vegan - No Comments » - Posted on January, 7 at 8:31 pm
I love the winter but of course I love riding motorcycles well yesterday was one of those rare days. There were forecasts in the high 40’s and no rain so we set up a ride. Well it rained a lot the night before and though it was in the mid-30’s when I left my house in NYC it was in the mid-20’s in central New Jersey where we started the ride from. And though it wasn’t raining at the time the roads were were wet and it was cold and damp. Oh and did I mention ice on the side of the road? Yes ice and motorcycles do not play well together.
We did some sloppy twisty roads until we found some dirt. One thing that was cool were the amount of turkey vultures we saw perched. We took some pics of them but I really didn’t get any good ones, because my lens was dirty. I made a mount for Canon SD800 for my handlebar so I could take action shots and movies. The with a bit of moisture the lens got wet and dirty. Plus the mount doesn’t seem to isolate the vibrations enough so most of those pics were blurry. After we discussed who the vultures were waiting for we headed down to some good NJ dirt, sand and mud. Hit some old trails we knew and found some new ones we didn’t know of. One had a big log across it at the end and we made it through and over them. The worst part is there was clearly a sign on the log that said registered vehicles were permitted to ride the trails, but they still put a roadblock up.
We were around the Assunpink reservoir, got to love that name 
One of my friends rode his bike out to the end of the dock and though you can’ tell the water is not water but ice.
Oh since this is vegan motorcyclist I guess I should add some vegan content. And to top off a good long day of riding my friend Rob and I ended the day at Foodswings where I had buffalo wings and mac and cheese and he had a philly cheesesteak. He is not a vegan or a vegetarian but totally loved it.
What a great way to spend an early January day.
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vegan - No Comments » - Posted on January, 1 at 10:07 pm
January 1st, 2008 and everyone is wishing me an happy new year. Well I was riding home from the city this afternoon after doing the Isle of Man(hattan) ride (more about that later), and I was thinking about new years. Who gets to decide that at 12:00am on January 1st that it is a new year? I mean for me wouldn’t it be a new year on my birthday? I mean that is truly a new year in my life. Or what about Roshashana, for the millions of Jews in the world it is a new year? Or the Lunar new year is that the new year for the over one billion Chinese and Koreans in the world?
I guess we are just so egocentric that is is “our” new years so I guess we should wish everyone a happy new year.
So back to the Isle of Man(attan) ride, a bunch of years ago some guys decided to start a New Years tradition of taking a lap around Manhattan every January 1st as a way to celebrate the New Years. The name comes from the famous Isle of Mann TT race held on the Isle of Mann every year. The TT is a lap (or multiple laps) around the island.
So I awoke to a pounding rain and dragged myself out of bed and donned my riding gear and headed into the city to The Sidewalk Cafe. As I turned onto Ave. A the rain stopped and I saw a half-dozen or so bikes out front. Went in had a tea, BSed a bit and a few more riders pulled up and we were off. The ride was not very spirited with the wet roads but it was a nice way to celebrate January 1st.
Afterwards I went to Mamoun’s Falafel and had a hummus falafel. In terms of falafel balls they are the best falafel’s I ever had, and their hummus kicks ass. I just wish they had the salad bar option for topping your own that Amsterdam Falafel in DC has.
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vegan, motorcycle, barbeque, elefant, ducati, food - No Comments » - Posted on July, 25 at 11:32 pm
Some friends were having a party last night in the city and I decided to ride in to hang out. We normally meet at the Ear Inn on Tuesday night’s but decided to have a roof party instead. I took my TDM850 since it is the smoothest riding bike I own. Well I got there but was sore, I am still not ready to ride.
But the party was awesome Dave and Francine have a piece of paradise in Manhattan, besides having a beautiful loft apartment with a full-sized pool table, there building has a beautiful rooftop garden, complete with a grill, sink, fridge, and hammock. I enjoyed the company and Francine knowing I am a vegan picked up some vegan veggie burgers and they cooked them on a part of the grill that was covered in clean aluminum foil, which was truly appreciated.
