Let's be careful out there...

[wingnutt]

Sunday State HWY 5 driving to work, in a cage, with a van behind me, both of at about 110kph

4 riders came up behind us, and on the approach to a blind right hand corner, the lead rider and one behind him, decided to overtake both me and the van.

I could see, there was no way in hell they were going to complete before the corner, and the lead rider, could not know what was coming the other way, because the end of the corner, and the road, was obscured by trees.

I tacked off to give them room, but they still didn’t complete, until, they where well into the corner, on the wrong side of the road, and there had been something coming, well, I shudder to think what the consequences would have been.

Now I aint no angel, I’ve made my share of cockups will probably make a few more, and one rider I could believe getting it wrong, but two riders tells me it was a deliberate maneuver, and it was really stupid, and bloody dangerous for a lot of people.

Remember guys and a girls, as riders we have a responsibility to ourselves, to other road users, and to our relatives, to ride safely, a few years ago, my wife and I buried our 16 year old son, because of a bad judgment call, when riding his bike, and believe me, as a parent, you do not want to have to do that.

I just do not believe, there is need to pull stunts like this, to enjoy riding, please, take it easy out there.

Bob

[awa355]

Bob, A good reminder that not all fools drive cars.

I haven't lost a son, but did lose a good friend who got caught in that mob mentality and had to keep up with the riders in front.
Geoff must have seen that he did not have the room to overtake, but did anyway. Ran out of road on a blind corner.

They were not his usual riding companions and all had bigger bikes. None of the three riders he was with that day came to his funeral.

Geoff's mother asked me to deal with his bike once the police has released it. That was hard, All that grief because a good man thought he had to prove something.

[avgas]

Yep, i took the blue focus wagon down to paeroa y'day. Was pulling over letting all the bikes go and some numpty in a camry thought it was cool to go with them.

Watch out - danger is everywhere and it drives a gold camry.

[davebullet]

A good reminder. Another risk with group riding. Beware of the red mist.

[Voltaire]

Riding North on SH 1 on at Papakura, traffic was moving at about 80 kmph.
Just thought I'd go with the flow, sports bike goes up the hard shoulder at over 100....for about 1 kms...then weaving in and out......can't have been a hot date as she was on the back.
My missus would have been signaling her disapproval.....

[YellowDog]

I was also en route to Paeroa yesterday via the coastal towns. There's some great riding to take in.

There were some 200kph plus groups passing with the young guys at the back trying to keep up with the big boys.

The peer pressure is so strong that they feel obliged to keep up at all costs.

Sadly these are the inexperienced guys whos lack of judgement/ability will force them wide on corners and into serious trouble.

We all know how and why it happens however we do nothing address this serious problem

[R-Soul]

And it happens to EVERYBODY - from young to old, from noob to experienced riders.

Bad judgement calls happen to everybody - its probably worth rehashing it every time to everybody in that group. No pressure.

[NodMan:Me]

Sadly these are the inexperienced guys whos lack of judgement/ability will force them wide on corners and into serious trouble.

We all know how and why it happens however we do nothing address this serious problem

I hear what your saying but its not just the inexperienced ones that we are losing,
20th Paeroa yesterday and our group were blown away by many riders who would have had similar to my 40years riding experience(slow learners I guess they are)

I personally used to try to do something about it by riding a Patrol bike there and back staying under 110kmh and never needed to issue a ticket. Now I have retired I was going to ride my LAPD Kwaka down as a deterrent but a little gremlin in the Whakapirau Sheriffs Dept bike forced me to ride another bike down yesterday.

I will admit to missing the last two races yesterday just to avoid getting tangled in any mayhem on the way back to Norfland. Sad ole bugger now Eh!

[SPman]

I recall young Logans first ride down to Paeroa on the GPZ 750.......we thought we were just cruising, but he reckoned he was booting it to keep up.....mind you, witnessing Nhuans display of car jandalling wouldn't have helped his confidence.......

[R-Soul]

I personally saw two bad errors of judgement on Sunday that could have been potentially fatal on both counts - and from riders that have combined levels of skill and experience that are probably second to damn few in the country.

Its definitley not just the noobs. Lack of sleep, peer pressure, pressure to take teh gap, whatever it is, it happens to everybody.

[Maha]

I witnessed a truck/traler unit move over into the shoulder just to give the passing biker more room which I thought was considerate..

[SMOKEU]

The behaviour of some sports bike riders on the hills between Little River and Akaroa can be truly shocking in the way that they often overtake on blind corners.