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Paint Is Not Infrastructure According to a New Study
Plus, the Iditarod Trail Invitational and Stats for the Nerds
Sam Westby
December 04, 2025
Welcome to the Bike Bulletin. It’s the only newsletter that doesn’t think you’re weird for layering up in ski gear to bike to the grocery store in the middle of winter.
Written by 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.
🌍 RIDE: The Iditarod Trail Invitational
❓ RESEARCH: Paint Is Not Infrastructure
🎥 WATCH: Balance - a Cycling Short Film
🚲 ARCHIVES: Wedding Goals [1964]
📰 NEWS: New York City, recycled tires, and new bike lanes
ROUTE ON MY RADAR
The Iditarod Trail Invitational
On February 22nd, 2026, a small number of crazy individuals will bike, run, or ski up to 1000 miles through the Alaskan winter. It is one of the toughest endurance races in the world.
Temperatures can reach –50°F, with storms and whiteout conditions.
The field is intentionally small, and the only way to get an entry is through a competitive application process.
Frostbite, hypothermia, and sleep deprivation are common, but over the 25 years that this race has existed, only 1 death has been reported.
I’m not wild enough to try this, but I’ll be following along. Here’s the official race website: itialaska.com
FROM THE IVORY TOWER
Paint Is Not Infrastructure
A new paper from a group of Canadian scientists looks at how different cycling infrastructure impacted safety measures. They looked at cycle tracks and painted lanes in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto.
This is a tricky study to do well. Existing research often has weak comparison grounds or confounding data.
The researchers worked to avoid these issues.
They verified infrastructure data from 2011 - 2022 using municipal reports and Google Street View
They collected injury data using police reports and insurance data
They used cyclist intersection counters for 9% of treated road segments
Their findings:
Protected cycle tracks decreased the rate of deaths and serious injuries in Calgary
Painted cycle lanes increased the rate of deaths and serious injuries in Vancouver
Although we don’t see the effects in every city, this echoes what advocates have been shouting for years. Paint is not infrastructure.
Read the full article on ScienceDirect
WHAT I’M WATCHING
Balance - a Cycling Short Film
Watch this short 2-minute film about Zach Tom’s relationship with cycling on YouTube.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Wedding Goals [1964]
The 1964 wedding of Dutch Olympic bronze medalist Cor Schuuring and Rietje Schulte. I’m gonna have to recreate this picture someday.
64 percent. The proportion of vehicles in New York City’s bike lanes that are e-bikes, according to a new study. This is 25% more than the city’s official estimate. (Streetsblog)
20 kilometers. The distance of newly planned bike lanes in Toronto. They figured out a way to skirt around the anti-bike Premier Doug Ford. (CityNews)
Ben Furnas. NYC mayor-elect Mamdani appointed Furnas, a staunch transportation advocate, to his Transportation transition team. (New York Post)
Recycled Tires. Seattle is testing this material to create new bike lane barriers. (Seattle Bike Blog)
A Note From Sam
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