The Fatbiking Capital of the U.S.

Plus, Buying a Bike With Pre-Tax Healthcare Money and Susan B. Anthony

Author

Sam Westby
December 11, 2025

Welcome to the Bike Bulletin. It’s all you need to get a grip on your cycling adventures.

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: Fatbikes in Anchorage, Alaska

  • 🎥 WATCH: Attempting to Launch a Plane by Bike

  • 📖 READ: Buying a Bike With HSA Dollars

  • 🚲 ARCHIVES: Susan B. Anthony

A SLIGHT CORRECTION

Last week, I covered a research article about the safety of protected cycle tracks versus painted cycle tracks. Several of you wrote in letting me know that I hyperlinked to the wrong study. The link to the actual study, published in Accident Analysis & Prevention, can be found HERE.

RIDING ON MY RADAR

Fatbikes in Anchorage, Alaska

The biggest fat-bike city in the world.

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

  • 120+ miles of groomed winter bike trails

  • Huge fat bike commuter culture

  • Home to the Big Fat Ride and the Winter Bike Festival

  • Access to snow-covered singletrack

You can read more on anchorage.net and watch Alaska.org’s 2-minute video about where to ride.

WHAT I’M READING

Buy a Bike With Pre-Tax Healthcare Money

This Holiday Season, Buy Your Kid a Bike With Your Pre-Tax Healthcare Money — Streetsblog USA

Got an FSA account that's about to expire, or an HSA gathering dust? Now is a great time to invest in your child's health with a new bike.

usa.streetsblog.org/2025/12/04/this-holiday-season-buy-your-kid-a-bike-with-your-pre-tax-healthcare-money

Want to get a discount on your next bike purchase? If you have:

  1. FSA or HSA

  2. letter of medical necessity

Then you can likely buy a bicycle for yourself or your family with pre-tax healthcare money.

The article says that the “letter of medical necessity” can be easy to get because only 7 percent of U.S. adults have adequate cardiometabolic health.

WHAT I’M WATCHING

Attempting to Launch a Plane by Bike

What happens when you hook up a professional cycling team like Santa’s reindeer? Red Bull has the answer. Riders of the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe pushed an absurd number of watts trying to get a plane in the air.

Watch on YouTube

FROM THE ARCHIVES
❝

I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world.

Susan B. Anthony, 1896

Susan B. Anthony, a long-time leader in the women’s suffrage movement, said these words in 1896 when she was 76 years old. She was seeing women gain independence through mobility in a time when they had limited transportation options.

The act of riding a bike challenged gender norms against women exercising or wearing more practical attire.

She saw bicycles as a tool of freedom, shifting women's roles in society.

A Note From Sam

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Random side project I’ve been working on - if you’re in the biotech work feel free to check out my side project bioroundup.com. It’s a personalized news service that learns what’s important to you in the biotech and pharma space, then filters out the noise to deliver the exact articles that are relevant to you. If you want more info, email [email protected].