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I always look forward to what Google comes up with on April 1st.

Roy M. Wallack sent us a copy of his revised and updated edition of Bike For Life: How to Ride to 100 – and Beyond. Roy is an L.A. Times fitness columnist and a prolific writer of books and magazines. He’s also a good story teller. I enjoyed this clip below where he explains how he could claim the title of the second fittest man in the world.

As you would expect, Bike For Life features advice on fitness, nutrition, cycling skills and injury management. The book is very comprehensive in that regard. However, what I enjoyed the most were the interviews with various cycling luminaries including John Howard, Rebecca Rusch, Johnny G, Ned Overend, John Sinibaldi, Missy Giove, Gary Fisher, Jim Ochowicz, Eddie B, Marla Streb, Mike Sinyard and Rich White.

Whether you’re new to cycling or a long time rider just hoping to keep going to 100, Bike For Life is worth a read.

I really enjoyed watching this movie which was shot in my hometown of Waterloo, Ontario! What is it with this town and stationary gym equipment?

The film is actually free to watch online until Christmas, so check it out below before it’s gone.

Life is taking us to Vancouver in January. Sadly, our fleet of unique bicycles will not be coming with us and we will not be in a position to rent them out during the summer 2016. Today, I handed the proverbial keys to the pickup truck bike off to its new owners. I’m excited to see what Matthew and his friends can do with it now.

In Vancouver, I will continue to focus on the development and support of BikeCAD and BikeCAD Pro software for custom framebuilders and bicycle fit specialists. Check out the BikeCAD.ca website for more about that.

So impressed with Aerovelo, the Canadian team that just broke the World Human Powered Speed Record by going 137.93 kph / 85.71 mph.

This spring, I had the pleasure of testing out a Stafast suspension stem. The promo video is below.

I was skeptical whether the kind of riding I do on a daily basis would really benefit from a suspension stem. When riding around town, I use a steel touring bike with 700c X 38mm tires. I find it to be pretty comfy as it is. However, if suspension is ever going to be an asset in navigating the mean streets of Kitchener-Waterloo, it’s going to be this year. With construction for a new light rail transit in full swing, our roads are so torn up you could ride a fatbike here without looking ridiculous.

Weighing just over 400 grams, the Stafast stem was more than twice the weight of the forged aluminium stem I’d been using before. Admittedly, once I got the stem mounted, I didn’t really notice the extra weight as I was riding.

One issue that presented itself when mounting the stem was interference with the cable hanger. I needed to use 30mm of spacers to ensure that the Stafast pneumatic cylinder cleared the brake housing as shown below.

This is not apt to be an issue for many, as the pairing of a $350 suspension stem with cantilever brakes is a combination that is unlikely to repeat in this current era of disc brakes and consistently applied budgetary decisions.

Although the recommended shock pressure for my weight and riding style is 250 psi, I opted to start at 50 psi to get a better sense of the range of suspension offered by the Stafast stem. At such low pressure, I could feel the stem squishing as I got on the bike, a feeling reminiscent of climbing into my grandpa’s Cadillac. Although novel at first, it soon became clear that more pressure was required as this flex in the suspension would occur when climbing out of the saddle or simply pushing a big gear. At the recommended 250 psi however, the stem felt really solid. So solid that it wasn’t completely obvious how much shock absorption was actually going on. I say that because my 38mm tires and aluminium handlebars also soak up a lot of shock.

To be fair, when it comes to road use, it seems the Stafast stem is marketed more toward the kind of road bike that lacks these other modes of shock absorption.

Over the course of the month I rode the Stafast stem, it lost about 75 psi. This wouldn’t be a big deal with the newer model Stafast stems. In the latest Stafast design, the valve is accessible right at the bottom of the pneumatic cylinder. In the early model I was using, the trunnion at the bottom of the pneumatic cylinder needed to be unbolted from the stem and then unscrewed from the cylinder to expose the valve.

Although the primary feature of the Stafast stem is the suspension, another feature that should not be neglected is the option to adjust the stem angle over a range of 25°. This adjustment is done using a wrench to turn the pneumatic cylinder gland. The cylinder must be fully depressurized before performing this operation.

With all this functionality built into the stem, it’s no surprise that the Stafast stem looks like some sort of military gadget. Whether you think that’s good or bad, likely says a lot about whether the Stafast stem is right for you.

Jessie Pavelka and Meredith Vieira guess whether the Treadmill Bike is “Real” or “Fugazi”. They each guessed differently, but I’d say they were both right. What do you think?

Pub Pedals wrote to let me know about their new innovation described in the video below.

As fellow Canadians they’ve offered to give away a set of Pub Pedals through this blog. To win a pair, tag your Instagram photos with #INeedPubPedals. Whoever gets the most likes for their photo will win. Sorry, this contest is now closed.

If you don’t win, feel free to take advantage of the following promo code to get free shipping with your order: forestfreeship. For more info, see: www.pubpedals.com.

Here’s an interesting project for music loving bicycle videographers.

I’ve backed the project and will submit some footage from our Kitchener to Baton Rouge trip.

Several months ago, I received a Dual Action Seat for evaluation. I really should have written about it sooner, but I’ve been a little lost for words. The first thing that struck me upon lifting the Dual Action Seat from the box was the weight. It is not only in appearance that the Dual Action Seat resembles a boat anchor. As you can see below, the Ritchey seatpost and WTB saddle I pulled from my bike to make way for the Dual Action Seat tipped the scales at just over 600 grams. The Dual Action Seat and seatpost weighed in at almost 1.9 kilograms!

Once I mounted the Dual Action Seat to my bike, the next surprise came with how much the new seat shifted my position forward. The difference shown below may not seem like a lot, but believe me, the difference feels dramatic. While this was another strike against the Dual Action Seat from my perspective, I will admit that if anyone happens to have an ill fitting bike and is looking for a way to shift their position forward, the Dual Action Seat could be the ticket.

As unsettled as I was in this new forward position, I didn’t dwell on it. As it turns out, the Dual Action Seat had another peculiarity that I found more disturbing than the position. From my cursory examination of the saddle, I understood that the two pads of the seat would tilt up and down with the movement of your legs. However, what I found strange was that the entire assembly would also twist side to side like a bar stool. I asked if there was meant to be some sort of mechanism to return the seat to a centered position. I was told that older designs did feature a spring mechanism for that purpose. However, that mechanism was removed due to issues with durability.

To their credit, the people behind the Dual Action Seat are not looking to have everyone replace their current saddle with a Dual Action Seat. They do take pains to emphasize that the Dual Action Seat is meant more for people who for one reason or another simply cannot use a regular bicycle seat. If that describes your situation, by all means, have a look at the Dual Action Seat. For more info, see: DualActionSeat.com.