All-Girl Moped Club Leader Talks Food and Safe Riding

Hey, I'm Len Bilello. You're happy and humble host of the Arrival Eye podcast. Welcome to episode 81. Can you believe it? Now before we get started with the show, a little business for a friend of the show and they are the Amon Luffer.
I hope you never need them, but this summer there's definitely some accidents happening all around the country even here in New York. So if you ever get involved in a motorcycle accident, you want 1 -800 -H -A -Y -M -O -N -D.
If you go down, they'll bring you up and they represented me in the past. And not only got me the settlement I deserve, but they were kind, professional, and friendly. And now let's talk about drugs.
According to our friends at dictionary .com, a gateway drug is defined as a habit -forming drug that while not itself addictive may lead to the use of other addictive drugs.
Why am I saying this, you may ask? Well, for many of us of a certain age we lusted over moped's made by companies like Pook and Tomas. You know, they were essentially two wheel flying carpets that anyone can ride.
And from there many of us stepped up to motorcycles whose speed and handling magnified the joy of riding on motorized two wheeled vehicles. Now fast forward to today and there are niche groups of moped riders that are not only keeping moped's alive but making riding moped's cool,
hip and relevant. And now in Brooklyn there's an all women moped riding group called the Road Clams, yes they're a diverse group of women from all backgrounds but they have one thing in common.
Their passion for mixing gas and oil and zooming down streets celebrating their friendship and their joy of riding mopeds. Now the clams are made up of six riders named Mary,
Olivia, Colleen, Rachel, and Kylie. And we wanted to have them on the show, but they are back in Brooklyn cleaning out their carburetors and preparing for their annual 4th of July clam bake.
But their queen clam, Brie Marriott, is with us today. Brie Maria is a professional chef in Brooklyn now Brie is also rides a motorcycle several in fact and today we talked to her about her love of mopeds motorcycles and food and how simple it is to own and ride a moped and how that could lead to riding motorcycles or just be very content riding fun and stylish mopeds.
Chef Brie you are not chopped but I want to welcome you to episode 81 of the "Arrive Alive" podcast. - Hello. - Hello, thank you for joining us,
Brie. - Yeah, absolutely, I'm happy to be here. - Brie, can you tell us a little bit about the clams, the history, how it started? - So I had my first moped, and I rode that thing to work every single day through rain,
snow, everything. friends who, you know, would often see me taking my bike, my moped rather than the train,
they, you know, got their selves mopeds as well. And eventually it was like, you know what, there's not a lot of girly groups in the moped community.
Let's let's start one. So we thought about names for a while. And for a bit, it was just four of us, me, my partner and our two friends, and we were driving down a road one day and we saw,
you know, when you see little farm stands on the highway and they have like signs that say strawberries and peaches and we saw one that said road clams and we were laughing so hard and ever since then the road clams You know been a foot and we ride together and now we're up to six members in our moped group Awesome,
and what does let's say my name is Trisha, and I live in Bensonhurst, and I I'm getting my first moped How does somebody you know you have to take a vote? You know how does somebody get into the clamps?
I guess commitment like you definitely have to show up to a couple of rides and show that you're like an, at least an active rider. Um, and you have to get along with everybody,
of course. So like, you know, we have garage hangings where we all meet up, people bring beer, snacks, somebody orders pizza, stuff like that. We have fun. We work on bikes and we'll,
um, play like, you know, and stupid card games. But we - While listening to Taylor Swift, is that true? I heard a rumor that you're all Swifties,
true or false? - Oh yeah, big time, that's mother right there. But yeah, we hang out, so you gotta show up a little bit. And I'm pretty open to,
even if you don't show up to the garage hangs, if you're just an active rider, I'm totally open to just having anybody be a road clam. you know when you're in the thick of it and like say your bike breaks down somewhere you know it's just nice to call people that you know and you can be like okay it's making this sound how do I troubleshoot what should I do next kind of thing or hey I need you to run some
gasoline down to me you know I'm near your house can you run some gas to me because I ran out you know what I mean so it's just nice to have that you know support system very cool and for the folks at home and you know we have listeners you know in like 30 different countries believe it or not most of them are US and Canada but we get a lot of European people too let's tell the folks at home the definition of
a moped and how it differs from you know motorcycles and even scooters and e -bikes that we see today okay So the mopeds that we have, they're all,
I mean, they still make them. I have a friend that has a 2006 moped. There's different brands, and basically the brands that make the,
I guess, best quality mopeds are like Tomos, Pook, Motopkins, there's a bunch. Anyway, the mopeds that we ride are vintage ones that have pedals still on them.
So for instance, I could pedal it down the street just like a regular bicycle, but it's the equivalent of riding in first gear on a mountain bike. Like you're just pedaling really hard and really fast,
but you're going like two miles per hour. But basically these engines, they are gas powered and they use like an oil For you know,
these little two -stroke engines and say I run out of gas. There's a reserve on it So I can pop it in reserve. I think I get like another like mile or two So I could ride to the next gas station But if you can't you can pedal it like a bicycle the frame is a lot smaller Then a motorcycle or scooter the scooters are kind of It's the way you sit on the scooters are knees forward,
if that makes sense, like you're sitting and your knees are forward. But with the moped's that we ride, you straddle them like a bicycle. So your legs are on either side of the bike. And when you go,
you just put your feet on the pedals and they're raised off the ground enough that you're not hitting your pedals when you're turning or anything like that. - Let's talk Let's talk about the pedals, because something said that's missing from a lot of today's motorcycles is kick start.
