NorthGeek

What are NHL coaches yelling behind the bench?

No matter how close you get to the excitement of a professional hockey game, you’ll never catch all the goodness coming from the energized mouths of hockey players, coaches, and refs. While the players are full of weak taunts and endless swearing (which somehow still provokes fights), it’s the coaches who have to drive fickle, millionaire adults playing professional sports into battle. They’re usually seen during breaks in play, standing silently behind their players, but they must be keeping busy.

Here’s a sneak peak at Mike Keenan, current coach for the Calgary Flames:

Some good coach bits in here too:

Impressive street riding in Edinburgh by Danny MacAskill

This video by Dave Sowerby of Inspired Bicycles team rider Danny MacAskill is amazing and has some of the most creative riding ever seen. Thanks to this video, he’s not only leaving his incidental live spectators breathless. And, he’s wearing a helmet. Good boy, Danny.

Inspiring finish to Boston Marathon 2009 by Americans

We’re not Americans. We’re proudly Canadian here at NorthGeek. But it’s very hard not to like Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher, two phenomenal US distance runners. They’ve got great personalities, remarkable finishes, and good looks. Watch them compete in the final stretches of this past Sunday’s legendary Boston Marathon:

This is Kara Goucher’s 2nd marathon. She is also the 2007 world 10km champ. And she was upset by this result. You gotta love that competitiveness and post-marathon emotion (you gotta run one to know).

How to get kicked out of a baseball game at Fenway

This dude is the man. He clearly threw back a bit too much of grandpa’s old cough medicine. Enjoy!

Fox Racing Shox: So many adjustments!

A quick look at the Fox Racing suspension products on my Ellsworth Epiphany. A couple things to note – the shock is actually a Float R, not an RP23. Also, I refer to all products as “Fox Racing Shox” when in reality I’m showing a fork and a shock… Sound good? Well then, on with the show!

Also, a post-ride reaction:

Mr. Totally Awesome 2009: My Ellsworth Epiphany

‘Nuff said. Enjoy! Sorry about the dark video, I’m no pro with my MacBook…

Beautiful custom urban bikes by Republic

Republic makes gorgeous, customized bicycles for $344. By customized, we mean nearly every colour (saddle, chain, tires, wheels, etc.) and through a nifty interface. The physical bike is pretty standardized steel frame and components, but you can have fun and create a very unique looking bike. They come as interchangeable fixed gear and freewheel drivetrains.

Here’s one:

Check out the build quality. Looks like decent components:

The full bike weight a very reasonble 24 pounds.

What’s your Aristotle? Share it here. Here’s ours:

Again, we’d love to see some social media site sharing by this company!

Top 10 extreme ski runs

Here’s a nice use of cross-referenced images and videos on this great list of top 10 extreme ski runs in North America. It’s a great list and well considered, and, of course, I skied the one called Climax yesterday.

Update: the link has been taken down – our apologies!

Follow live Habs updates on Twitter

Twitter user @habstwit is covering great play-by-play of Montreal Canadiens‘ hockey games. For some more Habs-following Twitterers, try Andre Nantel, laurentlasalle, TanMcG, JohnnyCanuck, stephdau, and JeromeParadis (taken from Metblogs’ Twittering the Habs game).

And of course, there’s also #habs real-time Twitter results.

Update: Streaming video is also available at Habs Online TV, Justin.TV, CBCSports.ca (except when they show figure skating instead of the Habs), and RDS (subscription service). Great audio coverage with Murray Wilson and Rick Moffat is on CJAD 800 Montreal. Also, the game summary at the Canadiens official page comes in handy. You see, not all Habs fans get all the games broadcast where they live, and well some probably don’t even have TVs.

Vancouver cycling: big climb to Cypress

Just outside of Vancouver, you can ride big mountain climbs, like this one to the base of the Cypress Mountain ski area. The main part of the climb is over 15km, up to an elevation of 3000 feet. And it’s even doable in the winter. What a way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Here are the details from Map My Ride. Here’s the route profile:

Here’s how it unfolded:

Vancouver cycling: big climb to Cypress from Noah Bloom on Vimeo.