Author: Otso Cycles

A cyclist rides her Waheela C gravel bike.
Bikepacking Features, Racing

Etter Olson 2020 Look Back

Perhaps like everyone, we had PLANS for 2020: international research (a collaboration with a Palestinian cycling club), bike tours, laid back bikepacking trips and more intense races. We planned to ride around things (Great Salt Lake, the Cedar Mountains, and Minnesota), through things (really big trees in Big Sur and the arches around Moab), across things (the Flint Hills of Kansas and the state of Utah) and over things (clear sandstone in Capitol Reef and endless gravel roads of the West Desert). In short, we hoped to ride the Waheela Cs through as many adventures as we could. Continue reading Etter Olson 2020 Look Back

Otso Cycles
A wide landscape image that shows a clear lake. Behind the lake a mountain extends up towards the clouds. A lone individual is standing at the edge of the lake. Because of the image's perspective, the individual looks very small.
Bikepacking Features

End of the Road — A Transcontinental Bikepacking Tour Cut Short by COVID-19

Over the nearly four years we’d been on the road for our Alaska to Argentina bikepacking journey we’d anticipated our arrival in Patagonia. The southernmost region of South America is famous for its soaring granite spires, tumbling glaciers, alpine lakes and sprawling forest. A wild frontier land where humans have tamed only the fringes of its terrain. A place with untold possibilities for adventure. Continue reading End of the Road — A Transcontinental Bikepacking Tour Cut Short by COVID-19

Otso Cycles
A photo of a cabin after twilight. The sun has descended and it is dark around the cabin. Two bikes lean against a picnic table outside of the cabin, and warm orange lights shine out from the cabin's doorway.
Bikepacking Features

Bikeglamping

There’s a bikepacking adage that says “it’s not bikepacking until something goes wrong.” In a previous post, I wrote about a bikepacking trip that had almost nothing go according to plan at a humorous level. But what about when everything goes right? No rain, late departures, wrong turns, closed kitchens, etc. This is one of those trips–okay, we made one wrong turn, but we figured it out before going too far off course. Continue reading Bikeglamping

Otso Cycles
An Otso Cycles Voytek fat bike leans against a street sign in the Andes Mountains. The hills behind are covered in rocks and sand. The sign reads Barrancas Blancas, Pucha Pucha, and Come Caballos.
Bikepacking Features

Traversing the Andes on the Otso Voytek: Bikes and Gear

Otso Ambassadors Mark Watson and Hana Black have been on the road for the past three and half years, slowly making their way along the American Cordillera from Alaska to Patagonia. With 44,000km of riding behind them they have racked up a wealth of experience in conditions ranging from the highest Andean passes, to the Atacama desert, the Amazon jungle, and everything in between. Continue reading Traversing the Andes on the Otso Voytek: Bikes and Gear

Otso Cycles
A cyclist rides their Otso Cycles Voytek fat bike across hard-packed Alaskan snow.
Racing

My First Ultramarathon: Highlights From the Iditasport 2020

I’m standing at my desk scrolling through a social media platform, mind dulled with boredom as the mundanity of routine life seeps into my cells. I see a drone image of a group of cyclists riding across a snow-covered trail. “A group ride!” I think to myself. I’ve been spending a lot of solo time on the bike these days, failing to convince my friends and acquaintances that a subzero bike ride is a good time. Continue reading My First Ultramarathon: Highlights From the Iditasport 2020

Otso Cycles