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Who knew driving could be so much fun?
In late 2002, I stopped by the MINI dealer in Monrovia just to look at the BMW retro MINI Coopers they had on the lot. Camera in hand I started taking pictures just because I thought they looked very cool. I had read about BMW working on the MINI a year or so before. I investigated the web site and went to the build it yourself section. I knew we couldn't afford to buy one but I was curious to see how much a new Mini, configured the way I would want it, might cost.
One day, out of the blue, Dick asked when I was going to go shopping for the car. The following weekend I went all over Southern California checking dealers’ availability. Of course my configuration was going to have to be ordered and I decided that the local dealership was the best place to do business.
When you order a MINI they give you a web site address so you can follow the progress of your car through the building and shipping process. It was 3 months and a few days from the time I ordered until the car arrived in Monrovia and every day I logged on to the website to see how my car was doing..
On July 9th, I signed the final papers and the adoption process was completed. My cute little Electric Blue Mini with the white roof and mirror caps was finally mine.
His nickname is Jimmy.
Shortly after getting Jimmy, I was surfing around on the net and found a MINI club in the Southern California area called So Cal MINI Maniacs. For awhile, I was splitting my time between Mini rides with the driving club and bicycle training for the AIDS Life/Cycle ride.
I haven’t been out with the Maniacs in several years now with the price of gas going up and my devoting more time to bike riding, with friends I have more in common with, but it was a lot of fun.
I still love driving Jimmy like a maniac, carving turns at lightning speed and zipping through traffic (when it’s not jammed).
And when I'm not driving, I'm riding
One of my favorite activities is cycling. I started cycling back in the early 90’s after I quit smoking and was jazzed after I first rode a whole mile on my K-mart special. The mile turned into 2-3 miles and then into 5, 10 and 20 and more.
In 1996 I saw an ad in a magazine for California AIDS Ride 3, a ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raised money to support the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and thought about registering. I thought I might sign up but 580 miles seemed way too far and I hadn’t gone much more than 25 miles at a time. When I finally decided to give it a try registration had closed.
My partner bought me a real bike (sadly accepting the fact that I was going to keep riding). It was a dark blue steel Bianchi with 24 speeds, it was about 10 pounds lighter than my K-mart bike. There was someone I knew at work that was a cyclist and he had some spare clipless pedals, a strange name for something you clip your shoes into, so I bought my first cycling shoes to go with the pedals.
The following year when the opportunity to register for CAR 4 came around I registered and dedicated the effort to my Dad who always got on my case for procrastinating.
Work was a little slow in 1996-97 and I was getting off work at 1:30 so I had time every afternoon to ride and being new to the CAR experience, I didn’t know about training rides, so I trained alone. I didn’t know how I was doing with my training until May when the Ride organization sponsored what they called ‘A day on the ride’, a 60-70 mile ride that’s like one of the days on the real ride. When we were going up Santa Susanna Pass and I was able, after riding about 60 miles, to pass other riders on the hill it made my worries disappear.
The trip to San Francisco was really the first time I had done anything like this by myself, flying to San Francisco, getting to my hotel room, then getting to the ride check-in and then back to the hotel. In the morning I gathered up my equipment and headed to where the ride would start, checked my gear and went to opening ceremonies. After the ceremonies I, with about 1800 other riders, embarked on the journey.
When we arrived in Santa Cruz, our first stop, I still didn’t know who I would be sharing a tent with. It turned out to be one of a group from San Francisco, a straight optometrist, named John. This is how I first met my friend Don who’s put me up on the night before the ride each year for the last nine or ten years.
I've ridden in California AIDS Rides 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
When the sponsers of the ride had a disagreement with the producer of the CAR rides and decided to produce a ride themselves, AIDS Life/Cycle was born and I have ridden in all 7 of those rides. I am now fundraising for AIDS Life/Cycle 8
After I signed up for CAR 5 I met some people from a riding club called Different Spokes, and started training with them. The club holds rides all year round and caters to the gay and lesbian community and their friends and family. I am an active member and this year I am a board member as well as a ride coordinator, responsible for getting members to lead rides.
This year I’m getting ready for AIDS/ LifeCycle 8 and the training is the easy part for me now, it’s the fund raising that challenges me. This year I have to raise $3000 minimum to ride, I am only about one third of the way with only 3 months to go. If you would like to help me you can go to http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/1441 and make a pledge on line..