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Club Clothing
OVMC clothing is available through The Dog's Ear in Kelowna, where our club logo is on file and ready for embroidery or silk screening. The Dog's Ear is located at #4-1455 Harvey Avenue (Hwy 97) in the same stip mall at Swiss Chalet and Nevada Bob's Golf Store. The Dog's Ear carries a full line of clothing (polo shirts, t-shirts, hats, jackets and more) from many quality brand names.
Option 1: Purchase any item of clothing from The Dog's Ear and have them embroider on our club logo. The standard size for most embroidered logos is approximately 4 inches wide. The price for embroidering a single item purchased at their store is $6.00 (they may be able to give you a better price depending on the value of the item you buy). If embroidering twelve items or more at one time the fee is reduced to $4.00 per item.
Option 2: Bring in your own garment for embroidery. This could be a shirt, jacket, ball cap or anything else you choose. To embroider any one item you bring in with a standard sized club logo costs $8.00. Twelve or more items at a time cost $5.00 each.
Option 3: Silk screening is also available and is a more appropriate option when a much larger logo is desired, for example, a full-size logo on the front or back of a t-shirt. Silk-screening is contracted out and prices will vary depending on the size of the logo and the garment involved.
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Impromptu Club Drives
Feel like going for a drive? Nothing on the OVMC schedule? We can almost always find a few cars to join in the fun. It could be an all-day drive on a weekend, a short midweek evening run to a park for a picnic supper, or anything in between.
If you would like the company of a few Miatas on your next drive, there are a few simple things you need to do:
1) Decide on a meeting place. A central location with easy road access in and out is preferred. Access to a washroom is a nice bonus! There are several common meeting places in the Okanagan that the club has been using for many years. Just ask if you are unsure where to meet.
2) Pick a time.
3) Have a rough idea where you’re going and how long the drive will take. You will need to inform everyone of the destination and any stopping points prior to departure.
4) Decide if it will be a picnic event so people can prepare.
5) Send the above information to info@okmiataclub.com. Your information will be distributed to the membership via email and be posted on the website if time permits. Please try to send the info at least a day in advance if possible. The sooner the better of course, as there is always the possibility that we will not be able to pass along your information in time.
That’s all there is to it. If you plan on a more extensive run, please refer to the notes on organizing club drives below.
Please note:
Members from the north or south Okanagan areas are encouraged to organize events in your region even if attendance would be difficult for members from other regions.
For example, if you held a short evening drive and picnic supper mid-week in Naramata, Vernon members would likely not be able to travel that far on a week night. This is perfectly acceptable. It is not necessary or even practical that all events be accessible to members from all regions, as some members live as much as three hours apart.
Our goal is to organize an equal proportion of events in the north, central and south Okanagan regions. |
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The OVMC Drive Manual - Organizing, Leading, and Participating
The following notes are for anyone participating in an OVMC drive. Whether you are just along for the drive or you want to organize or lead an event, we encourage you to become familiar with these few simple tactics. They are aimed at making the event safe and fun for everyone, as well as preventing anyone from getting lost.
Even if you do not intend to organize or lead a drive, please read that section carefully as well. As a participant, it is very valuable to have a complete understanding of how an event is run and the various tactics the leader may employ during an event.
The abbreviation OTM used below stands for “other than Miata”, meaning other cars on the road that are not part of our event.
Notes for Participants:
When attending a club run, if every participant takes on a very small amount of responsibility, the group as a whole can have a fun drive without getting anyone lost.
When driving in a group we seem to instinctively focus on following the car in front, thinking we need to keep in visual contact. In fact, the single most important factor as a participant is to pay attention to the car behind you and never turn off the road you are currently on unless you have visual contact with the car behind. If every car in the group adheres to that one simple rule, nobody can ever get lost.
Most of the time the leader can’t see the last car in the group, which makes it difficult for the leader to know if he/she has lost any members of the group. We use CB communication to relay that information but CB reception can be spotty, especially with larger groups. But if everyone pays attention to the car behind, we place a small amount of responsibility on everyone in the group, which takes much of the pressure off the leader and makes for a drive that is much smoother and much more fun for everyone.
This method is also much safer because it makes it necessary for only one car to pull over and wait in any given spot, whereas finding a safe place for a large group to pull over on narrow country roads can be difficult and dangerous. Although it is only necessary for one car to pull over and wait at each turn, there is nothing wrong with several cars pulling over together to wait for the others as long as there is enough room to do it safely.