The night was not perfect though, I planned on taking some pictures of the sunrise over Manhattan but by the time I got there the sun was set behind the building across the road so no photos. After not looking forward to the ride home I started riding home and there was construction on the Kosciusko Bridge which closed it down to one pain, the pain in my ribs, being tired and the crackdown on lane-splitting in NYC made me stay in my lane and turn what should have been a 25 minute ride took over and hour and twenty minutes.
I woke up feeling better this morning and spent a few hours in my garage and back yard. At the end of the day I has washed my TDM and Elefant, replaced all the broken crashed parts on my MZ Mastiff (which i crashed in 2004 and ignored since then), and my German buddy finally picked up the KLR. So with two large contractor trash bags full of garbage gone, and a bike gone I have a bit of room. Though if I sell some more parts, some bicycles and the TDM I will have a lot more room. I need room, anyone want a TDM?
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vegan, motorcycle, travel, animal rights, food, riding gear - 3 Comments » - Posted on July, 24 at 12:11 am
Actually I do not love LA but with reason to go there it is a fun place. This past weekend was a good reason to go there, Los Angeles was hosting the Animal Rights 2007 Conference. I flew in on Thursday after an adventuresome day getting there, I used to work for an airline and still have friends that work there so I flew on a buddy pass which meant standby and it was a long day of not getting on flights. Yeah I saved a few bucks but it was pound wise penny foolish. So I missed meeting my friend Deb and our scheduled trip to visit Animal Acres Farm Sanctuary but I did arrive in time to eat an excellent meal of take-out from Madeline’s Bistro which was excellent. I live in NYC which has a huge selection of incredible vegan restaurants and I want to return to Madeline’s, that’s saying something. but the next day was the real reason for flying to LA.
The conference was three intense days of workshops covering all aspects of the animal rights movements. There were so many speakers and topic that it was a bit of brain overload but hearing some of the motivating speeches by Capt. Paul Watson, Patrice Jones, Howard Lyman, Camille Hankins. Other workshops on educating children, dealing with urban wildlife, and some very empowering speeches by Will Potter, Heidi Boghosian, and Christine Garcia. I did not even mention even a quarter of the speakers I listened to but these are a few who stood out. One thing I came home with is that we in the animal rights movement need to work with other groups and use our shared resources to make true social changes, one person who personified this throughout the weekend was Debra Erenberg from the Rainforest Action Network.
It motivated me to get out and be a more serious activist and it reminded me that there is an entire movement within the animal rights movement of attacktivists activist whose only form of activism is to attack other activists and their tactics. We are such a small minority we do not need a fractured movement but a movement of solidarity that has one aim, the end of the status of of animals as property.
So for my little bit of motorcycle content since this blog is called Vegan Motorcyclist. I came home at 6:30 am this morning after a red-eye flight and found an envelope containing these in my hallway. Stay tuned…
Posted in vegan, motorcycle, travel, animal rights, food, riding gear | 3 Comments »
vegan, motorcycle, travel, barbeque, elefant, ducati, food - 2 Comments » - Posted on July, 14 at 10:53 pm
I am getting it, that need to travel and to travel by motorcycle. I am sure it is fueled by a number of things, most likely by my boredom. I can’t ride and it hurts to do a lot of stuff, so I am sitting home doing noting, but playing on the computer, watching movies and reading.
In the last few months I have read a bunch of motorcycle travel books, two I really liked Two Wheels Through Terror, by Glen Heggstad, and Lois on the Loose by Lois Pryce. Ironically both of these trips ended up in Tierra Del Fuego, Argenitna the southernmost place in South America.
