Bikepacking with Friends

Welcome to the Bike Bulletin, the newsletter that brings the bike trip to you.

—Sam Westby @samcwestby

Here’s what we have today.

• 🌍 RIDE: Acadia National Park

• ❓ SCIENCE: How Effective are Bike Helmets?

• 💡 TIP: Sam’s Bike Trip Nutrition Guidelines

• 🎥 WATCH: How to go Bikepacking with Friends

• 📖 READ: Mayoral Candidate Against Bike Lane Expansion

• 🚲 ARCHIVES: American Wheelmen’s Protective Asso. Ad (1887)

• 📰 STATS FOR THE NERDS

RIDE ON MY RADAR

Acadia National Park

Here’s what you’d be getting yourself into:

• The best of Northeast U.S. nature.

• Crushed stone roads weaving 60+ miles (97+ km) up and down the entire park.

• 4.5 mile (7.2 km) climb at a 6% average grade to the top of Cadillac Mountain for sunrise.

• Dinner in Bar Harbor, Maine just 1 mile (1.6 km) from the park entrance.

This weekend trip is on my list for 2025. It’s only a 4.5-hour drive from Boston.

SCIENCE OF THE WEEK

How Effective are Bike Helmets?

We all know helmets save lives, but how much impact do they actually have?

University of Central Florida professors looked at the existing research on bicycle helmets and injury prevention. Here’s what they found:

• They’re especially protective against serious injuries (a 69% reduction).

• Helmets can cut skull fractures by 80%.

• Helmet-wearing cyclists do not ride more recklessly or have more crashes.

• A good-fitting, well-designed helmet pays off. (See the Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings for the safest helmets.)

• Safer roads + helmets = best defense

You can read the peer-reviewed meta-analysis in Nature Scientific Reports.

BIKE TRIP TIP

Sam’s Bike Trip Nutrition Guidelines

My bike-trip diet is about 70% carbs, 15% fats, and 15% protein. On high-effort days (11 hours of riding hard), I could eat up to 6,000 calories. On more party-paced days (3ish hours of riding), I might eat 3000 calories.

Here’s why you should eat the different macro-nutrient groups.

Carbohydrates

The magical food group. Our body uses glucose (a simple carb) for energy. Candy and fruit have a lot of glucose. They can also have fructose. It’s easy for our body to convert glucose to fructose. You’ll get a fast energy boost if you consume glucose or fructose

Complex carbs like pasta are chains of glucose and fructose. First, your body splits up the chains, then it converts everything to glucose, and finally, it uses the glucose for energy. You won’t feel an immediate energy boost eating complex carbs, but it’s still a good way to meet your energy requirements.

Fat

This is a slow energy source. Your body first converts fat to glucose. Fat has a ton of stored energy, but it’s a slow process converting it to glucose. If you’re huffing and puffing, then your body is burning fuel faster than the fat conversion process. That’s why a cyclist needs fast-acting energy from carbohydrates.

Energy from fat acts like your baseline. You’ll have a steady baseline energy from the fat to energy pipeline but will need to supplement with faster carbohydrates for more intense exercise.

Protein

You don’t get any energy from protein. Instead, proteins are the building blocks for repair. If you want to recover from each day of riding, you want protein. That’ll help your body feel fresh the next day.

WHAT I’M WATCHING

How to go Bikepacking with Friends

A quick fun 5-minute watch featuring the bikepacking legend Lael Wilcox at the Women’s Arizona Rally.

Watch on YouTube

WHAT I’M READING

Josh Kraft (son of the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft) is running against Boston’s current mayor Michelle Wu in the 2025 Boston mayoral election.

While this isn’t a political newsletter, I do write about bike lanes!

Kraft made some negative comments in his CBS Boston interview:

• He’d pause bike lane construction because the “haphazard” layout is not benefiting the everyday people.

• “There just doesn't seem to be a thought process toward a strategy to it.”

• “[Bike lanes have] caused more congestion.”

Kraft probably hasn’t talked to the wonderful people at the Boston Transportation Department.

Before every new bike lane project they:

• Survey the community and host town halls

• Analyze mobility data to see who it helps and who it hurts

• Analyze credit card spending data

That’s in addition to a comprehensive city-wide transportation plan called Go Boston 2030.

There is an incredible amount of time spent and research done for every mile of new bike lane.

When you break it down, some people just don’t like bikes (Kraft).

FROM THE ARCHIVES

American Wheelmen’s Protective Asso. Ad (1887)

“Insurance” dates back to the Code of Hammurabi (1750 BC). It’s no surprise that people also offered bicycle insurance before the stop sign was first used (1914)

Find more Plainfield, New Jersey bicycle history at the Plainfield Library Online Exhibit.

• €16 million. The drop in Dublin’s “active travel” infrastructure funding for 2025. (Dublin Times)

• £291 million. The new funding package for active travel in England. (www.gov.uk)

• 2.5 miles (4 km). The length of an existing bike lane being converted to a protected bike lane in Columbus, Ohio. (Columbus Underground)

• 2.5 miles (4 km). The length of a recently approved bike lane project helping connect downtown Chandler, Arizona. (www.chandleraz.gov)

A Note From Sam

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