Any place where using a turn signal is required automatically qualifies as as a place where you must have visual contact with the car behind. In addition, visual contact is also required at any Y, fork in the road, or any other part of the route where a choice of direction may not be obvious to everyone in the group.
As an example, a group of 10 cars are driving Westside Road from Kelowna to Fintry Park. The last 5 cars are held up behind a slow motorhome on Westside Road. The first 5 cars can continue at their regular pace and leave the pack behind. The 5 cars behind do not have to worry about catching up with the car ahead because they know the last of the faster cars will be waiting for them at the next turn. The last car in the faster group, car 5, is responsible for pulling over just prior to the turn onto Fintry Delta Road to make sure the first of the slower cars, car 6, sees where he is turning. As car 5 waits at Fintry Delta Road, cars 1,2,3 and 4 may continue down Fintry Delta Road. Cars 1, 2 and 3 then turn into Fintry Park entrance, but because car 4 can no longer see car 5 behind him, car 4 is now responsible for waiting at the Fintry Park entrance until car 5 arrives. When car 6 catches up to car 5, car 5 turns down Fintry Delta Road with the other 5 cars in tow. When car 5 catches up to car 4, car 4 turns into the Fintry Park entrance with other 6 cars in tow.
It gets trickier through cities where there may not be a safe place to pull over prior to making the turn. In that situation you may have to make the turn and then pull over as soon as possible to give the car behind the best possible shot at seeing you.
Many of the roads we travel are narrow, winding roads so passing among the group is not encouraged. It is acceptable if it is done in a safe and legal way, and it is best to restrict passing to highways and open roads. To avoid the need to pass in the first place, the best practice is for the more “ambitious” members to position themselves near the front from the start, and those who prefer to travel more slowly position themselves near the back of the group.
Participants can help make events run smoothly by using a CB radio. Being able to hear instructions from the leader is obviously very valuable and would virtually eliminate the possibility of getting lost. In groups of about 20 cars or more the distance and terrain may cause poor radio reception between cars at the front and cars at the back. However, in larger groups members can be advised to relay messages through the line to insure that everyone is informed. CB radios can typically be had for less than $100, and do not need to be mounted permanently. Antennas can be magnetically mounted and removed after the run, or you can purchase electronic devices built specifically for Miatas that allow the use of your stock radio antenna for the CB and radio simultaneously. If you have equipment or installation questions, feel free to approach any of our members with a CB. They will be happy to show you what equipment they have and how they have it installed.
It may also be helpful for participants to exchange cell phone numbers prior to the run as added security in case someone gets lost. It may be an especially good idea for those without CB radios.
Notes for Organizers and Leaders:
Planning and leading a run need not be a difficult or intimidating job. As discussed above, the participants will all be playing a small roll in helping to keep the group together, which takes much of the pressure of the leader. There are of course still some responsibilities the leader must take on.
The first task for a run leader is to decide on a route. The Backroads Map Book or the website Google Maps are great tools for planning a route. If you ask Google for directions from point A to point B it will typically give you the shortest main route, which is usually not what we want for back road zooming. However, Google Maps allows you to modify the route by clicking on the highlighted route and dragging it from one road to another. This gives complete control to map out all the great Miata back roads, and your completed map with the highlighted route can then be saved and printed. Google Maps will automatically calculate the total distance of the route and provide written directions, but beware; Google’s written directions, especially on back roads, often don’t reflect the real-life turns and situations very well. Also bear in mind that Google Maps does not differentiate between paved and unpaved roads, but the Backroads Map Book does.
When considering a route, remember to include several stops along the way for bathroom breaks. If the event is to run through meal time you will also need to pick a location to eat.
You could choose to have members pack their own picnic lunch or dinner and stop somewhere along the run route, or you could stop at a restaurant.
Packing a picnic is the easiest and most flexible option. The timing of the stop is not as critical, plus there are numerous possibilities for scenic stops while traveling the back roads. They include city, regional and provincial parks, beaches, highway rest stops and tourist attractions.
