Saturday dawned overcast and with a chill in the air. We needed to take Lucy down to the Triumph shop in Eugene so our plan was to ride to coffee for a while and then head out from there.
A check of the outdoor thermometer revealed it was a balmy 36˚F outside. With that kind of temperature I decided on the following for cool weather riding: thick knee-high motocross socks, new Sidi Livia Rain boots, yoga pants, Rev'it Sand pants with rain and quilted thermal liners, long sleeved turtleneck, t-shirt, Rev'it Siren jacket with Tour Master heated jacket liner and rain liner, Columbia polar buff around the neck, and Fildsheer Aqua Sport winter gloves.
I felt a little bulky with all of the gear on so I stepped on the scale. Without helmet and gloves, I was wearing over 16 lbs of gear. Yep, it was still winter.
We rode to coffee with no problems. It wasn't raining and only a little road spray was coming off the tires of the other vehicles.
I had the usual at Coffee Culture:
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| (The usual - a double tall vanilla soy latte and a lemon poppyseed scone) |
We visited for a few hours and geared up to leave. It was sunny on and off with periods of sprinkles coming down. Nothing too serious. We'd talked outside the coffee shop before heading out so my fingers were a little chilly before putting my gloves on. The heated jacket liner was on low and I alternated my grips between low and high depending on the hot spots.
We stopped in Cheshire for a quick use of the facilities (darn that coffee) and I warmed my hands a bit on Lucy's muffler guard.
Back on the bikes we headed south again looking at a big black cloud in the sky. It wasn't just rain on the way, it was hail. A lot of hail. Not for very long, just a few quick bursts. I remember laughing in my helmet though since I'd never ridden in hail before. Before long it was sunny again.
We stopped at the shop to drop Lucy off. Poor Max was surrounded by Triumphs. Not that that is a bad thing.
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| (Which one of these is not like the others......) |
Like Troubadour mentioned, we took off on Max two-up. It was the first time we'd been two-up on Max and it wasn't so bad. The pillion seat is angled a little to the rear though so I had to be careful not to slide off. Well, that and the passenger pegs were quite high so I had a hard time finding them at first.
The first stop was the Cornbread Cafe. Nothing like a little vegan comfort food on a weird weather day. We had the specials - Reubens. Vegan of course as everything in the restaurant is. They were good, but they were no Eugenewich.
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| (Yummy vegan Reuben from the Cornbread Cafe in Eugene, OR) |
From the Cornbread we headed to Discount Motorcycle Parts to see what kind of treasures we could find. I picked up some earplugs for Meg as she has been having trouble finding small ones and I think the ones like I use would be a good fit. When you have small ears it is hard to find earplugs that fit. We also found a cooling vest for Troubadour on clearance and I picked up a pair of Bobber sunglasses. They are 100% UV protective. I already had a pair with yellow lenses for cloudy days and like the fit.
We managed to stuff our jacket pockets like squirrels squiring away nuts for winter. Troubadour even managed to stuff the vest down his jacket to transport it back to Lucy. Sadly Max is lacking in luggage. That will be remedied before our first overnight trip this year.
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As we were getting back on the bike I spotted these trees in bloom behind us.
As we were getting back on the bike I spotted these trees in bloom behind us.
We arrived back at the shop. Lucy was still down in the mechanics workshop so Max as parked by himself on the street.
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We visited for a bit and then decided the big black rain clouds coming in from the coast were heading our way and we should probably head home. It was sprinkling when we left. On the way home we experienced light rain, hail, heavy rain and sunshine.
Poor Max was pretty dirty by the time we got home but he came by it honestly.
Troubadour pointed out the back of my jacket was even a little mud splattered. I didn't mind. I was completely dry and warm. It was a great day.
.- Au Revoir
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"I am sure it is a great mistake to always know enough to go in when it rains. One may keep snug and dry with such knowledge, but one misses a world of loveliness." - Adeline Knapp
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The cold was not so nice, but the ride and the food looks wonderful! I think I'd like the Cornbread Cafe. I looked at their menu. I bet it's a really fun and pleasant place to hang out. BBQ would be nice to try.