With the vintage mopeds that you have, do you press a button to start, or do you start pedaling when the engine starts? So there are ones that do have a push to start, which is a luxury in the Mopag community.
But no, so for instance, Thomas, your back wheel does not have to be off the ground. So you just kick the pedal backwards and it should just engage the starter clutch and it goes pukes.
You have to have the bike either on the kickstand or you have to pedal it down the street to where that back tire has to be moving in order or quotations off the ground in order to start it and you pedal your pedals forward but you have a clutch lever so you pull in your clutch,
pedal it, release the clutch and it starts running. Got it and do they have so you mentioned a clutch so does that mean there's more than one gear? Some of them but most of them no it's just like one gear you can you can like mine has two gears to where it gets up to a certain RPM and then those clutch pads release in the second gear and it takes over,
and then you're in that second gear. But there's no active switching of gears or having a neutral or anything like that. - Got it, got it, okay, cool. And so now,
so because they have pedals, because their speed is a little slow, and this might be, you know, attractive to people, A, just coming into two -wheeled kind of adventure, whether it's,
you know, starting a motorcycle, It's just a regular car license. Okay, for these. So these, the ones that I ride are technically 49 CC.
So unless they've changed it, the DMV in New York says that you don't have to register them 'cause they're under 50 CC. No registration, no insurance? Nothing. Wow.
Yeah. And these bikes I think are a great like stepping stone into gas powered two -wheel anything because they go fast but they don't go fast enough to where like you know you're it's like the perfect amount of speed because the second you leave one red light you're stopping at a stop sign half like a quarter mile up so it's not like you have to switch a bunch of gears like you would on a cycle to hit that light
next. But I mean, when you're on that bike and it might not sound like a lot of power, but like 30 miles, 30, 35 miles per hour, that's pretty fast. Like definitely feels scary at first if you're a new rider.
But I think it definitely puts that into your brain that like, I'm going to be okay. Like this isn't too fast. And then you work your way up to a faster bike. Got it. And I want to get more into the safety and your group,
but I want to, I forgot to touch on, you know, your career as a chef and, you know, talking about the feasting on asphalt. So, how did you get into,
like, being a chef and what do you like about it, and do you ever kind of mix the two together? - I got into being a chef.
I used to work at a restaurant when I was, you know, in my teens and kind of, I started out as a hostess and then dabbled my way towards every position in the restaurant.
And I stuck it out in the kitchen with the boys and it learned that I was going to culinary school then I dropped out 'cause I was learning under a chef and getting paid.
So I did that route, jumped at a bunch of different restaurants just to learn different cuisines and techniques and then I guess during right before COVID in 2019,
my buddy of mine introduced me into private chefing and from there I've just kind of stuck with that it's a whole different world and a lot more creativity and solo work,
I guess you could say, I'm a freelancer. It's crazy, it's great, I love it. Now, do I mix moped? So I, you know, when I'm not cooking,
I'm wrenching. I am trying to do something. - Do you like working with your hands, it seems. - Absolutely, I think that's probably why a moped's kind of screamed out to me also. It's like, you know,
getting dirty with the grease and you know there's tight little areas where you can put a screw and stuff But yeah, no, sometimes I I'm hoping this summer I can mix You know cooking and moped's together I want to do a big moped hang at my garage where I want to cook a whole like seafood boil Oh,
yeah Corn and sausages and clams and shrimp and everything and like have a big table and just dump it on there and have a bunch of friends over whoever wants to eat can eat kind of thing.
Sure. So you're old enough to remember when the food network was good not like the trend. I mean it's still pretty good but it used to be good I think you know eight to fifteen years ago. Yeah you had all your classic shows now it's too over it's too overpowered with all these different shows.
- Right, and the competition and this and that. Did you have or do you still have like a favorite one or two food network chefs that you used to either emulate or just kind of look up to? - Ina Garten is my favorite.
- Oh wow. - She is just like, you know, living her best life, making food for her friends, having, you know, dinner parties over and stuff. And I feel like I can relate the most to her because I'm always,
I always have my friends over and I'm always, you know, doing fun things that like bring us together. For sure. You know, I'm Italian. My mother was born and raised in Italy and I tell you,
if you take, if you take everybody in the world that is not paid to cook, okay, so put those people aside and then you put everybody else that cooks for their family,
friends, etc., my mom would literally be in the top 2 % of all cooks and she enjoys it. Like, we have to force her to not cook for her birthday.
So it's his birthday, mom, what are you doing? Oh, I'm gonna cook something. And she's from Northern Italy, which is, you know, the cuisine there is a little bit different than your typical pot. We didn't really have a lot of pastas and breads. We did a little bit, but you know,
Northern Italy's a lot of, you know, fresh meats, fresh fish, wonderful kind of artisan cheeses. And if you have the breads in northern Italy, it's more like France, where it's like hard, you know,
kind of, um, yes, crusty type things. Yes. Yeah. And lots of good fruits. And of course, you know, the wines of northern Italy and, and, and for, for,
um, uh, Christmas Eve, she makes a bouillabaisse. That I think I've shown you pictures, right? It's like shrimp, you know, there's a place called Jordan's Lobster Farm in, in Park in New York,
and it's as big as a football field. And they have tanks, and they just go around, and they say, oh, give me six of those lobsters. Give me two dozen of the shrimp and the oysters and all that stuff.
