I managed to get out for a long ride today, 75km in 3 hours on the dot. Perfect day, max 10km/h wind, 23 degrees full sun. I followed the Grand River up to Kitchener along the trails, back by road. All terrain route from rocky boulder paths to 4 lane highway and plenty hills along the way. The muscles above my knee started cramping on the way back, I guess I got behind on my water intake, more water and a sweet & salty snack helped.

Summer is the best. Traffic lights are the devil though. Suddenly having to stop with no further cooling from the wind it only takes 30 seconds to effectively go blind... Helmet for safety, as long as you keep moving lol. Always fun crossing a huge intersection with salt burning your eyes!

This, and a reassessment IMO. If you want my take on cutting:

- Instead of mainly cutting calories I like to add calorie burning activity. I still count my calories and watch what I eat (important) but I this method leaves me less tired/hangry and helps me retain muscle mass. Thus, instead of eating ~2000 calories a day to have a 500 calorie deficit, I can eat ~2400 and cut out 100 while burning 400 (hypothetical numbers). Two apps that really help with this are MyFitnessPal and Fitbit (if you have a device). You can track your workouts and/or steps to see how many calories you are burning, since they sync together.

- I use a "batting average" for my weekly meals. If I hypothetically eat 30 a week, I like to keep 27 of them clean and leave room for some mis-steps; because a .900 batting average is pretty damn good. This keeps me focused and less likely to slip up completely.

- I make sure to eat about 160g protein per day (0.8/lb of bodyweight) in order to retain as much muscle mass as possible.

- I don't take it super seriously or break it down too much. As long as I keep below my calorie goal and hit my protein intake requirement, I don't really give a dump about macros. Eating right is mostly common sense! MyFitnessPal is my best friend right now. Admittedly I only started my cut last week, but I am already down 2.5 pounds while eating 2500 calories a day. It makes me wonder how many I was eating when they were unregulated.

All these things help me stay focused on my cut.

What kind of bike do you have?

The brakes almost went out on mine while cycling down a veerrrryy steep hill. I said a quick prayer to Brodin though, and all was well.

Good to see you around! How is your year going? In terms of fitness and otherwise?

interesting so far. I started lifting about seven months ago after a two year break and apparently the so called "muscle memory" thing is true. I can vouch for it.

Bulking was the most painful part, though. I have a pretty sedentary life style but I had to jam about 3000 calories everyday day. Don't worry, I worked up to that slowly. It was fun at first but my appetite went down the after I picked up smoking again :X

And now I actually started to enjoy training for what it is. I don't feel too attached to the way I look like I used to. It just makes me feel mentally better if that makes sense.

Yeah I hear you! I'm active much for the same reasons - I love it so much and it's become a habit for me now; a habit that has opened the door for new opportunities that I didn't really expect when I got into it. It's something I look forward to everyday because the gym is such a positive atmosphere with genuine people (mostly lol).

So what is the current gameplan/goal that you have in mind?

I'm leaning down for the summer. Nothing too extravagant. I'll just make my diet simpler but still enjoyable. 

UNSOLICITED PROGRESS PICTURE!!!!!!!!!!

On the left: Christmas 2k14, about 190lbs. Had done some lifting for college ball, but the majority of baseball lifting was done after this period. Still in better shape in this picture than I was 9 months ago
On the right: June 2k16, about 205lbs after 9 months of continual PPL program lifting.
I wish I had a picture from September to show what kind of shape I was in, but this will have to do!
I'd like to thank this angle and my clothes-dryer for making me look good.

Don't hate the get-up either I had to match the only picture I had of myself with bare arms that I wasn't a child in.

Well it started out as a specialized cross roads bike.

Pretty much everything has been replaced on it over the years except the seat and frame. Currently it has SR Suntour front suspension and 700 x 45c K-Race Pro wheels, very smooth ride. It's a perfect hybrid for road and trails. I broke the frame of my previous bike on the trail, this one is holding out well. I spend about $300-$400 a year on maintenance, for up to 3000 km a year on it.

Always check your brakes :) I sometimes forget to lock the brake cable back in after taking the wheel out to patch a flat along the way. Not a nice feeling when nothing happens when you press the brakes, good thing there are 2. Quick brake check before a steep hill is always a good idea.

o.O nice! I have a Raleigh Matterhorn mountain bike. No idea how much it was but I got it a loooong time ago when I was still in Sask. It serves me well! You're legit though haha that's some serious mileage! Ever want to ride your bike through the Rockies?

That's probably still a lower estimate, if I could I would go out daily. Cycling in the rockies would be cool, yet not fair to my wife and kids. I'm still finding new ways to go here after 14 years, never gets boring.
I bought a Burley cub trailer a few years ago to take the kids with me. The oldest is too big for it now, plus the outer connecting rod broke. It has some serious mileage on it too. I reinforced it with steel wire and rope lol. It seems to hold. The younger one still rides in it (usually naps along the way to a beach or waterfall etc), oldest just got spoiled with his own Cannondale Trail 20 bike. He loves it, getting used to changing gears. It's a 6 speed. Mine's a 27 speed, I use them all. Lowest to pull the bike trailer up steep hills, highest to reach upto 55 kph down hill.

My worst crash was 16 years ago, going about 35-40 kph, slipped on loose gravel laying on the road while making a turn. Ended up sliding along the road for a good bit and lost a lot of skin on my right arm, shoulder and chest. The worst was thoroughly washing all the dirt and gravel out when I got home, ugh. Then to the ER to get a Tetanus shot. It all took a few weeks to heal. I've wiped out cornering on wet asphalt too, much less damaging. Kinda comical sliding into the gutter. Plenty other crashes on trails although I've been getting more careful the past few years. I've even fallen asleep while cycling, rode right of the embankment. It's fun to push a bicycle to its limits, and the more you fall, the better you get at it. Heck, I even managed to stay on 2 days ago while I was already picking out a good spot to land :)