Some people are born leaders. They wake up every morning and think to themselves, “Where am I leading my team today?” They drink deeply from the Milk of Authority while the Extract of Decisiveness courses through their veins.

Other people get an email from their Miata club president saying that an event has too many cars scheduled to attend and they need someone to lead a third group so that the packs do not get too big. In this case, I must report that I fell into the latter category.




Green Leader Photo : Rob Ristuccia

The Preparation

The goal for a club drive is to take groups of approximately 10-15 cars through a twisty set of roads ending at a spot for lunch. To do that, each group consists of a leader who nominally knows the course and a backdoor who helps keep the everyone together. The pair have radios so that the backdoor can tell the leader when the pack has gotten separated so that the front car can slow or pull over to regroup.


Sounds simple, right? Having volunteered to lead, all I had to do was partner with a co-driver who could follow the directions and then learn the course.

To do this, my ace co-driver and I met up a few weeks ahead of the club drive to practice the route. Armed with printed directions, a .GPX file describing the route, and an app called GPX Viewer to display said route, we met up at the McDonald’s that was going to be the starting point for the drive and set off. We had a blast and only missed two turns on the entire route. We mentally cataloged as “tricky” so that we wouldn’t make the same mistakes again and then made a few other notes on the directions to help us along the way.


Course notes with hand-written comments from out practice run. Note the very first direction is changed from a left to a right. Photo : Rob Ristuccia

The Drive

The day of the club drive arrived and we were excited to lead the group over a course that we were confident we understood. And so we arrived at the McDonald’s about 30 minutes early to find… no one there. That was when Co-Driver realized that we had made Mistake #1. The rally point was actually supposed to be at the Dunkin’ across the street, noting that “there’s a whole bunch of them over there.” That explained why the first direction on the list appeared to be incorrect (telling us to make a left out of the parking lot instead of a right).


That was easy enough to fix. We crossed the street and parked a few minutes before the drivers meeting was set to start. Of course, we told no one that we had gone to the wrong place. I was fully prepared to tell anyone who asked that one of us was just looking for a quick snack before the group set off but thankfully it never came up.

Ready for the drivers meeting Photo : Rob Ristuccia


At the meeting, we found out that a number of cars had cancelled and there would only be two groups. There was another team who were prepared to lead and so they asked us what we would prefer to do. That was when I found myself saying, “Well, we practiced the route once already, so we can lead if you want to be the backdoor.” This would later turn out to be a fine example of what James “Stinger” Tolken would refer to as “your ego writing checks your body can’t cash.”

Once we were confirmed as the group leader, we found out that things were going to be a little bit more complicated than we thought. Apparently the radio is supposed to be used for more than just keeping the group together. As lead car, we would need to announce each turn before we made it. We would also be responsible for pointing out any potential hazards along the way. On our practice run, Co-Driver had his hands full following the directions and pointing out the way. But now we realized that he would also need to be in constant communication with the rest of the cars on the radio throughout the drive.


(As a side note, the addition of a hands-free headset to the radio would have allowed me to handle that while Co-Driver managed the navigation. If we continue to do this in the future, I might have to look into that.)

Gathering the group Photo : Rob Ristuccia


Anyway, we eventually set off, after waiting about 20 minutes for the first group to get far enough ahead that we would not fill all of the restrooms at the QuickChek that was scheduled to be the midway stopping point with Miata drivers. We led the group out of the parking lot and made the first few turns correctly, stopping to group up again after passing through some busy intersections. We then set off on a nice back road to really enjoy ourselves and promptly made Mistake #2, missing a left turn onto a road that was lacking a street sign. In our defense, we were also distracted what appeared to be a group of about 100 bicyclists coming down the road towards us.



Having missed our turn, we waited for a break in the long line of cyclists (at least a dozen of whom said something along the lines of, “Oh look, it’s a whole bunch of Miatas!”) and made a U-turn in a nearby parking lot. Then we set off down the correct road and hoped that we wouldn’t lead the group astray again, which, of course we promptly did when me missed a right turn and made Mistake #3.


This one was tricky. One of the cars behind us immediately called out that we had missed the turn and so about half of the group went the right way while the rest followed us down the wrong road. We heard calls over the radio of, “Are we re-routing?” but by the time we answered back, we had gotten out of range so they didn’t hear us. Unfortunately, the road was very narrow, with no place to make a U-turn. Eventually, we found an intersection where we could turn around and headed back in the the right direction. It was at this point that Co-Driver realized there was a bit of lag in the display on GPX Viewer when using my phone, so as I steered us back to the correct road, he quickly switched to his own phone so that this would not be a problem anymore.



And so we regrouped and headed off again. Things went well for another twenty minutes or so until we made a right turn and missed the quick left that we needed to make right afterward. Mistake #4 was kind of embarrassing because after we regrouped, the second car in the line (the one right behind us) was equipped with superior navigation equipment and the driver immediately called out that we had missed the turn. That meant that she turned along the correct route and we were literally the only car to proceed down the wrong road. At this point, I was secretly wishing that I knew how to do handbrake turns so that at least I could look like a bad-ass when I had to reverse direction. Anyway, I sheepishly spun the car around and got back to the front of the pack.




Once we rejoined the group things fell into a much better rhythm. Co-Driver called out all the turns while I kept up a moderate pace that would be exciting but not illegal. We also worked out a system of me announcing hazards, after which he would call them out over the radio. Some examples of potential hazards that we would encounter during the day included:



Large potholes

A change in the road surface from asphalt to gravel

Narrow bridges

Oncoming traffic on very narrow roads

An unending stream of cyclists

People walking dogs

Two baby deer

The group progressed nicely, navigating some tricky roads (and a list of hazards that reads like the bad guys from Paper Boy). Eventually we reached the QuickChek and parked up for a bathroom break and fuel stop. Co-Driver and I also partook in a quick round of apologies for Mistakes 2, 3, and 4 because for us analytical types, these kinds of mistakes are big deal since we stress the details . I also subtly hinted we would be happy to let another car take over as the lead. However, the rest of the group assured us that these things happen and that everyone was still having fun. And that’s key: yes, we had to stop a couple of times, but the roads were twisty and the weather was perfect. Tops were down and we were still having a good time.


Once we were done at QuickChek, we regrouped and headed out for the second and final leg of the course. With renewed confidence that we were not ruining everyone else’s fun, Co-Driver and I led the group flawlessly. We kept up the pace and made every turn, fearlessly leading the group through some of the deepest and darkest woods of northern New Jersey. One section of the course even included a road that was down to one lane because the other side had apparently started sliding off of a hill. Thankfully no oncoming traffic was present.



The day ended when we pulled into a shopping center parking lot, scrambling for the last bit of shade in the back so that we didn’t have to put the tops up. Everything was all smiles and handshakes and talk about how we should lead the group again on that route next year. Exhausted from the mental effort of leading the attack on the back roads of northern New Jersey, Co-Driver and I left for home with the confidence that our group had genuinely enjoyed the day.

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