And it's really, really great. And we're Italian, so it's like a fish, a meal of seafood for Christmas Eve. Oh, yes. Yeah, and even the-- What is that called? There's something for it.
You have all the - Food, right? - Yeah, the seven fish, it's like, we call it bouillabaisse, and then what she does, so she puts it in this double burner pot,
you know, that takes up two burners, that's as old as me and you together, like it was my grandmother's. - Big star pot, oh yeah. - And then she puts a little fred diavolo sauce, and so we put it over a little bit of penne pasta,
and it's so good, and it's so good. It's so good that I made her record the recipe on my iPhone audio recorder just in case anything happens to my mom, you know. Oh my gosh. The family recipe.
Well, I know you're feeling okay, but just in case, just tell us the recipe so we have it, you know. Hey, we'll be right back with the rest of the show. But first, I want to tell you about VOOM Insurance.
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It's the same coverage as the big guys, but you're going gonna save a lot of money. They have great customer service and very highly rated. And when you do call, please mention the Arrival Eye podcast. Thanks and back to the rest of the show.
Anyway, more about motorcycles. So, all right, so because the mopeds are definitely like you said, a stepping stone, do you find, what's your personal approach?
And it's okay if you don't wear. We've had people, I've had 80, this is show 81, I've probably had 87 guests on the show. I would say, in the high 70s, always wear a helmet.
When they live in states like people in Pennsylvania, you don't have to wear one. Connecticut don't have to wear one. And even our sponsor of the show, which is a law firm, the Haman Law Firm, and he's seen all types of accidents.
And he doesn't always wear a helmet, even though he lives in Connecticut, but he says most of the damage that he sees is usually to the lower body. So anyway, just to get what is your kind of personal approach to safety on a moped and Bree also owns a motorcycle.
So let's kind of talk about those two for your personal approach. So I always encourage people to wear a helmet. I think no matter what,
even if say, you know, your body is fine after an accident. I don't want anything to happen to my face. You know what I mean?
I'm a girl. I would say pretty. But I, you know, a helmet in general, I think is, you know, if your arm gets damaged,
you know, I mean, this might sound kind of messed up to say, but you know, if you lose an arm, it's better than losing a Yeah, you know, and I always wear a helmet.
I wear a full face helmet. I have worn the what do they call it turtle turtle shell ones. No. Yeah, I've worn those before. I don't like how exposed it.
I just I don't know. I got hit by a car about I want to say in February, maybe it wasn't anything bad, but I the guy didn't get out or anything.
And I was fine, luckily. My bike hasn't been the same since, but, you know, if I wasn't wearing my helmet, I probably would have cracked my skull right on the concrete 'cause I fell sideways.
And it's, you know, you never know. So I always wear a full face helmet. Also, I wear, I have a Bluetooth in my helmet. So, I mean,
it only allows me to talk to one person through an intercom, but I do listen to music. I keep it low, not like super blasting to where I can't hear my surroundings, but, you know,
enough that I can hear sirens or if a car horn or something like that. So, you know, full face helmet, I think is the best way to go. For sure. I do wear riding gloves. Not many of my members wear riding gloves.
That's okay. That's up to them, but I have a bad rest, and if I was to ever fall, I know I would try to put my hand out to try and catch myself. So like riding gloves, definitely,
I don't want my hand, I work with my hands. Sure. Yeah, like some people like, I know chefs that have their hands insured, you know, and and the reason why I started this podcast five years ago,
almost five years ago, was I was in an accident, and I don't know if I ever told you the story, but I was on my way to church, believe it or not. And I had bought a nice pair of gloves from Rev Silla.
And at my church, they have like kind of two seedings, like 11, and they say the announcements, and you know, peace be with you, the whole thing. And then 11, 15, they let another seeding in.
So if you get there at 10, 58, you'll get in at 11. If you get there at 11, 03, you have to wait until 11, 15, no big deal. So I was like, and I lived five minutes away. So it was like three minutes to 11.
I was like, you know what? I'll just wait 'til 11, 15. I opened up that beautiful pair of gloves, put 'em on, and they say most accents occur very close to your house. And this was-- Yeah, like three mile radius or something.
150 feet radius. I was going south on Lexington and 37th, and I live on 3rd Avenue and 37th, and a white SUV ran a red light so I T boned him and you know in in safety school they teach you that if you fall to crawl up like in a field position which is easy to say hard to do so I braced my hands and I skidded on on the pavement for a little bit and those gloves really saved me if I didn't have those gloves
I would have my hands would have been torn to shreds so yeah For all the clams and and other people out there, I would say minimum Helmet and gloves and good boots because you know,
you don't want to like you at least over the ankle Definitely not flip -flops or anything like that. No, I mean definitely especially with the exhaust so close to your I mean Even on moped's when you go to put your kickstand down that exhaust is right there I always have like a scar from an exhaust pipe just click my ankle and it's yeah and it's not a pretty pretty sight when it scabs over so you know boots
definitely as well got it and so then so you had your moped first and Bree has a bunch of motorcycles I think you have as many motorcycles and two -wheeled things as you can fit on one hand so tell everybody what other vehicles you own - I have Yamaha XT 225.