I’ve done a fair share of riding, considering I’ve ridden to the forty-nine states you can ride to, and a bit of the Baja Peninsular, but I have never really taken a true adventure ride to a desolate or foreign area. Even the Al-can Highway is not desolate.So I planned to take a ride to Alabama to visit the Barber Motorsports Museum and an old friend from my racing days. I am still most likely going to take that ride, but I am also thinking of taking a ride from NYC to Labrador, Ca on the Trans-Labrador Highway. It is supposed to be the most desolate road in North America. I’d ride up there and then take a combination of ferries and roads back down through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, then through New England and then home. It looks to be about a 4,000 mile trip with about 600 of those miles be gravel, not sure if i am up for it this year but might be a fun goal for next summer.
Of course if I did that ride I would have to be well stocked for vegan food. It is pretty clear that supplies are limited along the route and I highly doubt I would find some tofu to make some grilled tofu with. But I think that this will be my next adventure ride. Of course other than maybe around Quebec City everyone will speak English and the Labrador Dept of Transportation will supply you with a free satellite phone, so it is not quiet what Lois and Glenn did but it will be my next adventure.
Anyone up for a little trip?
Posted in vegan, motorcycle, travel, barbeque, elefant, ducati, food | 2 Comments »
vegan, motorcycle, riding gear - 4 Comments » - Posted on July, 13 at 10:07 pm
I have been seeking some vegan MX boots and I finally found some. Last years Sidi Force SRS boots are vegan The problem is I have short fat feet and most boots are too narrow for me. A few weeks back i was in Pennsylvania and stopped by a dealership and tried on a different model of Sidi boots and they fit pretty good. Having worked in dealerships for many years I try and buy everything from them and avoid mailorder, but they didn’t have last years boots in stock so I went home and did some searching and found that RockyMoto had them in stock. They did not have black so I reluctantly ordered white boots. Not my first choice but beggars can’t be choosy. The boots are vegan, offer a ton of protection and weren’t too badly priced.
The came today and fit perfectly and though the sole is very, very stiff, with their hinged plastic ankle and soft Lorica boot they are very flexible in the ankle and will require almost zero break-in. I am looking forward to riding with them once this damn cracked rib heals. BTW having never ordered any riding gear via mail-order that Rockymoto was first class and I would not hesitate to order from them again. Though they are white, they do match “Beanie” my cat.
My next piece of gear is a pressure suit with hard chest plates. I have an old Dianese suit but it has almost no chest padding. I am liking the Acerbis Koerta but I want to try one on. Motorcycles equal way too much gear.
I’ll update my riding gear list tonight with this option for boots, but remember if you want them get them ASAP since they are a discontinued model. The post title comes from my friend Deb who said in an email “those are total stormtrooper boots!”
Posted in vegan, motorcycle, riding gear | 4 Comments »
vegan, motorcycle, food - 3 Comments » - Posted on July, 9 at 7:40 pm
RTE is another of those internet acronyms that are all over place. On motorcycle forums it stands for Ride to Eat, and is a popular topic and reason to ride. I went on a RTE recently and it was a disappointment. There used to be a restaurant in Manhattan called Veg-City Diner, it was not the best vegan food around but had a certain comfort aspect to it, plus they were open 24 hours for drunk munching. Their biggest draw was there glass rotating vegan dessert stand with over 75 vegan desserts spinning daily. One day they had a closed for renovation sign up, it stayed up for months and finally they were gone. A few weeks back I saw that the owner opened a new Veg-City Diner in Rockland County so I plugged in a nice 150 mile loop up and around Bear Mountain which would end there, my own little RTE. Before heading off i tried to make sure they were open and I couldn’t find a web site but did find their Myspace page and it was a Saturday so off I went. I was all ready to eat as my GPS guided me there after a nice relaxing ride and when I pulled up they were closed. It looked abandoned but inside the front door was a self standing signboard which was written in chalk, “closed to train new kitchen staff.” Sure they’re not coming back and once again I was disappointed by them. I am was too pissed to take a picture but wouldn’t it make sense to at leat update your Myspace page if that is your only web presence? i was hungry so I had an uninspired Subway veggie hero.
