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Johnny Isaak | Adventure Cyclist

A compendium of adventure cycling chronicles, travel lore, tips, techniques, and tactics for the adventure cycling perplexed.

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Gravel Packs

Travelogue: A Day on Danseys Pass

Travelogue: A Day on Danseys Pass

by Johnny Isaak ·

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.

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Filed Under: Travelogue Tagged With: adventure, adventure cycling, bicycle touring, bicycle travel, bike travel, Carbon Belt, Co-Motion, Danseys Pass, Gravel Packs, Jones, Kakanui Mountains, New Zealand, Ortlieb, Rohloff, Schwalbe, South Island, Waitaki Valley

Updating the Co-Motion Divide

Updating the Co-Motion Divide

by Johnny Isaak ·

Tweaking my bike’s set up is almost as fun as taking long bike rides. It’s a never-ending evolutionary process of trying to build a cleaner, more reliable ride produces the purest, hassle-free travel experience. Each cycling journey provides me with a few ideas on how I can improve the Divide’s set up. Last summer’s family cycling adventure around the island of Hokkaido, Japan was no exception.

After using some of my bike’s kit to outfit my wife and daughter’s bicycles for our trek through Japan’s northern most island. I was in need of a couple of new bags and pouches for the Divide, plus some minor tweaking to sweeten the ride. Here’s a quick rundown of what I came up with. 

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Filed Under: Bike Tagged With: adventure, adventure cycling, bicycle, bicycle travel, bikepacking, Co-Motion, Divide, Egress Pocket, Gates Carbon Drive Belt, Gravel Packs, H-Bar, Jones Gnarwal, Jones Loop H-Bar, Mag-Tank, Mondial, Ortlieb, Quad Lock, Revelate Designs, Rohloff, Schwalbe, Speedhub, touring

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