7,400 miles

Yesterday I took the MINI to Prestige in order to have the brakes looked over. They were squeaking. Verdict? Brakes good, just very dirty. They cleaned it, gave my MINI a wash and sent me home! I wonder if I can clean the brakes of brake-dust build up? hmmm...

fun fact: 10 'dings' when you start a MINI up means to buckle up! I didn't know that! And here I am thinking my MINI is trying to tell me something... and lo-and-behold he was! Thanks Leroy!

Moving on... with the exception of yesterday, my MINI has been under covers since 11/20, however this evening I arrived home from work to find the car cover partially pulled up!! Again!!! And like last time, the boot was left exposed to the elements. I pulled the cover back over my car and observed it dance under the wind's spell for a few minutes. The wind was strong and it did manage to rush into the soft space between my MINI and the cover... making my car look like a huge blow-up toy. But no matter how hard the wind blew, the cover didn't slip off. So once again I feel that someone lifted the cover to peak inside without covering up my MINI. I could be wrong, but I could be right, right?

Sometimes... people just suck.

motor on.

7,285 miles - My MINI is a Calendar girl... err guy

Woohoo! I submitted the below picture for 3d_geek's annual Owner's Lounge Calendar and guess what? I made it in! Leroy is on the cover with thirteen other MINI's. I was gunning for the coveted July month... that's like making the centerfold (hahaHA) but unfortunately my picture did not register enough votes to warrant a full month. Leroy did garnish enough votes to be considered for the cover and 3d_geek made the subjective decision to include him (thanks 3d!).

Anyway, click here to check out 3d_geek's 2006 calendar. He created two this year; one for the MINI and the other for the Mini.

Wha?? MINI and Mini?? Ok, since you asked :) The MINI (all caps) refers to the Bavarian Motor Work's (BMW) re-design by Frank Stephenson, of which Leroy is one. It can also refer to the MINI brand in general. Mini (proper) refers to the original British Motor Corporation's (BMC) design by Sir Alec Issigonis. One day, I would love to buy one... or receive one as a gift.

There is a very interesting story regarding the picture of the upside-down HO MCC found in the MINI 2006 calendar cover. I will update this blog entry once I find the link.

So that's my piece of good news to share. I ordered a copy of the 2006 OL MINI calendar and it will proudly hang on my refrigerator... but only the cover will show!!

Motor on everybody :)

7,120 miles

I figured out how to add hyper-text! I will go back and re-publish all prior entries that make reference to external websites shortly.

Off to Central Jersey to hang out with a good friend... then down 'da shore to have dinner with Mom and Dad. Yes I will be taking the MINI, No the top will not go down, and No I will not be racing down the GSP.

7,101 miles - Speed Demons

Organized by nemini.org and billed as the 'Route 125 Romp through Pennsylvania', the course took us through the very scenic and hilly country-scapes of this fine eastern state. I was told thirty-seven MINIs took part, a much larger crowd than originally anticipated. We were divided into three groups. Since this was my first run and also thanks to my feather foot, I signed myself up with group 3, the slowest group.

The weather was perfect with temperatures in the low seventies. Skies were clear with no strong winds; perfect Top-down weather. As mentioned, fall foliage was at its peak with trees awash with orange, red, maroon and yellow leaves. The communities we passed were small and rural; old wooden dilapidated structures lined quiet streets, farms and trailer homes littered the outskirts.

The sights presented were incredible. The fallen leaves that littered the twisty road made for great visuals as they rustled under each passing MINI. I never understood the fascination with fall foliage until today as I caught the entire PA country-side in the middle of this transformation. The bright colors gave an almost burnt quality to the land... a natural prelude to the upcoming dark browns that will ultimately appear; winter is coming. Nature can surely put on a display when it wants to.

As for the ride itself? It was awesome. For a slow group, we were running break-neck speeds whenever possible. I became concerned that I would not keep up with the speed demons in my group because as I feared, racing speeds were the norm for the entire run.

If I wanted to keep up with everybody, I needed to get over my conservative driving; no more slow accelerations, shifting at low rpms, or coasting to a turn or stop. I needed to rev high and brake hard. And that's when I realized the obvious: my MINI was built to go fast. At eighty-plus mph, my MINI was not struggling or shaking, and the engine sounded capable. The interior was comfortable and the wind, while invigorating, was not overpowering. I relied on the MINI immediately in front of me to govern my speed, so unless I looked over at the frisbee-sized speedometer, I had no idea how fast I was going... and believe me, I was always surprised to see where the needle was pointing!

This made me realize something else: I have a speed demon in me. As a bona-fide speed p*ssy, I drive slowly for better fuel efficiency and driver safety. Yet I was able to let my conservatism go in order to enjoy driving my sports car through the twisty stretch of route 125's two-lane blacktop. As the run progressed, I improved going in and coming out of turns. I became much better at finding the right gear needed for fast hill climbing, and most importantly, I learned to relax as the world around me became a blur of passing colors.

With a one-hour break somewhere around the forty-mile mark, the run ended around three-thirty in the afternoon. Throughout the run, I met up with other MINI owners (nemini.org members mostly). We talked shopped and mulled over the events of the day. MINI owners are crazy friendly... something I had already learned trolling the nemini.org and miniusa.com forums. Without a doubt, I will be doing more runs and participating more with the local MINI groups. But alas, it is November and today's event was most likely the last official run of the season.

At 4:30pm, I decided to head back to Bayonne, the sun was setting and the air was cooling; I will need to put my soft-top up very soon. But for now, I relished the cool air and enjoyed each wave and honk from all the MINI owners that whipped passed me on Rt 78... all happy and homebound for sure.

Shortly after sunset, I pulled over to the break-down lane to put my roof up. I didn't even notice that I had been travelling for almost half an hour with the cruise-control set at just under 65 mph.

My speed demon was gone.

motor on...



Check out these two stitches. Try and find the bloopers in the second panoramic! Or better yet, try to find my MINI!

6,860 miles - It is all about the journey

Journey or destination? A friend once told me all runs should be about the journey and not the destination.

She and I were part of a group of weekend cyclists who would spend our days barreling through Manhattan, Hudson and Bergen Counties. My friend enjoyed each ride for the views and sights presented to us. She would prefer to ride 'leisurely' for maximum sightseeing. This, of course, angered the majority who would much rather race through the course and get to the destination as fast as possible. I subscribed to this philosophy. Whether on the twisting roads of route 9 or the canyons of Manhattan, our runs did take us through prime city-scapes and numerous photo-op locales. Occasionally our group would participate in organized events with public roads closed to traffic. Talk about photo-ops! The FDR sure looks different when it is overtaken by hundreds of cyclists, and the Verranzano Narrows Bridge seems to ascend forever when staring from behind the handle-bars of a 21-speed. But as mentioned, I am about the destination; which means keeping up with the group, paying close attention to immediate surroundings and of course, cycling fast.

Tomorrow I will take my MINI on its first MINI-run; a one hundred+ mile drive through route 125 in eastern Pennsylvania. This is a very scenic course, even more so now with fall foliage peaking. So as I sit in my hotel room blogging away today's non-event, I can not help but think about the endless debates my now-defunct cycling group had regarding journey vs destination.

I have travelled one hundred twenty miles and endured horrendous construction and accident traffic on route 78 to get to where I am tonight, and tomorrow morning as I drop the clutch and join roughly forty other MINI maniacs on this run, I will once again ask myself... journey or destination?

motor on...