Johnny Isaak | Adventure Cyclist
A compendium of adventure cycling chronicles, travel lore, tips, techniques, and tactics for the adventure cycling perplexed.
We began pedaling in the rain under gray dull low-hanging skies. Cycling from our hotel to a little noodle stall down the street for breakfast, the rain was light and misty but growing in intensity. By the time we’d sucked down two steaming bowls of piping hot mian xian (beef noodles) and chugged a couple of liters of orange juice, the precipitation had increased to a steady pour and threatened to make it a true “adventure” day.
Fifteen days in Taiwan was all we had. So fifteen days is what our cycling adventure had to be. Yearning for a brief respite from Shanghai’s deceptively cold weather and a chance to get on the bikes again, my riding partner, Zhang Wei Lei, had a touch of travel fever and were itching to get out on the open road. Over a couple of frosty pints of Guinness in a noisy western bar, we sealed the deal and the fix was in.
Zhang Wei Lei and I possessed no definite plans. We had nothing special to see other than to explore Taiwan by circling the island on our bikes to “kan yi kan” or “take a look” and see what there was to see.
Our plan was simple: Fly to Taipei, build the bikes, and ride south along the coast while keeping the Pacific Ocean on our right shoulders until we circled the island and were back in Taipei. Our little island foray would be a journey of discovery in the purest form — just two kindred soul who shared a love of travel cycling together on the road again taking whatever adventure it had to offer.
Here are a few highlights from Part 1 of our adventure…
Focusing on continual adventure cycling, it was time to get out of Shanghai and on the bike again. Life’s clock was ticking away and I was itching to get on the road again. It isn’t more than a few weeks at home and I’m pacing the floors and staring at the walls yearning to get on the bike and out on the road again. It was time to get my gear in order and roll.
As a child thumbing through the pages of dog-eared National Geographic magazines in our small western town’s dinky little library, I used to dream of exploring the temples Angkor deep in the humid, steaming jungles far into the of interior Cambodia, a long, long way from small town Idaho. It was textbook Indiana Jones stuff long before for Indy had been conceived.
Some forty plus years on and a lot of living gone by, I was still seeing the a young boy’s fantasy of traipsing through southeastern Asian backcountry in search of the temples of Angkor, only now it was a dream whose time had suddenly come. Clicking the “purchase now” but for a flight from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh and I was headed for the mysterious temples of Cambodia.
My objectives were simple: Ride solo on my trusty Divide from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to Siam Reap, Cambodia and explore the temples at Angkor. Expected result: a boyhood dream fait accompli.
Keep things open and simple, which meant allowing plenty of time for leisurely travel and exploration. Limit maximum travel distance to 165 km, but focus on riding around 80-100 km/day. Concentrate on seeing the sights, meeting the people, tasting the food. Let the serendipity of the road handle the rest.
Fly from Shanghai to Vietnam. Then ride from Ho Chi Minh City northwest on Highway 22 to the Cambodian border. Cross the frontier and continue along Cambodian Highway 1 to Phnom Penh with requisite overnight stays along the way. Schedule one rest day for exploring Phnom Penh and then continue northeast along Cambodian Highway 6 to Siam Reap. Stop and explore as needed. Use several days to explore the temples at Angkor, which is near Siam Reap, and then fly back to Shanghai.
To get the family involved in the adventure, have my wife and daughter meet me in Siem Reap for Christmas, and rent bicycles and explore the ancient ruins together. What a great way to spend the winter holidays.
I conducted the route reconnaissance online and build the primary route in a new GPS app I’m using called “Ride with GPS” and a secondary route in the Delorme website and downloaded it onto my Delorme Explorer. Both the Delorme Explorer and the iPhone 6 don’t require cell connectivity to navigate via GPS, so cell coverage isn’t critical.
My intent was to navigate using the GPS tracker and GPS app on my phone and if all else failed, I would ask locals. Because I’ve performed a pretty good assessment of the route, I had a pretty good mental picture on how to get from Hou Chi Minh to Siam Reap and the villages I’d encounter along the way. If things got real tough, I would stop and get a paper map. For this journey, I would be totally digital.
Running the Delorme Explorer would allow my friends and family to track me along the way and I could signal help if an emergency should arise. My wife would have peace of mind and there was also medical and evacuation insurance included just in case.
Purchasing SIM cards for Vietnam and Cambodia ahead of time ensured immediate and continuous data and voice capability upon arrival in country as long as there was cellular or wifi access. For less than $10 each that includes a decent amount of voice and data, getting a SIM card for each country is the only way to go.
My intent was to maximize wifi use and limit voice and data to necessary calls and information only. With the popular Chinese WeChat app, it would be easy to stay in touch at home. The widespread proliferation of digital communications, wifi, and the Internet have forever changed staying in touch on the home front.
Listed below are the major items I brought on the trip. Intending to stay in guesthouse or hotels and to eat along the way or carry prepare foods and water, equipment came down to clothes, electronics, and bike repair kit. I’ll do a “what worked” follow up at the end of the journey.
Performing a quality technical inspection of the bike and kit is a must to avoiding problems on the road. One would think this a pretty standard part of the drill, but I’m continually amazed at other cyclists I come across who didn’t check out their bike and kit and are broke down on the road.