- And street and road, is that for both? - That's for both, yeah. So it has like tires that are in between a dirt bike and a road bike,
I guess you could say. So they have good tread, but not like super thick like a dirt bike. So I've not yet to take it on any trails. But it's in the works. I'm trying.
That's probably my biggest bike is the Yamaha XT 225. I also have a little mini dirt bike. It's an XR 100. That's a Honda. And that thing is I just literally rip it around.
I want to say it's a 1994. Oh, wow. So it's got like the juice box gas tank. That's what I call about the fuel line coming out the top.
But I have that one that's just kind of like to rip around. I bought it for my partner, but she's going to learn how to do the gears one day. And then I have my Moped,
which is a Tomos, and it is a step through. So it's, how can I explain the frame? It's like swooped like a bicycle where the gas tank would be the frame in the center That bike is my everyday ride I ride that probably the most out of all my bikes the Tomos is the everyday right right the Tomos is the everyday ride It's a small bike.
I chain it up to a pole. Don't have to worry about parking It's not tagged so I can go through tolls and everything. I go with the cars on the bridges, right?
Can you go through it? Like, can you go through the Midtown Tunnel or the Lincoln Tunnel? I could, but they'd probably be angry at me. Got it. Because right, there's no plate. So there's no toll that there's no plate.
And it's a little slower. So I feel like people kind of go a little fast. But the speed is 30 miles. The speed limit in New York City is now 20 miles an hour in some areas and 25 in most others.
So you'd be definitely would be doing the speed limit for any, you know, for Pete's sake. - Yeah, I just think people would get a little aggressive, but it is what it is. But I go with the, I go over like, you know,
Williamsburg Bridge. What's the one, Cotches Bridge, is that right? - Cotchiasco Bridge? - No. - Oh, no, the Ed Cotch. No, we call it the 59th Street Bridge Bridge. - Yeah, okay. - It'll always be the 50,
we don't say the word Ed Cotch. He He was he was a you're too young to remember Ed Koch was like this He was a mayor of New York City when you know kind of like today when people are getting mugged all over the place And then David Dinkins came into town and he was not that great either.
He was okay But anyway, I don't want to talk about politics. So that's so that's very cool No, whichever one goes into the Upper East Side I go for that bridge a lot too,
right? So that's called so the Night Street Bridge used to be called the Queensboro Bridge and they renamed it the Ed Koch Bridge But on a satellite on a GPS they call the Ed Koch Bridge because they can't they don't know the CH of Yeah So riding around the city as you do on a moped or a motorcycle.
What would you say? like What would you say that what are some of like two or three things that you see that other either moped people or motorcyclists do wrong or could improve upon from a safety perspective.
I think signals like hand signals, turning signals, like I know in New York it's legal to lane split. That's fine.
I lane split. I you know do it cautiously. I don't need a ripping through between cars, because you just don't know what people are going to do. But I see a lot of motorcyclists lane split,
and they don't signal like when they're turning, even if either if you have a turning signal or not, stick your hand out if you're making a left or put it up if you're making a right.
I follow that pretty well. And then I would say the other thing is tailgating. I get tailgated all the time by motorcycles.
And I don't know why. I don't know if it's just like a funny thing. But I don't think it's funny because-- I think it's visibility, quite frankly. They're not looking for you.
They're not looking for a small person-- or not person, but they're looking for cars. If you're and towards them, they probably don't see you. And if they're in back of you,
they're looking for like a truck or a, and then, and I think that could be it. - Yeah. I mean, it's, I mean, I go, I can lane split way faster than a motorcycle, so I just get out of the way.
My thing's so small, I can fit in nooks and crannies. Like even when I'm riding my XT, there's, sometimes I can't even fit down traffic 'cause like cars are too close.
I know. But yeah, that's probably the only thing that I would say is just like signaling. I think it gets forgotten about a lot. Not even-- I mean, not even with just motorcyclists or mopedters with cars as well.
Nobody uses their signals anymore. I don't get it. And do you notice that a lot of car drivers do everything except drive these days, whether it's texting, putting on makeup, guys from side queens adjusting their Italian horn around their neck.
