Tag: voytek

Bikepacking Features

Bikepacking for Couples Part II: Strategies for Experiencing Joy and Managing Conflict

Words and photos by Sarah Swallow Having fun together is vital to relationship satisfaction, according to the Gottman Institute. The research shows that the stress that couples experience must be balanced with a certain amount of connection and fun to build a positive relationship perspective. In other words, we need to have an archive of fun experiences so that when times are tough, those positive … Continue reading Bikepacking for Couples Part II: Strategies for Experiencing Joy and Managing Conflict

Otso Cycles
Bikepacking Features

Bikepacking for Couples Part I: Lost on the Bolivian Salt Flats, A Story

Words and photos by Sarah Swallow The setting was the Bolivian salt flats outside of Uyuni. The time was November 2019; Adam and I were one-and-a-half years into our relationship. It was the end of a month-long bikepacking trip that had started with getting stuck in La Paz during a coup d’état of Bolivia’s then-socialist President Evo Morales, and some of the most intense and … Continue reading Bikepacking for Couples Part I: Lost on the Bolivian Salt Flats, A Story

Otso Cycles
A group of cyclists ride through the snow. All riders are on an Otso Cycles Voytek.
Bikepacking Features

Global Fat Bike Day 2022 Events

This isn’t your typical Hallmark Holiday. On the first Saturday of December, cyclists from around the world set aside their differences and come together to celebrate all things fat bike. Carbon or steel? 26″ or 27.5″? Pogies or thick mitts? All that matters on Global Fat Bike Day is a united love for bikes that can fit fat tires. It really is something special. Continue reading Global Fat Bike Day 2022 Events

Otso Cycles
Amanda Harvey takes a selfie in the Tuscobia trail. Her eyelashes and hair are frozen.
Bikepacking Features, Racing

Tuscobia Winter Ultra Race Report

The Tuscobia Winter Ultra is a 160 or 80 mile race along the Tuscobia and Wild River Trails that takes place in December or January. The 80 mile course is one way, this year from Northern Pines Resort on Butternut Lake to Rice Lake, Wisconsin. The 160 mile course starts in Rice Lake; at Butternut Lake racers turn around and go back the way they came. In 2019 I completed the 80 mile race on bike, it was warm (for winter), rainy and icy. This year I was wishing for cold and my wish was granted, and then some. Continue reading Tuscobia Winter Ultra Race Report

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