MoT 2005 -- The Usurped Thread (Chat Away!)

[I'MKEITH]

Quote: Originally Posted by GadgetGav

OMG...!
. I think this thread was started as a joke!

MOT IS NO JOKE

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by ice

I am surprised by this talk of moving to another weekend. I am opposed to that. Winslow's original idea of MOT was to watch the latest sunset of the year from the highest peak in New England. So, if you change the weekend away from the solstice, why not change the location to someplace away from the evil bikers that are causing you such anxiety?

Minor, super-anal, absurdly trivial point of order #1; The solstice is indeed the longest day, but not necessarily the latest sunset. For example, at the latitude/longitude of my hometown, on the solstice (June 20th this year) the sun rose at 5:07.52 and set at 20:40.62 for a day length of 15:33.09, longest of the year. But the next day (June 21), the sun set at 20:40.83, and the day after that (June 22) it sets at 20:41.00. In fact, the sun sets later than it does on the solstice for a full 12 days after the solstice, peaking with the latest sunset happening at 20:41.31 on June 27, a week after the solstice. Of course, later and later sunrise times make these days slightly shorter than the solstice day (for example, June 27, the day of the latest sunset, has a saylight time of 15:31.48, just more than a minute shorter than the solstice). But if we want the latest sunset, a week later would actually be more accurate! Likewise, for those with an astronomy yen, the winter solstice is indeed the shortest day but not necessarily the earliest sunset, the week before the solstice usually has earlier sunsets.

Minor, super-anal, absurdly trivial point of order #2; Winslow's original idea wasn't to watch the sunset from Mt Washington on the solstice, it wasn't even to watch the sunset on Mt Washington, it was just to go up Mount Washington with a bunch of MINIs, that's it. He even suggested going up the mountain before lunch, not at the sunset. If you dig all the way back to LordWinslow's original post on Dec 22 2002, he says:

I know there are many Mini owners in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont (as well as all our neighbors). I was thinking how fun would it be to do a Mini Trek to Mt. Washington. To get a group of Mini's together to drive up to the top of the Mountain. Make a day of it, drive up to the top, and then have lunch near by (or a picnic somewhere on the mountain). What do you guys (and gals) think about this?

-Winslow

There was no date associated with it at first. His Royal Windslowness suggested mid June, then the Codfather suggested moving it back one week to the 20th to avoid a conflict with Father's Day (guess we blew that this year!). Actually, reading through the old original thread is pretty interesting. It turns out I was the the one who first suggested the solstice connection, in a post on Feb 8 2003. Who knew? Not I...

I'm with C-C-M on this one, the weekend prior, being both Father's Day and the Canadian Grand Prix, is right out for me, but Saturday the 21st is the Summer Solstice, which seems like as good a reason for a MINI run as anything else...

-Ricardo

The Codfather picked up the football and ran with it, and the rest is history. The sunset part, the "MINIs On Top" name, it all came later. In fact, Cod's original title suggestion was "The Solstice Run", which was ditched when we realized that it would actually rarely fall on the solstice. History is fun!

My point in all this historical dredging isn't any kind of snarky finger pointing or self-righteousness or anything, it's just to make the point that we need not throw the baby out with the bathwater in regards to moving the weekend, suggesting that we might as well change the location as well if we're going to change the date is a bit of an over-reaction. There's always room for change and improvement with something like this. Besides, we already missed the solstice once (this year), it's not like we'd be setting a precedent! The timing with the solstice last year was just one of those happy accidents, it wasn't the intention. And as I and others have said, regardless of one's opinion of the bikers (evil or otherwise), the greater incentive for date change is to get away from the date of the road race, which is what caused our logistical issues this year.

Either way, we've got roughly 52 weeks to figure this stuff out, so we could all probably do well to throttle back on the 2005 planning until at least, oh, August

Peace, my biker-loving friends!

-Ricardo

PS the Canadian Grand Prix is typically the second full weekend in June (i.e. June 8-9 in 2002, June 14-15 in 2003, June 12-13 this year), I go every year. Tickets are already on sale for next year even though the date hasn't been nailed down. As soon as King Bernie makes the announcement of the provisional 2005 calendar in October 2004, every hotel room in the city of Montreal will instantly be fully booked for that weekend...

[GadgetGav]

Hmmm... you go every year Ricardo... I've always wanted to go. Maybe next year I can tag along. Can you email me with what I need to know - like how I book tickets and hotels when the date isn't known!
As for this year we hit Father's Day and the US GP..! Oops!

P.S.
Boy! You love those statistics don't you..!!!

[Theo]

Impressive thread research...I vote for Ricardo as the Official MOT Archivist!

Theo

[ice]

Quote: Originally Posted by Theo

Impressive thread research...I vote for Ricardo as the Official MOT Archivist!

Theo

He certainly has out-trivialized me.

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by ice

He certainly has out-trivialized me.