Right, and that is, you know, a problem too. Like, so how much of your safety quotient is devoted to, like, what are you looking for when you're riding,
you know, with a bunch of cars? Like, how do you spot a dangerous situation, would you say? I look in people's mirrors. So when I'm riding behind a car or something. I ride to where the driver can see me in there,
not even just the rear view mirror, but the mirror that is on their driver's side, the left side, I don't know what that's called, their door mirror, I guess. Side view mirror,
I think it's called, yeah. Yeah, that's correct. And I try to pay attention to what they're doing. If I see them looking down a lot, I'm like, okay, that's texting. I either need to like back away or quickly make it around him and just go on with my day um I've had cars that are texting and they they look up they see me and then they still pull out and I'm like what like I just don't get it I don't I don't I
don't know just no self -awareness people don't have and and you know what and this it's amazing what one can make,
especially with these-- Well, let's do a second. That's all it takes. And so with mopeds, you're probably riding-- let's say if we're going down an avenue in Brooklyn,
you might be riding not in a bike lane per se, but where a bike would be close to the parked cars. Have you ever had an instance where a passenger or the driver gets out of the driver's side of the car and doesn't see you does that ever happen to you all the time all the time thank you literally happened today I was riding my e -bike today and just I usually ring my bell if I have a bike bell I know that like
I mean cars use their horns all the time I'm gonna use the heck out of that bell you know what I mean you don't have horns on it the mopeds come with like a regular horn or - Oh, yeah, yeah,
yeah. - Okay, okay. - But even on any bike, even on my electric bike, I'm using that little bell just to alert people 'cause I understand accidents happen,
but some people open their door wide. - Oh, yeah. - Wide open, and that has happened before, not to me per se, where I've actually hit anybody, but to where it's definitely startled me and I had to slam on my brakes.
- Oh, So I parked my bike at a place called Riders Alley on the upper east side. And I was in the right hand lane where a motorcycle should be, and I was making a right turn into the driveway.
And in what the quasi -bike lane was, an Uber Eats guy, and I missed him by literally a hair because he was, I don't know if he was at fault or I would have been at fault,
maybe I didn't check my mirror, but even making a right hand turn into a driveway that's seemingly clear, you could have an e -bike on your right. So always do that, I'm always trying. You know,
we have to be bobbleheads for Pete's sake, right? We have to look forward for the idiots in front of us. We have to look down for the potholes that are as big as studio apartments, okay? I mean,
I named the potholes in my neighborhood. One is called Phyllis, One is called Harry and there's a few of them that are like a house cavern for Pete's sake And then you have to look to your right for like other e -bikes or something And it's also important to you know,
there's this guy Eckerd Tolle. Have you have you heard of him? He's like this meditation guru on YouTube and he's he wrote a book called the power of now And it's all about staying in the moment,
you know, and why did I say this because I'm not staying in the moment. Holy crap, I'm getting old. Oh, staying in the moment. So I was in Long Island City last summer. I had just helped a woman,
a really nice Russian woman, get her motorcycle license. I brought her to the thing, the whole thing. And then it was a hot summer day. And I was bright by that BP station on Austin Jackson Avenue.
And what I was thinking was, I'm going to be back. You know, I have to go park my bike then go back to the office and finish this Excel spreadsheet I was not in the moment and because I was not in the moment.
It was my fault I rammed into an uber Eats driver with my motorcycle and And he went down and he was fun. We're actually still Instagram friends, but you know, he went down he wasn't hurt so bad,
but we did call an ambulance we called his manager and And it's all 'cause I was not in the moment, I was thinking 10 minutes ahead. And you just have to really think, that's what I like about motorcycling,
and kind of all the problems that you have when you're riding right, you don't really think about them 'cause you're focused on the task at hand. So I would just also say, try to be in the moment when you're riding, you know? - Absolutely,
always be alert. - Did you, when you were a kid, did you like magic? magic? Yeah, like, did your parents ever,
you know, take you to a magic show or see magicians on TV? I used to watch, um, what's his name? Chris Angel? Is that right? Sure. Yeah, I used to watch him.
And then there was another guy. What's his name? He's like, super famous for magic. David Copperfield? No,
um, Blaine? Oh, yeah, Blaine, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was yeah. He was definitely cool. He's still around too, I think So the reason I asked this is So let's say What's the first one Chris Angels?
So let's say Chris Angels here with us right now and I don't know if he uses a magic wand or whatever he waves But let's say he was here and with the wave of his hand. He can improve one aspect of your riding ability,
whether it's mopeds or motorcycles, what would you have him improve by a factor of, let's say, five? - Probably, this is a tough one.
Probably improve my reaction speed, I guess. I'm pretty fast that reacting. Okay. But I think when I react,
I automatically go from like, zero to 100. Like, I go from just like, oh, there's somebody on my left to like spooked, you know what I mean? Like, like if a car stops short,
I'm like, instead of just being like, okay, slow down. You know, like, slow down. Okay, it passed. Keep going. So I would say probably that. Okay, cool.
I think, you know, a lot of motorcycles, so we say cornering, or, you know, right, I mean, riding in the rain, have you ever gotten, you know, got get caught in bad weather on either the motorcycle or the moped?
Oh, yeah, I have literally, I mean, a trench or downpour, I had to hide under a bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, I had to sit under there for about 1020 minutes just to wait just because you know our phones tell us when it's going to end and it was like 20 minutes until it stops raining and it was down pouring like buck flooding everywhere it was insane um I wish that I was better at yeah probably cornering as well
now that you said it yeah um but yeah that's pretty much it I feel like I'm a pretty confident rider in general - Um, I,
I don't know, yeah. - Well, it's funny, they say the time to be scared on a motorcycle is when you're not scared. So I think there's a good balance of being attentive and cautious, but also, you know, being able to enjoy your story.
And also when you're riding in the rain, like don't try and be a hero, right? Unless you have, even if you have someplace to go, right? Wait it out, excuse me, because summer You usually don't last very long.