A week later I was riding down from Massachusetts and I was hungry and remembered a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in port Chester, NY. I found it on my GPS and headed to it. When i got there they were out of business, a nicely written sign on their door, said they lost their lease and thank you for the support and business for the last few years. I was not upset with them since I didn’t check to see if they were still around, just decided to show up. It does suck that often vegetarian/vegan restaurants don’t make it but it is a niche market and any restaurant is a risky proposition.
So we all know bad luck comes in threes, last Tuesday I was in Pennsylvania and I decided that it was worth it to go 30 miles out of my way to visit Vegan Treats, I arrived and they were closed. They are closed on Monday’s and Tuesday’s which is fine and guess what? When I came home and checked ther website it said they were closed on Monday’s and Tuesday’s. So only the disappointment of not eating fattening yummy food for me that day.
One of the coolest things on my GPS is if I am hungry i can type in: vegan, vegetarian, natural, or organic and maybe find a restaurant in a 50 mile radius of where I am. Nothing like high-tech vegan food treasure hunts.
Posted in vegan, motorcycle, food | 3 Comments »
vegan, motorcycle, barbeque, elefant - No Comments » - Posted on July, 8 at 10:46 am
Through the ADVrider my friend John organized a group ride explore around Sullivan County, New York to go explore some old railroad tracks ad jeep trails. John is an avid Land Rover driver who owns a small business 4×4 business and we planned on exploring some of the roads he used to drive on. There were about twelve of us plus John and his mothership when we all met up in Wurtsboro. We were a pretty diverse group riding all kinds different bikes and having all kinds of different skill levels as we set out. The trail was pretty easy with some mud holes and puddles at the beginning the fast guys took off and went to go explore some rocky side trails and immediately they realized that these trails were above their heads given the bikes they were riding, and they turned back and took off down the trail. I am not one of those fast riders so I was riding at my own pace, faster then some but pretty much alone. There was one mud puddle that I tried to ride around more than through it and the back end kicked out, I tried to power it back in and I did a slow motion high-side getting thrown over the top of the bike. It was a pretty slow crash and reached over and shut the bike off and picked it up. Just as I was doing so someone pulled up, I assured them I was OK and they rode off. The only damage to the bike, a cracked hand guard, broken turn signal and few scrapes on the side. I jammed my ribs somehow and they were a sore but not to bad, and my left thumb was tweaked. Luckily my knee and shin armor did their job because I caught my knee going over the bars but they were fine.
We finished the ride and rode out to the road and up the road to Ellenville to go check out some other trails, when we got there they were pretty gnarly and only the most skilled riders or those on smaller bikes went to go explore. The rest of us chickened out and we went back to try and follow another road up. I was the first to arrive and I saw a pretty steep uphill with softball sized rocks and I decided to not think about it and just go for it, well I got about 3/4 of the way up an lost my momentum and I was stuck. I looked back and no one had followed me, so I got off the bike and worked to turn it around so I could ride back down. When I was heading down I realized how sore my ribs were. We all ended up meeting in a parking lot and decided that these trails were too tough so we would call it a day of off-roading.
Road up the mountain and stopped at the beginning of a nature preserve for some lunch. John fired up a small gas grill and starting cooking some burgers, dogs and sausages and everyone around me drooled, mean while I was eating my mock curried chicken salad and some carrots. Others were jealous as they waited I ate. I do have to say that John asked me what he should bring for me to eat before we came and I had told him not to stress it. When finished we went on a nice street ride with a pretty spirited pace for the three of us up front and waited at the turns for the group to catch up.
Later we road over to Chris’s house and had some cold iced tea and lemonade and sat on his deck with his wife and beautiful dogs a Siberian Husky and some kind of hybrid he and his wife rescued. By that time there were less and less of us and we headed back to the city riding some real cool winding roads I never knew of. One of the guys with us Walter is known for being the king of knowing all the great rising places in NY and NJ.
Finally it was just Dave and I and we road all the backroads back to the city, never once getting on a highway, lots of fun to take all the side streets and see places you might not normally see. We stopped at his beautiful loft in the city and BS’ed with his wife and had some water and some homemade caponata. As I was sitting there my ribs were really starting to hurt and on the ride home every bump killed me.
