New Tunes from an Old Favourite

I've been using Rdio as my online source of music since discovering the app at Christmas in 2013. They have an endless supply of every kind of music both new and old but some artists are blocked in Canada. I love the app because I can download an album to my phone in about a minute for listening while I walk to work. I can also stream whatever I want during the workday or at home through Chromecast.

New releases come out every Tuesday in the music world. Yesterday I was looking through the releases and found Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. Surprised, since previously all of the band's work had been unavailable, I clicked through and their entire catalog was ready including the recently remastered albums. For about the price of one cd per month Rdio provides access to more music than even I can listen too.

A Wild Finish

Heading into the last round of Northwood playoff games one team has clinched a spot in the Championship game and four others all have a shot. Next Saturday is going to be a hectic, tense day with the final three round robin games all having teams fighting for a berth in the hardware games. Brandyn scored the prettiest goal of his hockey career on Saturday after predicting that he would score one.

I took the fork from Sophia into Farzam and he quickly jumped out of the chair where he was resting on a slow Sunday afternoon. Minutes later the slightly damaged threads were re-tapped and I was leaving with the proper Campagnolo tools (borrowed) to reassemble the frame. You may save some dollars shopping online but you will never get this kind of treatment from a business that you only visit through a webpage. Support your local bike shop.

And for today's Marinoni Monday, a close up of a 1982 Marinoni from the Schwar Flickr page. The chromed lugs and pantographed fork make me drool with envy. Sophia is a beautiful bike (imho) but can't quite match this one.

gorgeous detail

Back At It

After a week (of feeling blah) off the trainer I finally hopped on for an interrupted 12km last night. With the chilly temps we're braving this month riding outside is most likely not going to happen for some time so the trainer will have to do.

I started pulling parts off of Sophia with thoughts of a new coat of paint in mind. Marinoni will still repaint their old products if you send them a bare frame. Taking the front fork off proved to be a three day ordeal involving penetrating oil into the open ends of the nearly thirty year old frame. It was at this point that I started to rethink sending her away.

Northwood had a poorly attended parent meeting on Tuesday but the discussion was great. Most of the conversation revolved around the further expansion of the league. Some want to see the quality maintained rather than stretching for quantity. Others want to offer the program to as many kids as possible. We got a great review from an HNO board member with a son in the league. Myself I would love to see the league grow and prove that what we are doing is what many people are looking for. BUT and it is a huge but, I just don't think there is the level of commitment from people to make it happen. I am not going to extend my time at the rink beyond the 6 hours I regularly spend now. Brandyn has only 2 years left in the league so my main reason for carrying on this long is going to be moving on and maybe it's time for me to do the same or at least cut back. Seems like I've said that before.

Marinoni Mondays

A cycling blog I follow daily has lots of great posts but Merckx Mondays is one of my favourite regular features. Art, posters, t-shirts, bike galleries, memorabilia and articles about one of history's greatest cyclists, Eddie Merckx (whose career I totally missed), are always interesting.

Here is my version featuring my personal favourite bike builder and racer, Giuseppe Marinoni. In October 2012 he set the hour record for the 75-79 age group at 35.728 km. He rode a bike that he had built in 1978 for Jocelyn Lovell, who pedaled it to three gold medals at the Commonwealth games and a silver at the world championships. Click here for the entire story from Canadian Cycling. His record is the subject of the documentary 'Fire in the Frame'. View the trailer below. I've been talking to the film maker about getting a screening here in Thunder Bay.

Blue Morning

I woke up a few minutes later than normal, right out of a dream. I don't remember what was playing in my head but the blue mood carried over. I felt down as I went through my morning routine, not even knowing why. As I walked to work the mood evaporated.

I've been dreaming more and more lately proving that the cpap machine is still working but little else. I still feel like there's some 'big' thing I should be doing or creating. Anyone up for a ride across Canada?

Today will be a rest day from the trainer, my last two 12km sessions dragged on and on. I have 60 km this month already but am looking forward to that kind of ride less and less. It would be a treat to get outside. I committed to Winter Bike To Work next Friday (the 13th, good thing I'm not superstitious) so hopefully the weather will cooperate.

It's back to the rink again this weekend. The breaks are nice but the weekends where I'm at the rink for 8 hours at this time in the year are getting old. While the executive gears up for another expansion, I've been giving more thought to scaling back to 6 teams. Far less stress over the unknowns and it allows us to offer more.

Losing weight is still a mystery and always will be. I do exactly the same thing 5 days in a row, walk 4 km, ride 12 and eat less than my daily allowed calories. For the first two days I drop a pound and a half, and then gain two over the next day. It's like watching a stock price with about as many factors causing the changes. It gets very discouraging.

• Music to walk by: Colin James - Hearts On Fire 
• Old Steel: 1972 Eddie Merckx Molteni - Kessels (Belgium)

Free Weekend

Seems like forever since I've had a hockey free weekend that wasn't Christmas. I spent yesterday cleaning in the basement and then riding 20 km. Today I tuned Brandyn's BMX, went for dim sum, ate some amazing ribs for supper and then settled in to watch the (let's hope it's a) Super Bowl.

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