Johnny Isaak, Author at Johnny Isaak | Adventure Cyclist

Exploring China’s “Wild Wall”

Peering from atop of the ruined stone ramparts that once marked the edge of known civilization for the Han Chinese through the morning haze out across the vast and intimidating mountains to the north, one could not help but imagine life in the Chinese dynasties and the harrowing experiences imperial soldiers must have faced defending the Middle Kingdom against the savage marauding warrior trips of the Xiongnu sweeping down from the hinterlands of the Eurasian Steppe to visit havoc and destruction on the cultivated and ordered Han society.

Free of the thick, jaundiced air, congested streets, oppressive heat, and clogged tourist attractions of Beijing, rugged highlands to the north of China’s capital lend themselves to an unfettered exploration of the Great Wall of China and its ancient ruined ramparts ensconced atop of forbidding mountain ridges blocking hostile encroachment from the north.

Prizing authenticity over the highly commercialized “Disneyland” experience the more popular and overcrowded tourist destination Badaling has to offer, one can hire a car and head for the lesser traveled sections of the Great Wall that stand above the village of Mutianyu located about 70 some odd kilometers north of Beijing.

Escape the thickening jaundiced air, congested streets, oppressive heat, and clogged tourist attractions of Beijing. Search the ruined ramparts atop of forbidding mountains blocking the Eurasian Steppe to the north. Clamber among the scattered stones of the “wild walls” of the Changcheng or the Long Wall as the Chinese know it. [Read more…] about Exploring China’s “Wild Wall”

What’s on the Bike? Setup for an Australian Bike Adventure

by Johnny Isaak ·

My bags are packed. The Divide is ready to roll. Distant horizons of the burnt red sun of the Australian Outback call.

Setting up a bike and kit for a long journey is an ongoing ever evolving process of tweaking and changing, deleting this and adding that. For me, it’s just the nature of the beast.

Setting up my rig and kit for Australia was a pretty casual affair. In the Land Down Under, I’m rolling fairly light and not over thinking the gear. Other than protection from the elements, a few items to keep the bike rolling, and a camera and notebook to document the journey, not much more is needed.

Go Your Own Way: Be Your Own Explorer

by Johnny Isaak ·

Just about wherever you go nowadays chances are someone’s already been there. You’d be challenged to find many places on this planet where humans haven’t already been. Virtually everywhere you go, someone’s been there before you. And worse yet, if it’s a really cool place, somebody’s probably put up a fence around it and is charging admission.

The world is changing. Adventure travel isn’t what it used to be a hundred, even fifty years ago. But that’s no reason you shouldn’t go. If you travel to where you never been, it will be your first time. The journey will still be a rewarding adventure if you approach it right. And in a sense, we are all explorers in our own right.

Mia’s Cycling Adventure

by Johnny Isaak ·

The Girl Wants to Ride

“Dad, I want to ride with you tomorrow,” Mia declared to me as I pumped up the tires on my Divide and readied it for the following day’s cruise out to Chongming Island. Now at the last minute, Mia suddenly expressed an interest in going.

Refining the Co-Motion Divide

by Johnny Isaak ·

The miles and chips are adding up are beginning to add up on the Divide with adventure. With each journey, my riding style continues to evolve. Each foray over the horizon teaches me something new in the art of bike travel. At the end of each ride, I usually end up tweaking this or that. Adventure cycling is a never-ending journey of not only the land but of the self and one’s gear as well.

As of late, my bike travel has been about slowing down and getting into the experience of the ride and not so much the distance traveled. I’ve become much more focused on the quality of the ride and the places visited while paying less attention my average speed or distance covered.

Reducing the daily travel distance creates more “white space” for the serendipity of travel to occur. The shift in traveling style also generated a few component changes on the bike and kit as well.

South Korea: Notes from a Winter Journey

by Johnny Isaak ·

Exploring South Korea by bike in late winter was a different journey of sorts. Bicycle travel through a land deep in hibernation was filled with crisp foggy mornings, temperatures sucking the mercury down to well below zero Celsius that until midday, and minimal precipitation. Most days, the sun was bright, the air was cold, and there was no snow or rain to speak of — thank goodness. Being off-season, following the Four Rivers bikeways, I usually had the bike paths to myself. It was pure solitary cycling bliss.

Review: Shimano XM7 Cross Mountain Adventure Shoes

by Johnny Isaak ·

Needing a Little More

My beloved and highly ventilated Mavic Alpine shoes just weren’t cutting it while cycling in eastern China’s cold wet winter weather. The ventilated mesh shoes are great for riding in the warmer climes and veterans of many cycle trekking miles but do little to keep the cold and the water out went the mercury drops and gray skies open up for days on end. I needed something a little more substantial.

Earlier this year, I had a chance to nab a pair of Shimano’s new XM7 Cross Mountain Adventure Shoes before heading to Taiwan for a little winter wet weather island cycling adventure, followed by subzero foray across South Korean peninsula, and finishing up with a brief soiree through the humid tropics of China’s Hainan island, where the shoes were exposed numerous wet and cold conditions. After about 5000 km on the bike and afield, here’s how they did…

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