An quick update on Exercise Compassion’s Vegan Bike Tour, which starts with the Alaskan Ultrasport.  Registration fees for the Ultrasport are due in just a couple of weeks and our friend is $600 short.  We can’t let that happen!  To support the cause, click below – your help is greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your support of a fellow vegan and animal activist!

To learn more about our partnership with Exercise Compassion, or more about the Vegan Bike Tour, click here.

Your Daily Vegan is so proud to announce our partnership with Exercise Compassion!

Exercise Compassion first caught my eye on Twitter (side note: I heart twitter!).  The tweet said something like “riding home with 12 pounds of vegetables on my back”.  Intrigued, I checked out his website.  Instantly, I was hooked.  Exercise Compassion is run by Greg Straight Edge; a photographer and animal activist.  He is gearing up to ride a bike (made by himself) across the country educating people about veganism.

I thought a lot about how powerful this could be for veganism.  It sends a message that veganism is not just about diets and eating healthy.  It is about how we treat the animals we share the planet with.  Greg will be networking with vegans along the way but (almost) more importantly, he will be sharing the vegan word with our omnivores.  I sat down to talk to Greg about his journey to gain some insight to what his plans were all about.

Click below to read our interview with Greg himself!

YDV:  Your biography on the site includes a statement, “Technology will not solve this problem that we have created, sacrifice will.”  Is this your main message you will be delivering across the country?  I ask because I too believe this is the crux of the environmental problem.

EC:  This is not my main message, but it is something I would like to demonstrate throughout the tour.  I would like my main message to be about veganism and the fact that it is simple and anyone can do it anywhere.  I grew up in a somewhat rural town in North Carolina.  No vegan restaurants, no vegetarian restaurants, and most likely not even vegetarian options were available in this town.  We had one Co-op food store and that was it. This was 1991 when I began expanding my vegetarian diet into a vegan diet.  I found it was still very easy to eat properly without dairy.

Technology I do not believe is such a bad thing- lack of responsibility is.  All of us have something that is not needed in everyday life. Whether it be a computer, cell phone, car, or dare I say, a bike.  Ultimately these things are not necessities. How we use, maintain, and dispose of these items is part of our responsibility which I think has been lost in this age of convenience.  My philosophy is that responsibility and empathy are all one needs to open her/his eyes and simplify life.  For example, if people were more responsible for her/his actions, we would not have health care problems, frivolous law suits, excessive credit/debt, and so on.  With empathy if one were to see and feel the pain of a mother when her child is taken away from her, then we would not have a dairy industry that pulls a child form her/his mother at birth and raises her/him for slaughter in just a few months.  I have had many instances on several farms where cows have just been bellowing with tears in their eyes because a friend was taken from the pasture.  This shows all animals have feelings just as we do.

YDV:  How much time are you planning for in making this trip?  I saw the map and it looks as if you will be gone for quite some time.  Which also leads me to my next question:  Obviously, you will be making pretty huge sacrifices to accomplish this ride, how will the trip be primarily funded?

EC:  I plan on this taking 12-16 months. There is no itinerary although there are a few places I would like to be at certain times, and I would also like to be in the South before winter. As far as expenses, I am going to keep everything to a minimum. I’ll bee camping wherever I can find a safe place. I will be strictly raw which I find to be easy and cheap when on the road. Hopefully I can get some nice sponsors and donations to carry me through the entire tour. I’ll also be volunteering a lot which I hope will get me a vegan meal and a place to sleep.

Lots of people have responded and offered places for me to sleep.  This is also about vegans cooperating. I have been a freelance photographer for many years and have had very little business from the vegan community. I hope this changes that and supports part of this tour as well.

YDV:  This is definitely a noble endeavor and should be recognized by the local media in the places you visit.  I’m sure you’ll blog, but THIS SHOULD BE TELEVISED!  Do you intend on spreading the word through other outlets?

EC:  I am working on a press kit to send to the animal sanctuaries and other animal-friendly places. I do hope to get local coverage in most of the places I visit.  I don’t like preaching to the choir, so I do want people who are outside the vegan community to see and hear about Exercise Compassion. I hope that my presence in certain towns will raise interest. If my presence in a town just shows one person that someone eating a plant based diet is healthy and can travel the United States alone on a bike, then I have done something.  I hope to acquire a decent video camera to record my journeys.  After the tour is over I do hope to produce a book that chronicles my journey in both words and photos.

YDV:  So when does the green flag go up- what is your anticipated start date for this expedition?

EC:  I hope to leave the East Coast in May of 2010. I am currently training for the Alaskan Ultra Sport Iditarod Trail Invitational, which is a 350 mile bike ride from Anchorage to Nome in March of 2010. Depending on how that goes I may leave for the Exercise Compassion tour earlier!

To check out more about Exercise Compassion please go to the website:  www.exercisecompassion.com

I am sure Greg would love to hear from you and gain some support for his journey.  And don’t forget to check back with us here at YDV.  We’ll be following Greg on his journey and will provide you with the “inside track” to his journey.  Can’t wait to see you on the road Greg!

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