I had a hard time sleeping and if they still feel this way tomorrow I might go get them x-rayed, though they don’t do anything for cracked ribs anyway. Overall it was a great day and other then a crash a near perfect riding day, some off-road to challenge my skills, some fast road riding which I love and best of all some great company and hospitality.
Added 7/08/07
Went to the doctor today and I have a cracked rib. luckily it isn’t a floating rib and should heal in four to six weeks. No dirt riding for me for a while, but I’ll still street ride once the pain subsides.
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vegan, motorcycle, travel, elefant - 4 Comments » - Posted on July, 7 at 9:56 pm
So yesterday I hooked up with a few guys and did the first 4.1 legs of the Trans-New Jersey Trail. Basically a couple of guys from NJ decided that their state has some great roads and similar to the Trans_Continetal Trail they put together a mixed ride of pavement and dirt from the top western corner of New Jersey (high Point State Park), to the south eastern most point (Cape May) the entire route is about 770 miles and all withing the third smallest state in the U.S. Though all of the parts were ridden no one has ridden the entire route and this weekend was going to be the maiden trip. Three days with camping Fri. and Sat. night. I only planned on riding Friday since my new bike is big and heavy, doesn’t have true off-road tires and my off-road skills are no were equal to my on-road skills. Friday was the easiest off-road day so I went for it. Lots of fun road almost 400 miles and my average moving speed was only 38 mph, and I was doing 70-75 on the 70 mile ride up there. Needless to say it was slow going, but good practice.
We stopped for lunch at this general store/grill/deli, I had a hummus sandwich which was the biggest I ever had, I should have taken a picture of it. I enjoyed it as others ate their death around me, but so it often is when riding. Towards the end my riding partners peeled off and I rode one section which was about 70 miles of the next section alone. As much as I like riding with people I prefer to ride on my own. If I want to ride fast I ride fast, if i want to ride slow I ride slow, no worries about making someone ride above their head, or riding so slow you bore the people behind you. The true beauty of riding is that it is you and the ride, alone with your thoughts and feelings.
That said I enjoyed the company and would gladly ride with that crew again.
Posted in vegan, motorcycle, travel, elefant | 4 Comments »
vegan - 2 Comments » - Posted on July, 5 at 9:22 pm
Last year I bought a used GPS for pretty cheap and played with it. I enjoyed putting some routes in it and having some pretty accurate such as speeds, distance traveled and average speeds and such, but never really used to for plotting routes since it was a bit slow and had only a small amount of memory.
i recently just finished reading Roadshow Landscape with Drums, a Concert Tour by Motorcycle by Neil Peart. It is was an excellent read, and I really like his style of writing. Just in case you don’t know Neal Peart is the drummer from the band Rush and many consider him the greatest drummer alive, he is also the lyricist and can put his words to paper really well. In the book he and a friend are traveling by bus and motorcycle around the U.S. then Europe as the band plays a tour, and the book talks about reflections of touring, riding and friendship. In the book his friend Michael has a GPS and it is always doing really silly things so Neal nicknamed it Doofus, later on he gets his own and calls it Dingus. GPS’s have improved but they still do silly things.
I was out riding with a friend the other day and trying to remember the name of restaurant that was on the Long island Sound and I put the name of the beach in and we started heading there, it was great until we hit a dead end and could see the beach but it would have required us to ride around a piece of armco barrier and over about 20 feet of sand. I was willing to go for it, but Marge not so much so. So I used the old tried and true method of “figuring it out” and we did a three mile loop to find the beach and figure out it was the wrong beach. Luckily we asked someone and she knew the restaurant but not where it was. I typed the name into the GPS it came up and we followed it right to the door and had a great lunch. Well OK the food was only decent, a pasta marinara with sauted broccoli rabe on the side, but the company and views were excellent.
Posted in vegan | 2 Comments »
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