ReplyDeleteJust get ready for your blue open skies! They're coming! And you just might pass out at the sight of them!
The ride was not unpleasant. I think I had enough gear on and I'm getting used to riding in poor weather. The Cornbread is great. We have some carnivore friends that enjoy it too.
DeleteRumor has it we might see some sunshine this weekend. We'll see.
I wonder if there are any anti-snow saints you can set around the house- make sure they are looking west, out your window.... ;^)
ReplyDeleteDoes Basil count? He stares in that direction willing the snow to go away. I have a picture of him sitting on the ottoman staring at the snow through the shears on the living room window. I'll have to post it. Hmm Saint Basil?
DeleteTrobairitz:
ReplyDeletewe also got minor spurts of hail last weekend, but we were car browsing so no riding. Other than that, the weather wasn't too bad. Max isn't that dirty. I still have dirt from last year. Vstroms were not meant to be washed
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Max isn't too dirty. He just splashed in the puddles some.
DeleteOnce you get your bike out in the rain last years dirt will be washed right off.
Hail makes the most annoying noises on the helmet, don't you think? Glad you guys could get out for a ride. It's about time the temperatures get more moderate, really freaky but hopefully a promise of nice and sunny weather for the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteA dirty Max is a good Max... ;-)
It was quite loud. And without a fairing it was pinging off my chest and visor too. I was having a great time.
DeleteI think once it warms back up it will stay that way. Fingers are crossed for a sunny summer. I hope it doesn't rain until July like it did last year.
im always layered like the pillsbury dough girl for warmth! :D imho there is nothing worst than freezing fingers toes and ears.
ReplyDeletewe need more vegan options here in the oakland area. you find the most amazing looking vegan plates!...mmmm....
Yep, dough boy and the Michelin man all rolled into one.
DeleteWe are lucky to have the Cornbread in Eugene. We have tried other vegan options, but they aren't as good. I wish we had more vegan options here. You need to go into San Francisco and try the vegan place we went to. It was soooo good. It was called Golden Era Vegetarian. They are actually vegan but on the sign is vegetarian. http://www.goldeneravegan.com/ Not exactly close to Oakland for dinner, but if you happen to be in SF it is worth a stop. Close to a BART station at least.
hmmm excellent! and bart is so easy...i'll check out golden era next time im out there. i'll try to remember to post pics. thanks!
DeleteA reuben without corned beef, interesting...
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you managed to get a good ride in before the snow hit again. For some reason I thought you had heated gear for those cool mornings.
It was an interesting sandwich. Cafe Yumm on campus has a tempeh Reuben that is really good too. It might just be veggie though, not sure about the cheese on it if it is vegan.
DeleteWe both have a heated jacket liner and heated grips, those really help. I had a cool breeze coming in the front of my Scorpion helmet though. My fingers were a little chilly on the way down, but other than that I was pretty toasty.
How do you say Chicken Ranch in French? Le Ranch Poulet? I doubt there is a French word for ranch! Just thought I'd ask. That's going to be a post in the near future...
ReplyDeleteI'd guess at 'ranch de poulet', but you might want to ask someone who took more French than I did. Maybe someone reading these comments would know better.
DeleteIt has been many years since my French classes.
Talk about some weather ups and downs! Glad you made it safely. You and your 16 pounds of gear. LOL.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun day. Mixed bag of tricks weather wise but fun.
DeleteHow's the vegan reuben?
ReplyDeleteNot a bad substitute for the original but I didn't think it was a good as some of their other offerings.
DeleteI've ridden in hail once. It was quite the experience with these nickel and dime sized balls of ice on the road. Did you encounter any stability issues? I am assuming not since you didn't say anything. But I kept expecting to have the bike slide out from under.
ReplyDeleteThe hail was really small and short lived so I didn't have any stability issues, we were riding through the storm at a good pace so it didn't have too great a chance to accumulate on the road. If it was sticking to the road then I'd be worried about stability, well if the hail balls had of been larger too it might have made a difference.
