bike travel

Travelogue: A Day on Danseys Pass

Inching up the final reaches on the approach to the top of the pass, I knew the end was near. A few more minutes laboring over the pedals and I reached the summit. It was 2:15 pm. Four hours and 1170 meters of climbing on mostly gravel road had put me at the top of Danseys Pass. There was nothing to greet me but the howl of gusts blasting along windswept ridges and heavy blue skies overhead. The elation in knowing a lot of downhill awaited coursed through my veins. The hard climbing for the day was over.

Travelogue: North to Reinga

by Johnny Isaak ·

The journey north begins with a single push of the pedal. I’ve made my way south to Bluff, the southernmost town on the South Island and am now starting my journey north to Cape Reinga, the northern tip of New Zealand’s North Island.

New Salewa Approach Shoes for the Road

by Johnny Isaak ·

My well-worn Vibram FiveFingers finally gave out after a couple of days riding around Queenstown, NZ. A blowout along the lacing on the right shoe rendered them unable to lace up.

Travelogue: A Few Moments on Lake Wakatipu

by Johnny Isaak ·

Standing on the shore, indigo water lapping at my feet, just taking in the moment. A cool breeze drives small cresting waves sparkling and falling in the low sun. Warm yellows and golds fade to black. There is something special about catching the last rays of wonderful day.

Travelogue: Mercury Bay Coromandel Peninsula

by Johnny Isaak ·

Standing over my bicycle in the sand of a beautiful beach breathing the salt air from a stiff offshore wind on a faraway island in another hemisphere, so far from home, it’s to feel a connection of sorts with legendary explores who’ve come this way.

Travelogue: Auckland, New Zealand

by Johnny Isaak ·

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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