You may also choose to stop at a restaurant, but a large number of participants makes this option more difficult so there are several things you must keep in mind. The location you choose will need to have a good amount of parking. For example, picking a downtown restaurant with only street parking could result in members scattered over several blocks. Also, feeding an average-sized Miata group (from 20 to 40 people) at anything other than a fast-food restaurant will require some pre-planning. You will need to call the restaurant in advance with an estimate of numbers, and if required you could call them back from the the meeting spot the morning of the run once you have an accurate head count. If you need an accurate count in advance you may need ask members to RSVP. Another thing to consider is the time factor. It takes considerably longer for restaurants to serve large groups, so remember to factor that into the timing of your event.
The next step is to pick a date and a meeting place. Try to choose a location that has good parking, bathrooms and a gas station. It is also advisable to pick a secondary meeting place for members from out of town. For example if the event begins in Kelowna and is heading south, choose a secondary meeting place in the Penticton area about 45 minutes later. If heading north pick an appropriate spot in the Vernon area. Again, try to pick a location with easy access and lots of parking.
On event day the leader must hold a mandatory meeting for all participants (drivers and passengers) prior to the run. The purpose of the meeting is to inform everyone of the planned route and the location of any potty breaks, lunch stops etc. It is also advisable to bring a map to the meeting so everyone can see the route and any stopping points. If possible, the leader should print off copies of the map and pass them out. Some maps may not have all the back roads listed, but being able to show even a general outline of where we are headed and where we will be stopping is a good idea. The leader should suggest that members exchange cell phone numbers as added security, and remind everyone that gas tanks should be full and bladders should be empty.
The leader should also find someone to act as a “sweep” during the event. The sweep car keeps an eye out for cars that may stop due to mechanical problems or for unscheduled potty breaks etc. The sweep car would also let the leader know when cars get separated from the group at a traffic lights etc. so the leader can adjust his pace to compensate. The sweep car should have a CB in order to communicate that information.
During the run, the leader follows the same main rule as the rest of the participants, which is to never turn off the road you are currently on unless you have visual contact with the car behind.
The leader, or better yet, the passenger in the lead car, must also announce all turns over the CB. For example “I’m turning right at the stop sign” or “stay left at the Y in the road”. If traveling on a multi-lane road and there is a turn coming up, the leader should stick to the appropriate lane well in advance and make sure there is visual contact with the car behind so that the whole group is ready for the turn. In this case the leader should also announce over the CB which lane to be in so the group can prepare for the turn.
On the open highway, it is acceptable to use the left lane to pass slow traffic, but whether it is advisable to do so will depend on the length of the left lane, the relative speed of the OTM you wish to pass, and the distance to the next turn. It is important for the leader to create a substantial gap between himself and the OTM he passed to allow sufficient room for the other Miatas to follow suit. Also remember that it takes a significant amount of time for the entire group to pass a slower OTM. If traveling a long stretch of open 2-lane highway (for example, between Summerland and Penticton or between Winfield and Vernon) you will likely have sufficient time to allow the entire group to complete the pass. However, if the OTM is traveling only marginally slower than the group, or if the left lane will run out soon, or if there is a turn-off coming up, it may be wise to just stay behind the OTM. In the case of an upcoming turn, it is important for the leader to remember that passing must be completed by the entire group well in advance or members might be caught out in the wrong lane.
If the group has been separated by OTM traffic while on the open road or highway, the leader can use highway passing lanes to get the group bunched up again. Simply keep to the right lane and slow down to let OTMs pass quickly and easily in the left lane. The leader should announce on the CB the intention to regroup the cars by keeping to the slow lane. The leader can also regroup the pack by using a pull-out or rest area. The leader should announce on the CB that he/she plans to pull over.
In urban areas it becomes more difficult to find safe places to pull over if cars get separated, so for this reason the leader should always attempt to re-group the cars prior to entering cities and towns.
When traveling through town, the leader may not be able to safely pull over to wait for the car behind prior to a turn. In that situation, make the turn and then pull over as soon as possible to give the car behind the best possible shot at seeing you. It also becomes very important in urban areas for the leader to make sure all turns are announced over the CB.
Once past the urban area and the last of the traffic lights it is a good idea to again check with the sweep car and regroup if necessary. |
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1990 to 2005 Miata VIN Decoder
Have you ever looked at your Miata's vehicle identification number and wondered what all those letters and numbers mean? Look no further, here is a serial number decoder for the M1 and M2 edition Miatas. |
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