And Alonzo Bodin, who I was telling you about earlier, I had on the show and he said, you know, we do a lot of stupid shit in our 20s. So if you can make it past your 20s, you should be okay. And I went on a long tour,
I think I was 25 or 26, and this older guy I worked with, Bill Z, we called him. He was like in his late 40s or early 50s. And I said, Bill, you have any advice for me about this tour? He said, yeah.
When it gets cloudy put on your rain suit and because it means it's gonna start raining. I'm like, really, Bill? That's the big advice you have? He's like, yeah, that's my advice. So I'm in Western Pennsylvania on a sunny day and then it's getting cloudy and I have a full rain suit in my backpack,
you know, not a problem. So it's getting cloudy and I'm like, okay, I'll put on the rain suit when it starts raining, wrong, okay. And then, but I figured, and I was on one of these roads that had an over,
uh, overpass every mile, mile and a half. So I said to myself, oh gee, even if it starts raining, I could just go under or not. One of those overpasses and put it on, put the rain suit on. Little did I know,
as soon as I got out from under one overpass, it rained like we should gather the animals two by two. I couldn't even make it to the neck and I got so,
So I couldn't even, I had to stop the bike on the side of the road. That's how, so yeah, I would say, you know, if you have a rain so and you don't have to spend a lot of money, Amazon has little ponchos or rain suits you can get for 20 or $30 and wear that and also try to sit it out.
And also when it rains, that's when, and we love the oil that, you know, the mopeds have, but that's when the oil rises to the top in many roads, right? So that's when the roads, yeah, - Yeah, they're gonna be very slick.
Now, modern motorcycles, and I don't know if any of your motorcycles have ABS, but for the most part, I would assume that the mopeds do not have ABS, right? - No, they don't. - So if you're in a wet weather or even like kind of rocky or gravelly stuff,
what is the braking kind of technique, would you say, when you're on a moped in those types of conditions? - Well, luckily, so the on mopeds, there are drum brakes. Some people put a disc brake on,
but it's, you know, a mod that you have to do yourself. Okay. Luckily with the mopeds, you aren't going too, too, too fast. And the way that you sit on the moped,
you're kind of sitting like how you would on a bicycle. So I just dragged my feet on the concrete, which Probably isn't the best choice, but definitely use it to where if I needed to they're there for support And I just kind of I take my time I mean if it's really raining and I'm in the city and I'm riding my moped I'm definitely going at a pace where You know,
I just got to be cautious. I mean there's been I don't have a rain a rain suit or anything I have like rain pants, but But everything else,
I just wear a jacket and I glove up and you know, I make it, but it's definitely one of those things that once you get wet and soggy, it definitely kills your ride in general.
For sure. Yeah. And in the summer, you know, when it's cold, that's really the worst. But in the summer, say I'm wet and you know, now I'm, I'm cooled off and stuff like that. When you dry off in 10 10 minutes. Yeah,
for sure. When you do the group rides with the clams, is there, you know, do you always have a leader? Is there like, you know, we, we do these rides on weekends with this guy Eater,
who leads a lot of our rides, but we have like 25, 30 people sometimes. What's your guys strategy when you're doing a group ride? Do you have a leader? Do you have somebody always following like what do you guys do for that?
So we have yet to put on a group ride with Mo Petters outside of our club. - Okay. - But within the six of us, I would say I'm usually the leader.
- That does not surprise me. You have very leadership, you have a lot of leadership qualities, I can tell. (laughing) - Yeah, right. I am usually the leader. I just feel like I ride the most,
so I'm the most confident and kind of Know which streets are the best to go down because not all streets have bike lanes and it's just easier Not saying that we ride in the bike lane,
but it's definitely The roads wider in general But I am usually the leader I have a Bluetooth that I connect with my partner with and usually she is a super slow bike So she's always in the back,
so I'm always like are we all together or do we need to slow down? She'll kind of communicate Two of my other members they have Bluetooth with each other and they kind of if needed will jump To the streets to block traffic.
Okay. Yeah And then but nine out of ten if it's just a six of us We are just writing as a group and if there's a red light, we all stop and then we all go kind of thing.
I don't really like to go crazy when we're in group settings just because I feel like that's when things go wrong more than likely when you're in a group. But pretty much I,
you know, I tell people I'm like, use the signals, you know, if I give a left hand turn signal with my arm, Do it so the people behind you know kind of like mirror what I do essentially,
right? That's good advice, and you know what was that? That TV chef that he would take restaurants and redo them when they were failing. You know the guy I'm talking about Well that guy but then there was another guy on either Lifetime or another show,
but even Gordon so in my mind and Would you say that most professional, I don't want to give a stereotype, but when you're watching Food Network or these professional chefs on TV,
they're very picky and they're very, it seems like they get agitated easily and they have a hot temper. Would you say that's fairly true or mostly true? - I mean, I think in the workforce,
there's definitely, I've had chefs scream at me over stupid things. - And they would be bad motorcyclists, for sure. Yeah, right. I think as far as like the TV shows that you had mentioned,
I think that that's all for show, just to kind of ensue drama. For sure. Yeah, because at the end of the day, it's like, why do you,
why do you care so much about something that's not under your name kind of thing? Yeah, that's true. And the reason I asked that is because road rage, you know, one of my problems, One of the reasons why I started this show was,
I had a problem where if somebody cut me off, I felt it was my duty to berate them and yell at them. My road rage has gone down by at least 70 % because of guests telling me,
"This is not the fight to fight, number one." Because I would say, "Listen, I'm not doing it for me. I'm doing it for the next motorcyclist, so they don't do it again. And they're like, Glenn, you know what? You can't be that way.
