Who goes on bike tours? Where do these crazy people come from, and what makes them tick? These questions, and a dozen others, are the focus of a new series of articles here.

Our first interview is with solo tourist Caroline Richardson , who in August followed our itinerary for a 600-mile trip around the north half of Lake Michigan, carrying some personal gear and a few repair items.

CR: I guess the answer to that is mostly I don’t ride as much as I’d like to. I do hope to increase my biking substantially over the next few years because it’s better for my health, my physical health, my mental health, and I have a bit of freedom now that my kids are older.

JP: Where did the idea for a Lake Michigan bike trip come from?

CR: Well, that’s a complicated question, but basically because I haven’t been riding as much as I’d like to, and I’m not as strong as I’d like to be, I wanted a relatively tame route. It seemed to me that if you rode around the edge of a lake it would be relatively flat and that sounded good to me. Plus I thought it would be beautiful, and it’s nearby. I dropped my son at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp very close to the starting point, and it all worked out timing wise. I didn’t have to pack up the bike, fly anywhere, do anything crazy like that. Just drive there, drop my son, and go.

JP: So you told some friends about this trip.How many of them looked at you and said “you’re crazy”?

CR: Most of them really didn’t understand what I was talking about (laughs), and they all thought that I was going with a group…nope, I’m going by myself, and they’re all like, why? (laughs)

JP: So, the obvious question, you’re a single female out there, did you feel unsafe at any point on the trip?

CR: The only time I felt unsafe, there was one, maybe two times, there was an aggressive driver who was yelling at me…but I don’t think that was gender related, that was an irritable person on the road and I think they would have been irritable to anyone.

JP: Let’s go back to your work. You’ve done a lot of research on physical activity and how it helps your patients. What did you learn from this research, if anything, which helped you on this bike ride?

CR: Yes, so I do diabetes prevention research, and one of the things we’re looking into right now is lower carbohydrate diets. One of the most interesting areas is the interaction between physical activity and lower carbohydrate diets, because most people think you have to carb load to do a big physical activity adventure. But the truth is you can actually burn fat as your fuel instead of carbs as your fuel, pretty efficiently. Your peak performance is dulled a little bit, but if you’re going for length and slow & steady (laughs). I’m not a fast rider, I’m a slow steady rider…when you ride all day at a slow steady pace, that’s perfect for burning fat. I was able to eat a protein heavy, fat heavy diet without may carbs. I ended up losing about 5 lbs in 10 days, which is pretty amazing.

JP: Does anything from this trip translate back to your research?

CR: Absolutely. As I was riding i was definitely paying attention to carbs vs. protein vs. fats. I’ve been on rides…with the standard cycling diet of bananas and granola bars and Gator Aid, and did not feel nearly as good or get as much (cardio) benefit or weight loss wise as I did on this bike tour…focused more on protein and less on carbs. I think there is something about metabolic flexibility where you can either burn fat or you can burn carbs and you’re not so tied to one or the other, which we’ve gotten out of the habit of using. It’s interesting that you can bring back metabolic flexibility pretty quickly if you limit your processed carbohydrate intake while you’re cycling 60 miles each day.

JP: What is your advice for other people who might have a similar idea kicking around in their head?

CR: Just do it. You can go as slow (or fast) as you want. A lot of people are like “oh, I could never do that.” Well you could, just slower, or fewer miles, or take more time. A day is a long time, and you can get pretty far if you just keep going…it was a great ride.

Equipment: Seven titanium bike , Ortlieb panniers and handlebar bag, Coros helmet with bluetooth and bone-induction speakers, iPhone & external battery pack (for navigation), USB-rechargeable front & rear lights.

Take along 30 lbs of stuff: two bike outfits & toiletries, and the unused things: cold weather clothes, large first aid kit, tools and repair items. You can click here and read our full transcript of the  Richardson interview.

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