Blackbird
3rd July 2005, 16:44
Inspired by Ixion’s post of his ride, I decided to brave the low Central North Island temperatures this morning and nip down to Taupo for a bit of lunch. Setting off from Tokoroa down SH1, it wasn’t much above freezing judging by a constant trickle from my nose (you REALLY wanted to know that, didn’t you?). It was climbing Tar Hill about 15 km south of Tokoroa, going up the overtaking lane that I noticed a dark grey Falcon about 100 metres behind me keeping a more or less constant distance. I was a bit wary but not overly bothered as I was sitting on an indicated 110 km/hr, so just flicked a look in the mirror from time to time. Overtook a few vehicles, indicating as always and squirting by at about 130-140 km/hr and then dropping back to 110-115 km/hr. The Falcon also overtook more or less when I did and by then, I’d decided that the driver was using me as a sweeper in case the HWP came the other way.
About 5 km south of the Lake Ohakuri turn, there’s an uphill overtaking lane and just as I got to it, a car came the other way that was going quite quickly. Suddenly, my radar detector went off which gave me one hell of a fright as the car coming the other way wasn’t the sort you’d associate with being a mufti HWP. I looked in my mirror and the Falcon behind me was slowing rapidly and had got red and blues lit up in the window…… it WAS a mufti - eek! I imagine that my detector went off because I was getting a reflected radar return off the car coming the other way. However, the cop wasn’t after me but did a U turn and went after the car going the other way.
After restarting my heart, I began to wonder why he hadn’t gone for me, seeing as he’d followed for around 20-25 km and clearly had several opportunities to nail me in that time. Maybe decent road positioning, indicating well in advance and having my lights on (can’t turn them off actually!) counts for something. Still scratching my head a bit though!
Anyway, to conclude the story, I had a nice lunch on the Taupo waterfront, followed by a rather more umm…. rapid fang back home via the Kinloch road and Whakamaru. In the whole trip, I only saw one other bike – a Ducati ST 2 or 4 near the Kinloch turn. Doesn’t anybody venture out in the Central North Island when it’s a “tad” cool?
Darned fine day to be out anyway!
About 5 km south of the Lake Ohakuri turn, there’s an uphill overtaking lane and just as I got to it, a car came the other way that was going quite quickly. Suddenly, my radar detector went off which gave me one hell of a fright as the car coming the other way wasn’t the sort you’d associate with being a mufti HWP. I looked in my mirror and the Falcon behind me was slowing rapidly and had got red and blues lit up in the window…… it WAS a mufti - eek! I imagine that my detector went off because I was getting a reflected radar return off the car coming the other way. However, the cop wasn’t after me but did a U turn and went after the car going the other way.
After restarting my heart, I began to wonder why he hadn’t gone for me, seeing as he’d followed for around 20-25 km and clearly had several opportunities to nail me in that time. Maybe decent road positioning, indicating well in advance and having my lights on (can’t turn them off actually!) counts for something. Still scratching my head a bit though!
Anyway, to conclude the story, I had a nice lunch on the Taupo waterfront, followed by a rather more umm…. rapid fang back home via the Kinloch road and Whakamaru. In the whole trip, I only saw one other bike – a Ducati ST 2 or 4 near the Kinloch turn. Doesn’t anybody venture out in the Central North Island when it’s a “tad” cool?
Darned fine day to be out anyway!