Because when you're angry at somebody, your defenses are down, your awareness is down, you're just opening yourself up, and you're going to be even a more of a careless rider. So do you ever have any bouts of road rage if somebody opens their door?
I've had one guest on here that, sadly-- he would keep-- I hate But he would keep like, you know change in his pocket and if somebody cut him off He'd like throw like pennies at their windshield,
you know, but do you ever have? Somebody was throwing change at me I would be like, all right, this guy I have you know,
I definitely have had times where I Don't necessarily scream on people, but like, if I'm going down a road and I'm parallel with the car and they start getting closer to me, I have banged on their window just to like,
like, just like, just like literally like tap, tap, tap, just to be like, I'm riding here. Like, you know, if somebody's turning, they'll go try to go around them, but they don't look to see if there's like,
so I've definitely had that, but I don't think I've ever braided on anybody. Okay. Really. I mean, the guy who hit me, I definitely was like, he didn't even get out of the car and he stopped, but he didn't get out of the car and I just went up to him and he was like,
you hit me, you hit me. And I'm like, look, man, I'm not trying to do who did what, but like just look next time. - Yeah. - Like that's all it is. My new thing is, and this is probably bad for me.
I don't do it often, I swear. But like the other day, I had a guy literally look at me, make eye contact with me and then still continue to pull out in front of me and I just went and then he ignored me as I passed because he knew that he cut me off and I turned his passenger when the mirror in you know what I turned it in so that way he I know it wasn't like an automatic one so it's like he has to get
out now and like fix it but that's about it I don't really I just keep going. I'm like, whatever. There's too many people. It's like, I'm sure that they, somebody else will call them out.
Yeah, with cars, I'm definitely less stressed or less angry. But with the invention of FaceTime and Slack and Instagram live that everybody wants to,
it's the pedestrians, people, my parents. So it's funny what you remember as a kid. My mother bought me a shirt. I think it was at like Macy's when I was 12.
And it was a shirt that had an owl on it. And it said, "Look both ways before crossing." I still know what that shirt looked like, right? And no pedestrian A does that.
B, they cross against the light. And C, they cross against the light while looking at their phone or FaceTiming or Instagramming live and then when we have the green light and we almost hit them they look at us like we're the idiots and I have a little sarcastic streak in my and what I'll say to them is and these are college -educated people you know I'll say to them oh gee I wonder what that red hand means on the
cross you know it means don't freaking walk you know I get a little yeah one day I was I was riding in I think the west like lower west side and I was I was going my speed it was a one -way road I was you know not full throttling it but I was going pretty fast and the light changed literally to yellow and this guy started walking and I was like I don't have enough space to break so I'm gonna go through the
light that's why the yellow light is there to like, you know, if you can't make it, you gotta make it. And so I went and he stuck out his arm and he hit me in the chest.
What? Yeah. And like, like to be like, oh, don't do it. Like he just threw his arm out and he actually hit me and I pulled over. And he came up to me and he was like, what the f?
And I was like, you don't need to hit. I was like, you were walking through a yellow light, you do not need to hit anybody. And I think me being woman, he didn't realize because he straightened right up.
He apologized profusely. He was like, you're right. I am so sorry. I was like, I know I might have been in the wrong in like trying to make that light, but like, you, you cannot hit people.
That's wrong. And like, he was so struck back. I think A, that I B, I was a girl and speed that like, you know, he wasn't the wrong, you don't need to hit people.
Like I wasn't near him, otherwise I would have moved. (laughing) - You know, we're gonna talk about the happy stuff, right? So the people listening to the show, there's really a lot of fun stuff about riding mopeds and motorcycles to touch on that.
Do you personally or do you recommend people maybe having you know, and a GoPro, and not just to show off on Instagram, 'cause one of my beliefs is that if GoPros weren't invented,
there would be 30 % less motorcyclists out there, 'cause I think a third of people on bikes just have it so they can show off on Instagram. But they can be good for safety, do you use one or would you recommend somebody use one?
- I wanna get one, people have told me to use GoPro, but I don't know why I'm so attracted to the 360 camera or anything like that like that can document like if this guy got forbid he did hurt you and you could get his name or somebody did hit you and you can get a license plate I think it makes sense in those circumstances oh absolutely I think so like I think if you are like able to get one I mean why not
have it the same as like wearing a helmet like you could not have one but like if you have one you should wear it Um, I don't have any cameras. I've been twanging in my head.
They're kind of expensive, but I'm like, I know I should have this I'm just like it's I don't know So yeah, I do think that people should have them especially if you're in the city like this Because accidents happen all the time and there's so many people I mean luckily there's so many witnesses also if anything was to happen But at the end of the day just to cover your own butt.