DeleteI don't think I could bring myself to weigh all the gear. I just don't want to know!
ReplyDeleteI've ridden in hail a couple of times...the plink, plink, plink on the helmet. I hope it was short lived and didn't build up on the road. Perhaps this weekend will be better. (Please, please, PLEASE be better!) ;)
I'd say Max now has a good and proper coating of Oregon road grime. Life is good!
At one point we were supposed to have a sunny weekend. Now I think there is a 50% chance of rain both days. Not too bad, I think that is what it was last weekend when riding. We have to go to Eugene in the car to take some excess flooring back so it won't make a difference to us tomorrow.
DeleteMax has been dirty before but Troubadour had just washed all the cork dust off for me. He had a nice coating of it from the table saw in the garage when we were doing the flooring. We should have left the cork dust on there and the rain would have taken it off.
You and Babelfish agree, so that works for me! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNow that's funny. It roughly translates to 'ranch of chicken' so it makes sense.
DeleteI'm not much of a vegan guy but that reuben actually looked good. How does it taste compared to the meat version? What do they use instead of the meat?
ReplyDeleteI have never been in hail before, almost everything else though except maybe a tornado. Seems like you have a good winter setup it sucks carrying all that gear though I hate the bulky I can't move feeling. But it's better then not riding!
It wasn't bad but it didn't taste like pastrami. I am pretty sure they used a homemade seitan. Wheat gluten (high in protein) is mixed with water and spices to make a dough and cooked in a shape like a meatloaf would be then sliced and cooked in sauce. It is also called 'wheat meat' because of it's surprising texture close to meat when cooked.
DeleteI agree, I hate that bulky feeling. I don't notice it so much on the bike though as I do when standing around. I find it more difficult to shoulder check so I am more hyper aware of my surroundings to compensate.
The shoulder check is the worst part I don't like feeling I can't look side to side in an emergency. I am exactly the same way.
DeleteI can't wait until it warms up and I don't have to put on so many layers. A full head turn will be so easy come summer. Come on summer........
DeleteI don't mind the 16 pounds of gear (plus whatever else you needed) but when you get somewhere it really sucks. Driving to work like that is a real biscuit. A proper ride is fine, but sitting in all that stuff (or trying to find a place to store it) well, one of the biggest downfalls of riding, IMHO.
ReplyDeleteForgive me, I know we've had this discussion before, but I think it's strange how much vegetarian/vegan food is made to replace meat. I'm eat meat, but I do like meals that contain no meat, and they were just built that way. Chick peas are a great example. I just don't get it. Of course, I think everything in moderation is alright. (Sometimes I try more than I succeed at moderation, however)
Brady
Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life
I think non-vegans concern themselves more with what vegans eat that vegans do.
DeleteAlmost all of what we eat at home consists of vegetables, legumes, and grains. We do eat some tofu but don't usually buy meat substitutes unless it is the jerquee to snack on when riding or tofurky for sandwiches. Occasionally we buy meatless ground beef substitute but not very often because of preservatives, Like you said - moderation. There are however a lot of meat substitutes out there and non vegans seem to make the assumption that we vegans live on this and have it every night for dinner. We don't. We don't eat a meat substitute with every meal. We have things like black eyed pea salad, potato lentil soup, big pans of roasted veggies, potato casseroles, the list goes on.
When we go out to eat most items on the menu have some form of meat substitute. In the case of our reubens they weren't billing it as fake pastrami or a meat substitute - they just called it a reuben since it looked like a reuben sandwich and had sauerkraut on it. I mentioned in my comment above that it did not taste like pastrami. I mentioned it because I was responding to a comment from a non-vegan and wanted to try and give them a frame of reference. In my case I did not eat it hoping it would taste like meat and I don't think when the Cornbread made the seitan from scratch that was their goal either.
