- Bike Bulletin
- Posts
- Lael Rides Around the World
Lael Rides Around the World
Plus, this week’s ride report and the Triple Bypass
Sam Westby
May 29, 2025
Welcome to the Bike Bulletin. Patching your inbox with great content every week.
—Sam Westby @samcwestby
This is a weekly newsletter about bike trips, urban cycling, and a love for two-wheeled transit. The more time you spend on a bike, the better. I share new editions every Thursday, gearing you up for the ride ahead.
Here’s what we have today.
🚲 REPORT: We made it to Paris
🌍 RIDE: The Triple Bypass
🎥 WATCH: Lael Rides Around the World
RIDE REPORT
We Made it to Paris
Last week I wrote about my dad’s and my week cycling from Girona, Spain into southern France. Since then, we have ridden 458 miles (737 kilometers) climbing over 28,600 feet (8700 meters) this week. I thought the climbing would stop once we got a couple days into France, but we had epic climbs every day until yesterday.
We didn’t have a route planned for southern France to Paris, but I saw a regional park on the map with volcanos 300 miles south of Paris. Parc naturel régional des Volcans d'Auvergne. That’s where we went!
We blindly trusted RideWithGPS with the route for this section. I set it to “pavement only” and it did a pretty good job. It helps that we’re not getting passed by many pickup trucks or cyclist haters (we saw our first Dodge Ram today). There have only been a few close passes on the trip, but never anything too scary.
The volcanos were epic. They’re relatively young (10,000 years) and very well maintained. We summered Puy Mary and Puy De Dome and both have full restaurants and facilities at the top. Luxury!
What’s next?
Stay two nights in Paris and adventure around tomorrow.
Head to Brussels, either by bike or train depending on time.
Stay in Brussels until my dad flys home on the 4th.
I’ll go to the Network Science conference in the Netherlands and spend a few more weeks cruising around Europe.
RIDE ON MY RADAR
The Triple Bypass
Here’s what you’d be getting yourself into.
3 classic Colorado passes: Juniper, Loveland, and Vail
118 miles with 10,800 feet of climbing (RideWithGPS)
Shut down car-free roads and aid stations
July 12th, 2025
My friend Tim convinced me to sign up. We’ll see what fitness I’ve gained from all these European hills.
I figured I’d add my referral code if you’re interested. After two referrals I get a free pair of socks! https://runsignup.com/Race/CO/Evergreen/TripleBypass?raceRefCode=TUnzhJlc
WHAT I’M WATCHING
Lael Rides Around the World
Late 2024, Lael Wilcox set the record for fastest woman to bike around the world in a time of 108 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes. We can join her on that 18,000 mile journey in this 87 minute masterpiece, released yesterday.
Sorry, I didn’t get the news section this week! It takes a while sifting through a bunch of articles, but I will resume next week 🙂
It’s always an interesting challenge managing my time on the road.
A Note From Sam
To share this email, you can forward it or send someone this link: https://bikebulletin.beehiiv.com/subscribe.