Make any necessary adjustments and repair any worn out broken components. If it doesn’t look right, better to fix it now than deal with it later on the road. Murphy’s Law: If something can go wrong, it will go wrong at the most inopportune time. Count on it.
Conducting a full gear pack up and load out is essential to ensuring everything will work the way you intend it to. Pack your gear the way you are going to use it. Keep the most used items on top for easy access. Ensure all your gear loads on and packs out the way you want it to. Fix any niggles on the spot. Don’t let the first time you’re doing it on the road be the first time you’re doing it.
Take your bike out for a test ride once you have it all together. This can be long or short, it’s up to you. Just make sure the bike and your gear are doing what they’re supposed to be doing the way they’re supposed to be doing it. Listen for any strange sounds or rubbing noises. Feel for any odd vibrations that could be coming from loose or rubbing gear. Tweak and adjust as required.
For $12 bucks, a local Shanghai Giant brand bike shop packed and boxed my bike. China Southern Airlines was running a special where a bike box counted as one piece of checked luggage with no additional charge. Since I was limited to only one piece of checked luggage, I would have to pay an additional 450 yuan ($75) for a second piece of luggage (a bag containing my panniers, frame and handlebar bags), which is still $125 less than most US carriers charge to take a bike box.
Upon arrival at the airport in Ho Chi Minh, I would decide whether to assemble the bike at the airport and ride into the city or just get a taxi to the hotel and build the bike in my room.
Upon finishing the ride in Siem Reap, the plan was to find or construct a bike box, pack the bike, and return the process to Shanghai.
Prepping for a cycling journey is a process that entails answering the 5 W’s and one H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How) and checking out all of your kit. If you do a good job at that, chances are the journey will be a pretty smooth and enjoyable one.
Traveling with your bike is also a “process” like the rest of adventure cycling. Best to work out a system for getting you and your bike from one location to another.
Tight systems make for smooth adventure cycling.
Please comment and leave your thoughts and ideas. Happy trails, Johnny
Not far from the pulsing steel and concrete jungle of Shanghai lies an entirely different China. Away from the hectic nonstop traffic and revving engines of darting metallic Lamborghini and Ferrari sports cars is a land that harkens back across the ages to a simpler time, a time of dynasties, tea culture, and silk. Adventure cycling destination: Zhouzhuang.
Beyond the shadows of the shiny steel and glass ultramodern skyscrapers only a short jaunt across the Yangtze River delta through an intriguing jumbled mishmash of farms and factories and just about everything in between exists an ancient village of arching black tile roofs, aging whitewashed plaster walls, and centuries-old stone bridges spanning a labyrinthine network of narrow canals and waterways that is this ancient water town.
Enriching life altering journeys don’t always have to be to some far away land or exotic destination. Adventure is where you find it, and more often than not, it’s more about one’s mindset than the places traveled to or the length of time on the road. Quite often, excitement and adventure can be found in your own backyard or near your home.
Microadventures are excellent journeys in themselves in lieu of or in between bigger farther, longer lasting voyages, and provide not only enriching experiences for relatively little time and capital, but can be ideal proving grounds for testing out new gear or refining one’s touring techniques prior to embarking on bigger forays farther afield.
[Read more…] about San Francisco Microadventure: Over the Hills and to the Sea
Now or Never
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to realize a long-lived dream of cycling solo across the vast expanse of a wide-open high plains desert in the American West. Riding conditions were optimal: cloudless azure skies, daytime temperatures in the high 70’s or low 80’s, nighttime temperatures only dipping to the mid 40’s, no wind, and occasional light breezes. I was coming up on a three-day weekend, so the time was right. With winter approaching and my impending move to China, it was now or never. I had to ride now or forever live with the regret of not going. I chose to throw a leg over my trusty steel horse and sally forth into the desert void. For those who have the same dream, here’s a little eye candy to stoke the fires. This was my journey. It was awesome. I have no regrets. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
[Read more…] about Journey Through the Desert on a Bike With No Name
Ever fret over what tools and spare parts to bring on a long cycling journey? What to put in, what to leave out? Me too. There’s a myriad of options, with the lists being virtually endless, always striving to balance utility against weight. It boggles the mind. Regardless of what you settle on for your tool kit, it really boils down to “what works for you,” which should be the result of a little thought and analysis. Here’s my take along with a little of my decision-making methodology on the never-ending, ever-evolving, and sometimes hotly contested theme of building the “perfect” tool kit, if such a thing exists.
Think of Your Tool Kit as Part of a Larger Support System
The process gets a little easier and your kit a little more effective if it’s designed to support your trip’s goals, your personal riding style, the equipment you will be using, and the environment you’ll be traveling through. It helps to look at your tools and spare parts kit as integral components of a broader travel support system developed to provide specific capabilities to suit a particular set of goals, needs and operational conditions. Developing a clear understanding of how you are going to ride, what you are going to do with what gear, and where you are going to do it is key to assembling not only the right tool kit and spare parts list, but an effective, efficient support system that will give you the confidence and ability to go virtually anywhere you desire.
[Read more…] about Freedom from Worry: Thoughts on Building an Effective Tool Kit