Do you also think it is strange that there is soy, almond and rice milk out there or is it only meat substitutes that have you stymied? I love coffee but enjoy it creamy and not black. I choose to use a dairy substitute in the form of unsweetened soy milk. The soy milk is not the natural state of the soy bean, but beats throwing a handful of soy beans in my coffee. That wouldn't make it creamy. I enjoy creamy coffee but the thought of using udder puss laden breast milk from a cow makes me gag a little so unless I use a dairy substitute I would have to switch to tea which I like plain. And when I drink soy milk I do not drink it hoping it would taste like moo cow milk, I just want the creamy properties of it..........
When in the middle east there are a lot of vegetable dishes. They are made from veggies and taste like veggies and are awesome. We make a lot of them at home too. I don't think there are commercial meat substitutes over there so they aren't used.
DeleteNow here in America in the land of big cattle and dairy where most of the population was raised non vegan there are a lot of meat and dairy substitutes. I think when a person from the good old US of A switches to vegan lifestyle they have a hard time getting out of the mentality that you need a 'meat' and a 'veggie' on your plate for a meal. So as a transition use a meat substitute for dinner with a side of veggies just as they have always been taught. I think it is a work in progress to get out of that mindset and realize that there are a lot of creative ways to make good healthy meals without using any type of meat substitutes. Of course it does not help that there are so many substitutes on the market. I think they are there to get more people to switch over by way of "look you won't even miss that cooked cow carcass you love so much". Vegetables themselves aren't dressed up to taste just like meat. Proteins from grains and legumes sometimes are processed to be like meat but I don't think they mimic the taste of meat.........
On a side note you mention chickpeas that taste like what they are chickpeas, no altering needed. I agree with this to a point. I love chickpeas and could eat a whole can of them just they way they are. I don't need to add anything to them, no salt rubs, no marinades, no tenderizing to make them palatable, no aging, no grinding up, stuffing in casings and smoking so that they don't resemble their original state. I do like them cooked, although I haven't tried them raw like regular green peas. On the flip side - Most non vegans cannot say this about meat. Meat in it's natural state is not palatable. I don't think there are a lot of people out there who want to walk out into the pasture and bite a cow on the ass because they were "built that way" and taste good just the way they are. I could be wrong though.
DeleteOh, and for me personally, I was raised eating meat and enjoyed the taste of it. I switched to a vegan lifestyle for health concerns which then turned into moral and ethical reasons. I now couldn't think of ever having an animal die just for me to eat it when I know there are other alternatives. I would eat a big old vegan sausage on a bun and enjoy every bite, but I'd go hungry before eating one made of meat. And I wouldn't want the vegan sausage to taste exactly like one made of meat. At this point that too would make me a little queasy. The smell of cooking meats don't even remotely smell good anymore like when we first went vegan.
Hope this helps a little bit, sorry the reply went a little long.
mq01 might be willing to share her opinion as well since she too is a vegan.
Cheers!
Weather is absolutely UNPREDICTABLE. What I want to know is how they make that design on your latte (I've been practicing since December and still haven't go the hang of it).
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how they make the leaf. Some Saturday's are better than others for latte/foam patterns. They did tell me it is more difficult with soy than cow's milk because the way the soy foams. I think it is all in the wrist, lol. Just think of all the lattes you get to drink while practicing.
DeleteI don't mind long - I didn't realize that all three of those comments were for me when I started replying! I think you've really hit the nail on the head. It's the push to replace meat with a one to one substitute that really initially, turned me off from reducing the amount that I ate. Mostly, because any substitute that I was offered (years ago already) tasted like cardboard. Nobody ever gave me something made of vegetables (or if they did, think boiled asparagus) that was palatable and filling. A lot of that has changed by imitating other cultures.
ReplyDeleteI think, first and foremost, that I would like to eat in your house for about a month. Coming from the Midwest we at pot roast, meatloaf, hot dogs and a thing called hamburger gravy, whatever that actually is - it sounds similar to what you had growing up. It was really hard to move away from those things. However, since then, we've fallen in love with Mexican foods (heavy on beans) and curries (heavy on chick peas, etc.) It's been a slow process building our diet into something healthier while not compromising on flavor (and there are so many ways to go about it.) The struggle has been finding recipes, then the experimenting to figure out to HOW to cook things properly. My first batch of hummus was like corn meal. Going to the source, to another culture, or even another home where it's common practice would do us (if not just me) a lot of good.
