Upload Video at DropShots.comHelmet cam from Lebennon.Chris Fisher is the rider in front

Picture perfect day
Haven't had much time to update lately.I've been logging in the hours on the bike.Last week I did 4 hrs on monday and a few 2 hr rides during the week.The temps were close to 40 all week so why not. Now that we got the snow its back to skiing again. What a rollercoaster. I went up to William O'brian for 2 hrs. A bunch of TCBC riders were there along with some other familiar faces. Next week will be tough,16 hrs total before my recovery week from base 1. I hope I can do it without getting too tired out. After last weekend I can definately feel my endurance returning and the 2 hr rides were cake.

I have to talk to H'wood on this one, but next year we will hopefully be racing for Silvercycling.We'll have to sandbag it in the beginning and race the cat 4/5 untill we get enough upgrade points. I'm really looking forward to road racing. Maybe I can pull off a win or something ,who knows?

sticky snow 

Video

Upload Video at DropShots.comI'm still experimenting with this to figure it out but this is my first video host I'm trying out.There's quite a few out there for free and it is quite easy to do.I'll post little highlights from the 2005 season once in a while for some more content Stay tuned.

Christmas is here

These took a week to put up and we still have about a day before they get done

Coffers on the ceiling 

Very nice
Ah yes, its the weekend at last. Its time for another work update.Things are rolling quite nicely.The entry doors are in and trim work is almost done.The decking is on so in the next couple of weeks it will just be finishing up all the projects and doing the final touches on stuff.It won't be long before I'm on to the next job site,but I hope I get some time off before that happens.I always liked the 1-2 week lay off myself. I doubt it though. We did have 1 incident this week.Brad put a whole new meaning on the word "Brad Nailer".Me and Tim were up on the lift installing the coffers when he came over to ask for some help.When we came down on the lift he handed me the pliers and said, "can you pull that out", as he whiped his other hand out he had a nail clean through his finger.It looked like a halloween finger or something. We said he had better go to the doc to get that pulled out.Luckily it was above the nuckle and just missed the bone.He was ok though,he's had worse than that before.

This week went very well working out too.I felt good putting in longer time.Me and Sam just got back from a 3 hr ride and the bonk wasn't in atomic proportions.I could feel it sneaking up on me though and I was beat at the end.I think the best thing about suffering on long rides is the relaxation at the end.A warm shower is total bliss.Next week looks very warm so most of my hours will be on the bike. I'm planning 14.5hrs total.

I'm going over to my uncles house tonight on my dads side and tomarrow my moms side is comming over here, 22 people tomarrow.Tonight will be a smaller party. 2 days of lots of food .Oh,well its Christmas right. Merry Christmas to all and enjoy yourselves
God Bless

Christmas Ride

With the crappy skiing conditions and fair riding weather I am canceling the skiing for tomarrow and do a ride instead. We have an excellent winter riding route fight from our house.We can go for a 3hr ride on 4-6 foot shoulders plowed all the way back and dry at the moment.It's completely flat too.So tomarrow me and Sam will ride up to Forest Lake then over to Scandia.In all a 65-70 mile loop.Atomic bonk here I come! Let me know if anyone wants to go.I'm guessing 9:00ish for a time

"Da Hamski"

A little on the crispy side

I knew my mom was going to put a couple pizza's in the oven when I went to work out,and when I came home this is what was on the counter when I came in.I was soorly disappointed. I have lost 3 of the 5 pounds I put on now and I hope I can make it through the next week that way.Tomarrow is the union Christmas party and everyone takes home a turkey at the end of the night along with some door prizes.It should be fun.

I was thinking about hosting a Christmas eve ski event at Theodore Wirth before the big splurge again. We would gather at 7:00am and go for 2-3 hrs. Let me know if anyone is interested. It will be called "Da Hamski" glide. I guess if we have some classic gliders they would go separate from the skaters,but me and Sam only skate.

perfect conditions 

looking across the ST Croix valley
Skiing the past few days was so peaceful. Its been on the cold side but calm. The snow clinged to all the trees and it makes for a beautiful forest setting.I went to William O'Brian in the evening and I only saw a few people.The hills are pretty tough there and there's quite a few.I did take two spills.( no one saw me though). My ski tip would go into the ungroomed snow on the side and whip me to the ground.There I lay spread eagle. Then I had to contort my legs around into position in order to get sideways to left myself up.After two hrs it was dark and I was shot.The glide had gotten bad when the sun went under so I bagged it and called it a day.

Once I get some things in order I'll post my race schedual for next year which will include some road racing.

check this out I found it on the skihut message board. http://www.lgf.be/client_popup.cfm?fileURL=clients/prox/tv/prox26.flv

winter wonderland

night snowshoeing is the bomb

look at all that snow
The most snow we've had in the Cities 2 years.We're finally getting a decent winter around here.I took the snowshoes out these past two days and its a heck of a workout.I was going to do a loop on the trails then head out across our lake to the community center today but the lake has 4 inches of slush under the snow so I said forget it and just went a quarter of the way across to my house.I was planning on doing weights but I was too beat from yesterday and today.Tomarrow I'll make up for it and go to Elm Creek from work.Then Sat. I'll head over to William O'Brian St. park for some base km.

