Last summer, Sam Westby, a Northeastern student pursuing a doctorate in psychology, was catapulted to social media stardom when he began documenting a cross-country cycling trip with his father on Instagram.
Westby’s short-form video series showed people the highs and lows of interstate biking and gas station feasts. The videos resonated with audiences and Westby’s account has amassed over 50,000 followers since its creation.
Since completing his cross-country endeavor in 2023, Westby has diversified his Instagram content to other bike-related videos including a pedestrian and cyclist bridge clean-up, a bike trip from his apartment to the airport and most recently a staggering world-record attempt of the largest GPS drawing created by a lone cyclist.
Westby had a passion for biking even before he entered the limelight, which he said his family imparted upon him.
“I grew up doing bikepacking and bike touring with my dad and my brother and my mom,” Westby said. “I think our first trip was when I was 9.”
Bikepacking is a combination of biking and backpacking where cyclists camp during the nights of longer journeys.
Over the years, Westby and his father, Chick Westby, endeavored to bike longer distances together. They first came up with the idea to go cross-country biking together in 2021.
However, their initial plans didn’t pan out and the trip was put on hold until summer of 2023. For Chick Westby, the trip was an opportunity to bond with his son.
“You learn a lot about your kid when you’re one-on-one like that, and we’d never had that chance before,” Chick Westby said. “And then when this came up, I just thought, ‘We have to jump on this thing.’”
The duo initially began posting on social media to communicate with friends and family while on the road, but when the videos started racking up views, their goals changed.
“[Sam’s] intention was just a way to keep family and friends informed so we don’t have to worry about how we’re gonna text everybody all the time,” Chick Westby said. “I think he’s fueled by the input from people and to see [people] getting joy out of it.”
As the likes and messages came flooding in from users watching their journey, Sam Westby was surprised by the amount of support and connection his posts fostered.
“Oddly, the comments and the messages are all wholesome,” Sam Westby said. “I’ve gotten almost no hate at all on the internet, except for when I talked about infrastructure.”
As his audience grew, the videos took on a new purpose of showing people that biking can be accessible.
“Those are some of the things that I was hoping people would get out of it, like, ‘Hey, this is doable,’” Chick Westby said. “‘It’s just a guy and his son.’”
After Sam Westby returned to Boston, one video in which he cleaned up a public bridge caught the City of Boston’s attention, and he was invited to Mayor Michelle Wu’s 2024 “State of the City” address.
“We just love someone calling attention to this bridge and showing community pride,” said Hannah Fong, a transportation planner with the City of Boston. “It was like a new type of way of bringing attention to civic space and building community around it.”
Building a community of cyclists in Boston can help improve accessibility for everyone, Fong said.
“I think his videos also make biking seem really approachable and community-minded,” Fong said. “Building community has helped to get more people involved and stay informed and engaged about what’s happening in terms of the city’s decisions and plans about biking.”
Sam Westby believes his videos can help show Bostonians that biking in the city doesn’t have to be intimidating.
“Just me showing myself biking around the streets gives people a bit more familiarity, I think, about just what biking in the city looks like,” he said.
In a departure from his cycling advocacy content, Sam Westby devoted his spring break to chasing a World Record for the longest GPS drawing completed by a solo cyclist.
A GPS drawing is an art method where an individual uses GPS to track and record themselves completing a large-form image on a pre-planned route of roads and paths.
A new video series documenting his attempt kicked off Feb. 29, and he completed the challenge March 9. His accomplishment has not yet been recognized by Guinness World Records.
In addition to drawing a 1,067-mile shoe using a GPS tracker that followed his route down dirt roads, Sam Westby also fundraised to support Shoes That Fit, a non-profit that provides shoes to low-income children.
By the end of the world-record attempt, Sam Westby had raised over $11,000 for Shoes That Fit, and had once again brought his audiences a mix of feats in both biking and advocacy.
“Thank you to everyone who donated,” Sam Westby said in his final Instagram post for his attempt. “It’s always a little nerve wracking to do a fundraiser. Overall, tough but fun ride.”
