Rolf Devinci

Perhaps "arse over kettle" award was an appropriate name for my surprise gift last night at CF and DM's going away party. Too funny. My proverbial pound of flesh from the Hyundai Tiberon that took a bite out of me last October. Leave it to a clubmate to gather up some of the debris so I would have the signal light housing as a reminder of the infamous day.  C and D holding bike  Far more important than my tongue in cheek award presentation was the reason many BPCCers gathered on a Sunday night. Sadly both CF and DM are leaving us to relocate across the pond to England where DM has accepted employment in the UK. I'm sure there was a collective "uh oh" the day the club forum posting confirmed the news. Both C and D have dedicated themselves to the "blue train" and have represented the club with nothing but class. From my reckoning this is akin to the BPCC version of the Mayan Calender's apopocalyptic vision. CF will leave behind shoes

 Having purchased two wooden bokkens this winter to expand my interest in sword play for nothing other than an interest in the genre I treated myself to my first functional sword.   Since I had also acquired a traditional Chinese hunting bow and bamboo arrows I stayed with the Asian theme and opted to buy a Japanese style katana. There are many sellers upon Ebay so it really came down to checking feedback scores and, frankly, finding the blade that offered the aesthetic details I prefered with an affordable cost of purchase.   I opted to purchase a blade with 1060 steel as it seemed to be a decent first choice; a good combination of strength, durablity and price point for a first time back yard cutter.Impressed with my previous Chinese purchases I opted to make the buy from Ryans-Swords based out of Longquan China. http://stores.ebay.ca/ryan-swords?_trksid=p4340.l2563   My choice was a blade without a hamon but with real samegawa wrapped in black cotton sageo.Brass habiki and

 Awoke today to a lovely winter's morning with temperatures hovering around the 0C mark with a light snow falling. Seemed like an ideal day to continue with my cold water dousing/hormesis experiment. "Some follow cold water dousing with air-drying outside or in wintertime taking a "snow bath" by rubbing handfuls of snow on the body or lying/moving in it....."                                                            Todays dousing would be one bucket of cold tap water but I will add a snow rub afterwards to my limbs, torso and head taking advantage of the new snowfall. Done while in a fasted state it was very refreshing and the cup of coffee afterwards never tasted better.Snow rub felt really good while the tingling sensation upon my skin lasted for quite some time after going inside. Cold Water Dousing Part 1 http://rolfdevinci.blogspot.com/2012/01/cold-water-dousing-experiment.html

 A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon the family value packs of pork steak on sale at the market and unwilling to pass up on a good deal picked up a package that I placed in the freezer. Needless to say I pulled it out this past Saturday and once thawed I found myself eating pork for four consecutive days.  As with my previous white potato experiment I quickly crosssed over my pork tipping point and began to feel quite lousy, developed an odd burning rash on my bicep while noticing assorted aches and pains, specifically in my joints. I like pork but acknowledge that it doesn`t always suit my digestion . http://rolfdevinci.blogspot.com/2011/09/nightshade-vegetables-harvest.html  Remembering the claim (Eat Right For Your Type diet by Dr. D'adamo) that chicken was verboten for type B blood types (and coincidently a food I have no appetite for) and suspecting the same for pork I decided to revisit the theories of blood type based diets. http://rolfdevinci.blogspot.com/2010/11/b

"If you don't Squat, you're not training....." The one thing I have missed since giving up a gym membership is the ability to train with weighted squats. An essential exercise it clearly works the whole body......"Every muscle works when you Squat: your legs move the weight, your abs & lower back stabilize it, your arms squeeze the bar, etc. The Squat is NOT just a leg exercise, it's a full body exercise." http://stronglifts.com/how-to-squat-with-proper-technique-fix-common-problems/ I have been doing some squats using hand weights and whenever an opportunity arises using deadfall while trail running but it was inconsistent at best with less than challenging weight. As a result I have noticed a decrease in lower body strength this winter despite cycle commuting and playing ball hockey. I have incorporated sprinting and sprint intervals into my Spring/Summer/Fall training regimen but it is hard too do outside during the winter months. So to

Let me preface my posting by acknowledging the kindness of Mother Nature and the relatively mild winter thus far this season. It's been nice being able to commute wearing standard shorts, leg warmers, MTB shoes  and without excessive layers for the most part. Throw on some snowboard gloves, a toque, earwarmers and (for the early mornings) a balaclava and I have been generally comfortable for my short 5km route. Chilly this morning the day improved to -4C with blue skies and sunshine by quitting time and since I was not in any rush I decided to recon out my expected route for this coming Summer. In winter I generally take the most expedient route in the mornings as I leave early and miss rush hour traffic. Depending upon the weather conditions I do the same when homeward bound. Once Spring arrives I will often add distance to my commute just to get more saddle time and take advantage of the day. With that as an agenda I decided to piece together my planned route based upon my cho

 Took a slapshot to the face tonight at ball hockey. Playing defense a rising slapshot just missed the opposing forward coming out of the zone and stuck me square on the left eye. I didn't even see it coming but it set me down on my backside pretty efficiently. I was wearing glasses tonight so the impact was deflected by the lense but the frame ended up cutting me across the bridge of my nose and down the right side.The eye itself feels OK and my vision seems normal.  Got one sore face tonight to match my still tender backside from Sunday's slapshot off my hip.A deep bruise it almost feels like a mini hematoma and is a lovely shade of Barney The Dinosaur purple. Been a tough week! Definitely have gotten my full measure of suffering! The things I endure for the love of the game.  I expect to have a beautiful shiner come the morning but the ice cold can of Coors Light applied directly to my cheek after the injury has done wonders keeping the swelling in check. Feb 2 12

Autophagy is...... "...a catabolic process involving the degradation of a cell's own components through the lysosomal machinery. It is a tightly regulated process that plays a normal part in cell growth, development, and homeostasis, helping to maintain a balance between the synthesis, degradation, and subsequent recycling of cellular products. It is a major mechanism by which a starving cell reallocates nutrients from unnecessary processes to more-essential processes."                                             Wikipedia In layman's terms autophagy is when cells recycle waste material, eliminate or regulate wasteful processes  and repair themselves.Sort of like your computer defragging it`s hard drive and deleting unnecessary files and processes. Why is this important? " It’s required to maintain muscle mass, and inhibiting it induces atrophy of adult skeletal muscle. It reduces the negative effects of aging and reduces the incidence and progression o