Yesterday I smacked my head pretty good on a sprinkler head at work.Almost needed stitches on that one.It still hurts especially with a hat on.I witnessed 2 other accidents that were pretty funny.The first one, my co-worker Brad was going to come in for break and I was on one side of the scaffold and he was going to come to my side by attempting to Starsky and Hutch over the plank.His leg didn't quite make it and he fell backwards taking out a piece of styrofoam and plywood behind him.I was rolling after that one. Another one of my co-workers today was grinding some metal below us and he caught his shirt on fire. Not just anyplace , but the piece sticking out from under his belt if you know what I mean.Brad looked like he was crying he was laughing so hard.well, I gots to go,our cat is pukeing all over the place.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Gathering room,connects the entryway to the santuary,and fellowship hall

Front of building 

fellowship hall 

entry way
With the off season in full swing cyclist's blogs get a little boring so I thought some work pics of some progress would make things a little more interesting.I wish I had some before and after shots but I don't.But all these shots are of the new construction.As you can see its all heated now and I'm working at the top of the ceiling which is shorts and T-shirt weather.One extreme to the next.But I'm really enjoying work at this time and everyone is in good spirits.Plenty of joking around going on.

I got the motorcycle running now and the time consuming parts are over.All I gotta do is get a new tire and change the oil.I never got to get the ice fishing stuff down and ready because I had to get my Christmas shopping done.The malls were nuts man.Then Sunday we went to my other cousins house for a party because one of my cousins is going to Equador and won't be around for Christmas. My moms side of the family is big and they're all close.There's always a group getting together on Sundays.

me
This is what you look like working outside all week in -10* weather... I made it look worse than what it was.I'm getting used to it I guess and I actually didn't mind it very much.Its alot more peacefull working outside and no one bugs you because its too cold,and you get sympothy cookies and pizza from people. As you can tell I'm actually growing out my hair a bit.This is the longest its ever been in my life.I gotta let it grow out sometime before I start looking like Doug.(oops, did I write that)I don't know how long it will last but it is warmer.
The church is finally starting to get that close to completion look.Carpet is going in and finally the whole building is heated.The project manager wants to be done by the 15th but everyone knows its not going to happen.My guess is a week or two into January.I'll get some pics posted of the site this weekend.Speaking of January, I will be hitting my 7,000 hr mark as an apprentice and that means graduating and becoming a journeyman carpenter.Can you believe I'm going on my 5th year.This will be one huge raise and I'll be up to full scale.Tomarrow night is the company Christmas party at the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis. 5 course meal and a comedy act afterwards. The bad part is the meal is at 8:30. I'm not going to watch the whole show it will be way too late for me.

Training is going well I lost 2 of the 5 pounds I gained.It will be hard to keep it going down with the holiday parties.The long rides prior seem to help alot. Anyone up for a Christmas ham ride? I bought a new training diary last week and have the scheduals pretty much wrote in and an idea of what races to attend.I'm going to sign up for Revving classes at Shoreview from Jan-march.I think it helps with power and its nice for developing the fast twitch fibers. It's once a week which is all I need.My season plan starts Dec 19th. Long hrs are right around the corner.Thats what mp3 players are for, right?
Below are my cousin's kids. Heidi and Jason had Haley, and Heather and Troy had Brady.Aren't they cute.(I know what your thinking,with the red eye they look possesed)

Brady 

Haley 

Its begining to look alot like Christmas

Nitty gritty
I caught a cold late this week and thought I'd take a little break from working out so I did some work on the motorcycles.I finally got the Yamaha running but not good.It needs some carb work because alot of raw fuel is being pushed into the exaust pipe.This thing hasn't been started for a couple of years so I need to work the bugs out.
I'm going to break out the ice fishing gear tomarrow and get that ready for next week when the ice is thick enough.I heard a couple of guys went through the ice in Island Lake a couple days ago which is right down the road.We waxed up the skis too .We got about 3 inches today on top of the other 2-3inches.Sam went to como for a bit to try it out and he said it was perfect.Tomarrow we're going to my cousins house for lunch and she lives on a golf course.So after we eat I plan on at least 2hrs of "white gliding".Yo, and the best part of this snow is I'll be able to go up to Elm Creek park after work during the week and ski there.Does anyone know any other good ski trails around Plymouth?

We got the Christmas tree today and now the house smells like a pine forest.I love it.So I got in the Christmas spirit and downloaded some Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas songs and burned a disc for my mom.She loved it alot better than Amy Grant....not! I'll play it at work as we get closer to Christmas. Happy trails.