EXCUSE ME, PATIENTLY WAITING FOR SOME WARMTH PLEASE.

A second brew is in hand as I wait for the temperature to creep above minus before heading out on the bike this morning.  First of all lets talk Christmas!  Kathryn and I had a really great day that was jam packed from start to finish.  I was super lucky to be on the receiving end of some very nice gifts including Thule luggage, reading material and shoes amongst other things.  For Kat my prized gift was tickets to see Ryan Adams play in Denver next February.  Assuming she will take me along (!), from what I have seen in recent interview footage he really seems to be hitting his musical stride and looks to be clean, sober and happy.  The show is being held at the Temple Buell Theater which I have never been before but I have heard good things.

Post Christmas breakfast and presents, Kathryn and I got straight to work on starting dinner preparations in which we were attempting to cook a beef wellington.  Neither of us had tried such a dish before, and we also made some modifications to it, namely substituting beef for bison.  It had all the potential to be a great feed, but wrapping a huge slab of meat in delicate filo pastry is quite the task we quickly found out!  Coming out of the oven it smelled great, and tasted equally so, with Kat's dad ranking it as one of the best cuts of meat he has had.  Along with the bison we also had salmon, risotto, creamed spinach, asparagus, a tomato salad and carrots mixed with chestnuts.  The dinner plate was definitely stacked and I was practically rolling around once we also fitted in some traditional plum pudding and a slice of Yule log.  But, as they say it only comes but once a year and I was happy to indulge.

 A mighty meal!

Wilson has enjoyed Christmas in more ways than one.  Having an indoor tree to climb is at the top of his list!

 Hiding is drawers seems to a close second.

Our official snow-o-meter.

Golf TDI. 50mpg on the highway.  The ultimate race mobile.

Henry wishes everyone a Merry Christmas.

This little beauty came from the bro.  Big Merv I'm sure has plenty of stories to tell.  Can't wait to get into this one!

In bicycle related news just before Christmas I was able to conduct some pre-season testing with UHC physio Inigo San Milan.  Everything looks on track so far for 2012, although I need to keep on improving on my lower end efficiency. So the focus will still be continuing plenty of tempo time and allowing time for the adaption to occur. We are now also adding some strength endurance efforts into the mix which are always a good time.  Well the sun is out and we are now on the positive side of the mercury, so time to go training! Cheers, cw.