Each time I think we really haven't made any progress I like to think about my dad. I used to be just like him and how he balks at anything but beef. It's a process.
I think those of us who view anything from the outside tend to worry about it more than those who are close to it. As a point, I have a friend who has Ciliac disease (no gluten) he tries not to make a big deal out of it, but he has to ask when he eats out (and he eats out often) if there is any wheat in his food. Others ask and worry about it much more than he does - and our longstanding joke is now (when I actually hear from him) I like to open the fridge and offer suggestions. Hey, Steve, you know pickles? Pickles don't have any gluten...
Oh really?
Have you heard about potatoes? I hear they're 100% ok for you to eat.
Well, I don't think we've completely tackled one of the issues of the western world, but even if it's been redundant for you (I'm sure people bring it up often enough in your life) it's good for me to hear what you (to help me think about what I think - that's called metacognition, isn't it?)
Brady
Behind Bars
Well said Brady. I had a nice response typed out a minute ago and hit publish and it disappeared. Doh! I'll try again.
DeleteYou are welcome for dinner anytime, but you may get bored of what we eat. Don't get me wrong - what we eat is flavorful but no matter how many recipes I print out from the internet we still have our favorites and add those to the weekly menu quite often. I find that I try a recipe once then tweak it a lot. Make it spicier add more flavors, take this out, add something else in until we like it.
If you make creamy hummus - kudos to you. I have tried it a few times and can't get the texture right. It might be because I don't have a proper food processor.
I think it is funny the thing you do with your friend that is Celiac. I think no gluten would be way harder to identify than no meat/dairy. Although there are animal based products where you wouldn't expect them. No vegan can be assured of no animal products unless they make everything themselves or know the source and never eat out. We strive for intentions not perfection.
I have Crohn's disease but the gluten doesn't come into play. Well, 20 years ago when I was diagnosed it didn't. Since cutting out meat over 4 years ago I've never been healthier. When I had surgery for it back in 1991 and 1993 I was told by the hospital to be on a meat and potatoes diet. No raw fruits, no raw veggies and no pasta. I've been in the emergency room because of a half order of salad. Once I stopped eating meat my system seemed to return to normal and now my doctors tell me I don't even look like I have Crohn's and wonder at my secret. Funny how foods react differently to different people.
Have a great day.
I love reading the back and forth about veganism. Insightful.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lifestyle choice. Once committed we are glad we made the change.
Deleteme too beemergirl.
ReplyDeletemy 0.02... we're privileged here with variety available in food choices, processed or not. and its needed, for instance, speaking of just meat "substitutes"; seitan would be out for someone with celiac since its wheat based. tofurkey has been bad for friends with diverticulitis because of the heavy pepper/spices. personally with my extensive allergies im finding i rather have plain tofu or better yet, just mushrooms.
speaking of coffee, again personally i enjoy variety because i prefer almond milk over soy or rice. it has a creamy texture, a different subtleness in flavor, and conveniently different qualities when heated. it doesnt separate like the others. ive gone so far as to make something like old fashion pan gravy using almond milk and, its THE BOMB!
variety is the spice of life :)
I never thought about the spices in Tofurky bothering people. That I'd good to know. I am with you on the tofu and mushrooms though. Portabello mushrooms make the best burgers.
DeleteIt is cool that you like the almond milk. My mom has switched to it too, but for some reason I don't find it as creamy. Good thing there are a variety of options since people have different tastes.
Mmmmmmm gravy.
As a youngster I rode in sleet, snow, rain, thunder storms, extreme cold, ice but hail, don't think I remember ever having ridden in hail. And good grief, all that food is making me hungry and your killing me with the Reuben shot.
ReplyDeleteNo hail? You can fix that. I am sure you get hail in your neck of the woods. I haven't ridden in thunder storms yet. That doesn't sound too pleasant. I've ridden in the driving rain coming back form the coast last June and it was miserable. Doable, but miserable.
Delete