Oil Country

The story from Sumatra is on hold due to work which is effectivly taking up 95% of my mental time and energy with eating taking up the other 5%.  Slashing trees is a pretty straightforward job, but as soon as you let it get mindless then you get slapped in the face by a loaded tree or you put your steel toes boots to the test.  Hence why I am trying to use up my mental energy to insure a safe and productive work day.

Working out of  camp just outside Fort Mcmurray Alberta puts us in the heart of Canada’s economy.    It is a happening place up here with the price of oil hovering around 99$ a barrel.   Up to now the weather has been pretty rad with no -30 days under the belt yet.  Fingers crossed.  Our machines are another issue.  Anytime you have to depend on three seperate machines (chainsaw, truck and quad) in the same day you are asking for a sH”t show.  Thusfar the quad has recevied the most deserved cursing when its belt light went on and went into limp mode, thuse governing itself at 8 km/hr.  Quading 14 km back to the truck at the end of the day was a test of patience and will power to not put a match in the gas tank to deal with the problem.

Our camp looks like a concentration camp but it is anything but.  Personal satelite tv’s and internet in every room, an endless supply of buffet food, a free cooler full of juice and milk  and a couple of camp helpers running around looking after us.  It is pretty sweet.  

Being the middle of December it is the epiccenter of hibernation from training for most of us bike racers.  Come another couple weeks we will start thinking about getting our heart rates up again  but until then I  will be taking full advantage of this cave like dorm for some serious R&R!

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