Don't feel bad, I've out-trivialized the best of 'em. We all have our role to play in life's rich pageant...

-Ricardo

[blake]

First (before stepping on toes), I would like to say that my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed MOT2004. We made the sunrise in Maine to sunset on Mt. Washington run. We would like to thank all the volunteers that made this event happen.

Second, I'm one of the two Georgians that made the trek (my final roundtrip mileage was a tad below 3,900 miles), so my comments are based on a somewhat different perspective.

Regarding a date change, I will be at MOT2005 whenever it occurs. I think tradition is a good thing but bike week did cause a few problems (we encountered heavy, bike-related traffic all the way to Atlanta). [Side Note: bikers are generally not evil anymore!]

From our standpoint, other "adventures" for the starting point(s) would be great. I do not understand the people who complain about adding miles to the trip (Canada would require going further north, the lake is big and we would have to go around it, et cetera). We actually drove to the US-Canada border on Sunday for a photo-op! Of course, I've also logged nearly 54,000 miles on my MINI in the 17 months of ownership (not bad considering I'm only 4 miles from work). I just love driving my MINI.

Regarding Mt. Washington, where else would be appropriate? I think nowhere. MOT and the Auto Road should go hand-in-hand. The unpaved portion of the ride is great and I hope they stop paving further up (Pike's Peak was a great road, but by next year it will be completely paved, how boring; fortunately my MINI got to enjoy it last September). The cold and the EXTREME wind was great (even my cold-natured wife loved it). {Side Note 2: When we arrived home on Monday, it was 92 degrees with over 90% humidity; my wife mentioned packing up and moving to NH).

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't anything for the MINI that traveled the furthest to get to the event. I think I had a good shot at it (the other Georgian lives 100 miles closer). Next year I'm sure some intrepid explorer from the west will make the event.

Enough said for now. I'll be looking for the registration details so I can be one of the 200 at MOT2005!

[terrylynne]

sign me up to help out for MOT '05 also. harveyjoseph needs his other mini, uh, errr, better 1/2 alongside to help him along. it's a tough job being co-pilot but somebody's gotta do it! it was a fantastic time. almost got blown off the mountain but HJ had a death grip on me. i'm already looking forward to next year's road trip and thinking of new ideas to bring to the table. a big thank you to all who made this possible!!!

[GBMINI]

Blake,
Great words - stick around to help with the planning and guide us when we think "too small"

[olYeller]

I'm in for 2005 and time doesn't matter to me BUT the idea of MOT is to be at the top of Mt. Washington as Lord Winslow has intended it.
a week or two after the solstice wouldn't make that much difference. definitely a different weekend than the footrace.
my $.02 on the bikes---i think they enjoyed seeing us far more than we enjoyed them. everytime i was slowed down on the kanc or Rt 16 it was a bike not a motor home or SUV. THAT being said, i like bikes and don't think we should intentionally avoid bike week.

[m2smith]

I'm in! - Maybe we could have some smaller trips that all feed into the Mt. Washington run... My wife and I toured Nova Scotia before MOT (fabulous); the White Mountain National Forest has some great sights to motor to; perhaps a tour of Saratoga / Lake Placid; and the Acadia tour as well. This would give repeat MOT attendees some fresh fun year after year and we would still meet up for one big shindig at the end

[harveyjoseph]

Quote: Originally Posted by terrylynne

sign me up to help out for MOT '05 also. harveyjoseph needs his other mini, uh, errr, better 1/2 alongside to help him along. it's a tough job being co-pilot but somebody's gotta do it! it was a fantastic time. almost got blown off the mountain but HJ had a death grip on me. i'm already looking forward to next year's road trip and thinking of new ideas to bring to the table. a big thank you to all who made this possible!!!

Opps looks like I made the utlimate mistake "But of course I ment us not just me!!!"

[Cape Cod MINI]

PEI to Lincoln anyone?

[bakerjc]

Please, take a look at this thread on MINI2:

http://tinyurl.com/2tjlm

He's still looking for volunteers, for MINIs (no apostrophe).

If you've ever ridden a bike you know you need to do this.

[Pipe]

Quote: Originally Posted by harveyjoseph

Just a few thoughts. Bikers are not so bad (I am one with my other personality), I enjoyed bike week and didn't need an SUV... and I enjoyed all of the people at MOT'04. The weekend is perfect, we have to motor kinda slow in a large group anyway (except for the bear notch loop!!!) and everything worked absolutly GREAT (thank you to all that organized the event)... We missed all the Turkeys and chicks on 91, we missed all the dear on 302 and we missed all the moose on the Kamanagas so it was good for all!!!
BTY I have some free time to take up so who do I contact to help with MOT '05????

Again thank you all for a most wonderful weekend...

HJ - I've never seen a pack of cars, moving at the rate we were, stop and fan out so quick with one word over the radio - "TURKEY!!" Still amazes me that there weren't any little scuffs from that!