Into the valley of death I rode the 600

[Coolz]

Granted,I'm not the brightest pixel on the screen,but yesterday being such a nice day I thought a ride to Auckland on my xj600 might be enjoyable. I was still in that state of mind when I stopped in Orewa to dome on my flouro placebo as a last line of defence against those crack crazed cagers kb had warned me about.
And I was not to be dissapointed. Twenty minutes later I was cresting the harbourbridge when a loud squeal of rubber and the sight of smoke pouring off the tyres of the car in front alerted my spydery senses.
Braking hard I glanced in my mirror only to see a cordura clad elbow and aformentioned crack crazed cager in a crusty corolla bearing down on me! A concrete barrier to the right of me. Mr Mainfreigt to the left of me playing the last post on his exhaust brake.
My options were fast running out!
Then,as suddenly as it stopped traffic started to move again. I was close enough to the front car to smell burnt rubber and in my mirror I could see that the elderly gent in the cream coloured corolla had finally managed to scrub off a bit of speed.
Traffic was soon flowing smoothly again with no sign of what incedent had caused the moment in time when I cheated death atop Aucklands car strangled spanner.

[oneofsix]

A quite day then?

[Akzle]

six beat me to it.

aucklanders are a f*ing hazard.

[BigAl]

Good to see that you made it out alive.

[Tigadee]

...caused the moment in time when I cheated death atop Aucklands car strangled spanner.

Such writing! More gripping than a Tom Clancy novel!

That must have been quite a moment - like a Matrix-type thing where time slows down for you as you say/think "Oooooohhhhhh sshhhhhiiiittttt!"

Glad you're OK.

[ducatilover]

Well, that ended better than I expected

[skippa1]

mmmmm......thought I might get the bike out and do the commute this morning........holy cow man....I cant get used to this Auckland traffic and the stop start unpredictable drivers. The other thing thats hard to get used to is the fact that you can ride for 45min and still be in the heart of urban Auckland. I miss living in the country

[tbs]

You learn to anticipate that sort of thing when you live here.

[pzkpfw]

A quite day then?

You mean:

Quite a day then?
or
A quiet day then?

[Swoop]

You're lucky that you managed to get through Orewa without incident. THAT is a fuggin' dangerous area.

[oneofsix]

You mean:

Quite a day then?
or
A quiet day then?

meant; A quiet day then but from OP's perspective it was Quite a day so in a way the wrong word worked


No prizes for guessing why between the lanes sometimes seems the safest place to be.

[Coolz]

You learn to anticipate that sort of thing when you live here.

I take my hat off to those who comute in Auckland on a daily basis.

[G4L4XY]

Just prop up the front wheel and ride over the car in front muahaha

[baffa]

six beat me to it.

aucklanders are a f*ing hazard.

Correction: New Zealanders are a f*ing hazard.
We are amongst the worst drivers in the world.

[chasio]

I take my hat off to those who comute in Auckland on a daily basis.

What kind of hat?

When I first arrived in Auckland a local told me to observe the two second rule: if an Aucklander thinks they can save two seconds in a car, they will do ANYTHING to do it.

Ride with that in mind and the place makes a lot more sense.

And unless it's as windy as all hell (or there's no traffic around), use the clip-ons as the lane widths provide a lot more room for manoeuvre. Works for me, anyway.