For sure. For sure. Okay think back since you've been riding let's go back ten years let's say right and think about all the times you've been riding your moped and your motorcycle I want to get that in your head right now and now tell the audience at home or wherever they may be walking to work tell me like one of your most happy times that you can remember on a ride and what was happening and where were you
riding I was in I had just bought my Yamaha and I was with my brother who had a Harley Sportster and we were in Delaware and nothing good happens in Delaware you know this No,
but in lower Delaware, there's a bunch of, you know, cornfields and a lot of land and I was,
you know, I had my music going in my helmet and we were riding through these back roads where it's just roads that you can just see for miles and where you can really like see the power in your bike and really go fast.
And I just remember the sun was setting, it's just it's incredible the feeling that you get on two wheels with the wind in your face and the power of control that you have over this vehicle.
And it's just, I don't know, it, that's what really like brought me into, you know, riding, especially during the summer, But riding all year round,
it's like that feeling is just, you know, there's nothing like it. I would agree. I would agree. And, you know, I've had a lot of, you know, happy times. But I would even say, uh, the, the bike that I bought last year,
which is an R 1200R, I picked it up in Spring Lake, New Jersey, uh, about 70 miles, 65 miles from, uh, from here. I picked it up on a weekday. So I'm on the New Jersey turnpike,
believe it - Oh my gosh. - It's amazing that anything happy can happen on the turnpike, but it wasn't a lot of traffic. And do you have any pets? Do you have a cat or a dog or anything like that? - I have two cats. - Okay, so I had a cat growing up.
So I'm on the turnpike going north, and the bike was like, there's that purring sound that a cat makes when a cat is happy, like, blah, you know, like that. - Yeah.
- And my bike was making this. It was just as happy as could be. And if it could talk, it would say to me, I wanna stay at this speed forever,
'cause this is the speed that I'm comfortable at. And I looked down at the speedometer, and most bikes' speedometer's a little bit optimistic by a few miles an hour, but it read like 93 miles an hour.
And it was the most stable, enjoyable, it felt like you're going for, and then when you go in 90 and you slow down to like It feels like you're going backwards, but I that way and it was like 72 degrees and then and then I stopped I did you know that there's a rest area on the term pike called the Bon Jovi rest area Is that now a few years old?
But like they have like memorabilia and it's like the Bon Jovi rest area They have a big sign whenever I go past that I always stop in the rest area whether I need guests or not and because you know I like Bon Jovi, but yeah,
that was one of my my favorite ones. Well, this has been great. We're going to link to the Clams Instagram so people can follow you if they're in New York City and maybe they want to reach out,
hey, how can I be a clam? What kind of-- you're OK with fielding questions from people like that? Absolutely. Yeah, our Instagram is @roadclamsnyc. And yeah,
feel free to say hi. We try to go to other motorcycle events and stuff. But if you ever see a moped riding through the city with a little license plate that says clam,
that's one of us. That's them, yes. And they may even reach out to you, say, hey, you know what? I got a chicken breast, some romano cheese, and garlic, and mayonnaise, and what can I make?
And he'll be like, go to allrecipes .com. There used to be a restaurant. I don't know if it's still around. In DC, it was called "Garlic." And their motto was,
"We season our garlic with food." That's funny. We season our garlic with food. So food, motorcycle,
aficionado, and moped, thank you, Bree, for being on the show. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me and sorry for the car horns. Hey, what a great episode with Brie, right? What a woman and you know I'm actually going to email her my mother's bouillabaisse recipe so maybe one day she can make it for some of her clam friends.
Now we are just starting summer riding and I would like to ask you a favor. If you are listening to this show today please share the show with friends or family members who ride. You can post it on TikTok,
you can post it on Instagram, you can post it on your Facebook page or you can text it to your friends and family who ride that's what helps us get the word out about motorcycle safe and that's the one favor that I would ask of you and very soon we're going to be coming out with stickers that you can put on your laptop your ipad your phone your helmet even so check the website at arrivealivepodcast .com for details
on that also if you have an idea for the show want to be on the show want to help support the show email me podcast at gmail .com.
Now, if I were to summarize some of the things that we mentioned, which were a lot, but basically, you know, wear a helmet and not yes, it's for safety, but it's also for bugs.
I mean, Maine has, you know, the state bird of Maine is the mosquito. Okay. That is a known fact. So it also gives your eyes protection. And maybe if you're not wearing an helmet, definitely wear eye protection at the very least.
So you don't have a big mosquito flying into you. Gloves are very important. Boots are very important. Training is very important. Go to MSF. Go to Google Motorcycle Safety Training in your area.
Get advanced training because with pedestrians and crazy cars and all the crazy stuff that's happening you cannot have too much training. We'll have some links on the show notes for that. There'll also be a link for the Road Clams Instagram page so you can connect with Bree and the rest of the Lambs via Instagram and they'll be able to help you with any information you may need,
how to join all that fun stuff. I also want to thank everyone who made this show possible, including you, the listener and also our vice president of music, Mr. Rob McLaughlin of the West Coast Hearts.
If you love music that moves your mind and your soul and your body, you will love the West Coast Hearts. Search for them on Apple or Spotify also to Mr. Liam Murray, he's our director of commercial music.
He's in Queens, New York. Going to be married this year, we wish him the very, very best. And also to our sponsors, the Heyman Law Firm, and the good folks over at VOOM Motorcycle Insurance.
I hope you're having as much fun listening to our shows as I have doing them and meeting all the wonderful, fabulous guests of the show. My name is Len Belello.
Have a great day and ride safe.