the Nautique were here, I really miss skiing and wakeboarding! Hopefully Dave and Toby are getting enough sets in for me. I haven.t seen too many ski boats on the lake, mostly sail boats and a few cabin cruisers. Tomorrow I plan to head back towards Lindau then toward Chur, we.ll see how far I get. Til next time, ciao, adios, tschuss!

All of the buildings are true timber construction, with age to show for it.

Many buildings had these murals painted on the sides, similar to Garmisch.

I wonder if the original Builder would warranty the sagging roof and timbers, only a couple of hundred years later!

Tour of Germany Stage 5 start Sonthofen - Friedrichshafen

Went to Tour start but will report later! Now I'm in the land of Zeppelin, w/o the Led. May try & make it all the way around Bodensee tomorrow, too many tourists & harder to find a place to stay now. Time to finish my bier & read my book, or order another! PROST!

Tom Danielson. He was a SUPER nice guy. I asked if he was feeling better since his long time bug and illness, and he said, `Yes, much better, thanks for asking`.

The previous day.s Stage winner in Sonthofen, Damiano Cunego.

Paolo `Il Grillo` Bettini, current World Champion, stud.

Captain America himself, George Hincapie. I asked him how Pla d`Adet, his development in Greenville was going. I might just have to submit my resume!

Is that Paul `P. Gibby`Gibbons? Nope, our own American Bobby Julich!

Current yellow jersey wearer, and eventual overall winner, Mr. Jens Voigt! Molly, Jens said to look him up when you.re in town! :)

Tour of Germany Stage 4 - Reidsbergpass

I saw many of kilometers of this sight. Thanks "age is relative" German dude!

Wow, what a day. I need my 'liquid stretch', AKA Endurox. To try and make a quick recap: Km 25, got passed by an old guy in his late 60.s, maybe early 70.s. Doesn.t speak much English, but at about km 35 decided I would ride with him to the Reidbergpass, the extended route. He pulled, and pulled, and I didn.t complain. MANY undulating hills and I was the passenger. I pulled through once, but he didn.t pull off until about km 60. I guess since I was still there, he figured I was ok. Km 75, finally stopped at a town fountain to get water. Km 90, I told him to keep going, I was cooked and needed food. Didn.t find food, only the Hammer Strength Endurolythes, my last Honey Stinger, and a package of Euro Trail Mix. I climbed the final 5k at 16% avg. grade and found my new friend near the top, clapping for me. Thank God for a triple, I used it! We watched Levi come through with Davide Rebellin and eventual winner Cuneog. Then saw Tommy D., then BIG George, then Jason McCartney, all scattered across the mountain. Cyclingnews reported on the crash of the Unibet rider crashing on the decent, and I got to see the paramedics working on him. Or I did as I braked heavily going into the same corner. This was probably the toughest decent I have ever encountered. The turns were atrocious, and the pavement horrible. I can see why Levi lost 5 seconds in the finale and am surprised that George made it back to finish 10th. I may ride a lot, as do a lot of my friends, but I still can.t understand how these guys can do the job they do. It.s hard NOT to think of doping, because I could use some testosterone today, if it will help me recover for tomorrow. I want to believe in these guys, but it.s really hard to. Tomorrow I will go to the start, then probably take the train to Lindau. I need a rest day. Oh, 112 km in the books, with a whole lot of climbing attached to a man that has my respect, although I don.t know his name. A speedy recovery to all who raced in Dahlonega this past weekend. Cheers!

The lead group, with Levi tucked in close to the back.

The third or fourth group, with BIG George!

The grouppetto some minutes back.

Stage 11 - Nesselwang to Bolsterland - 50 km

Bernd says thumbs up for HOOTERS. I couldn.t disagree. He really liked our fine dining establishment in the States!

Today was only 50k, but still a little tough fully loaded. Today was a true 'Gap' day, as there were more cyclists on the curvey roads in this area. I haven.t seen this many people riding since Amsterdam. And I may have pissed off a local after he passed me on a very steep decent. I do have to worry about pot holes, more than usual. But when I got on his wheel he didn.t look pleased. So, I passed him back and just put the hammer down! Now I am in a very quaint town overlooking the valley with large Alpine mountains surrounding me. This town is on a small plateau, but it was a grind to get up here! My very quick tour through the village awarded me lunch and being able to watch many dozens of paragliders. I may have to take dad.s advice and try it, tandem. The finish/start town of Sonthofen is about 8k north and I will go by there tomorrow and see if Phil and Paul are hanging around the finish. I spoke with Phil Liggett at the '03 Tour on Alpe d'Huez and he.s a really nice guy in person. I have a route mapped out on TT that says will be a 78 km loop and the Tour goes over the Reidbergpass around 16:00. I.m sure Versus isn.t carrying any live coverage, but look for me on Sunday! Time for dinner, ciao!

My view in Bolsterland. Not bad!

My first of MANY days watching paragliders. If anyone wants to send $150 so I can do this tandem, my address is.......

If anyone knows the significance of these totem poles, please let me know. With the dead X-mas tree on top, I can possibly guess, but these things are everywhere in Bavaria.