Getting Sick on a Bike Tour

Welcome to the Bike Bulletin.  Consider it your weekly energy gel.

—Sam Westby @samcwestby

Here’s what we have today.

• 🌍 RIDE: The Denali Highway

• 💡 TIP: Getting Sick on a Bike Tour

• 🎥 WATCH: A Colorado Trail Documentary

• 📖 READ: States Shift Funds from Roads to Transit

• 🚲 ARCHIVES: Paris World Fair (1900)

• 📰 NEWS: a new bill, U.S. cycling %s, bike hearse

🚨 GIVEAWAY 🚨

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ROUTE ON MY RADAR

The Denali Highway

Once I finally get to Alaska, I want to do about 50 rides. This is one of them.

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

• 120+ miles (200+ kilometers) of dirt and gravel Alaskan roads

• Ascending literal mountains

• An absurd amount of wildlife

• Crazy Alaskan vistas

• Unpredictable weather

• A sample RideWithGPS route

• Read about Brad McCartney’s Denali Bike Trip (Bike Hide Safari)

• Watch Bushradical’s Motorcycle Trip on the Denali Highway (YouTube)

BIKE TRIP TIP

Getting Sick on a Bike Tour

Imagine it’s a beautiful sunny day, but your brain is foggiest than Seattle in the fall. Here’s what to do if you get sick on a bike tour.

I got food poisoning during the Tour Divide. Some might say it’s unwise to keep two McDoubles at room temperature for 5 hours until dinner.

You don’t need all the details, but I was pulling off the trail and ducking into the woods a bunch of times each day.

Here’s what I was doing:

• Drinking enough water and salts to stay hydrated.

• Taking Imodium. It’s a great pill that slows digestion. I bring it on every trip.

• Monitoring my energy levels.

If I showed any signs of dehydration or excessive fatigue, I was going to stop riding and hunker down in a motel until things got better. It’s all about listening to your body.

Thankfully, all I had to worry about was Mother Nature calling me too many times each day.

Some Warm Showers hosts have even been known to spend a few days caring for sick travelers.

The biggest piece of advice — plan some wiggle room into your trip. If you have to be in X by Y, then one thing going wrong will knock down the chain of dominoes. Stay flexible so you can do what you need to stay healthy. That also means having some wiggle room in your budget.

Taking a few days off and recovering is better than half-recovering and half-suffering for a few weeks.

WHAT I’M WATCHING

A Colorado Trail Documentary

The Colorado Trail is known for being one of the most rugged bikepacking routes in the U.S. In this documentary, you can follow along with Dave Baumann’s ride from Denver to Durango.

It’s a high-production 26-minute documentary by Summit Nine Media. It’s well done and I enjoyed it.

Watch on YouTube

WHAT I’M READING

States Shift Road Funds to Transit Projects

I’ve written about it in past editions of the Bike Bulletin, but this current U.S. administration doesn’t like cycling.

Thankfully, some states do.

California, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania formed the Clean Rides Network. It’s a coalition that supports transit, recreational trails, and bicycle infrastructure projects.​

Even if the federal government is defunding cycling, many states will continue to show us support.

Read the full article at the Associated Press.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Paris World Fair (1900)

Bicycles were on full display in the 1900 Paris World Fair. Still considered state-of-the-art, many designs were on display. This picture shows a range of the models.

Read more at the Northwestern Archives.

• Bike Hearse. A Paris, France company is now helping you ride to your grave. (Momentum Mag)

• 35%. The percentage of U.S. residents (older than 3 years old) who rode a bike at least once in 2024. (People For Bikes)

• 13 people. The size of a new San Antonio, Texas committee dedicated to transit-oriented development. (KSAT)

• HB 341. A recent bill was introduced in Houston, Texas, to study whether bike lanes reduce bike accidents. Even in anti-cycling Houston, I do not doubt that they do. (KHOU)

A Note From Sam

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