I arrive at the pub around 7:30pm; there are two other bikes there besides my Kawasaki. A Yamaha and a Ducati, I never got to meet the Yamaha rider but was chatting with ‘Ducati Charlie’. Had a couple of pints of the seasonal stout and even got some ale-to-go in a ‘growler’ (i guess a fancy name for glass bottle). It’s 9pm when we all split from the pub.
As I near home, I’m flying down 287 and spot a LEO with his laser. I know its laser because my radar/laser detector is not alarming. I keep on the throttle because I figure I’m safe since the laser needs to hit you dead on to get a reading. I've been hit with a laser before, the detector shows 20/20 on the readout.
I get closer to one section of road I like. A nice smooth jug handle where I get to hang off as I go around, right where 287 and 17 meets. As I fly down 17, I see police lights off into the distance; another LEO has pulled someone over. I blow by them, thinking the cop is too busy with they guy he’s already pulled over.
NOT!
I get about a ¼ of a mile away and he’s on my tail with the strobes on. I pull right over, take off my helmet/gloves and wait for him. It takes him a minute to come over and he says, ‘my partner back there clocked you over 110mph, let me see your paperwork’.
I think to myself, no way I was going THAT fast. I toggle through my GPS memory to see my MAX SPEED reading as his partner arrives in another car. They see my bottle of ale bungeed to the seat and ask where I’m coming from and are surprised to hear I’ve ridden from the Long Valley Pub. They ask if I’ve been drinking and I tell them the truth. I’m thinking I’m getting a ticket just as they walk away with my paperwork, I reluctantly ask them to take a look at my GPS MAX SPEED – lucky for me it shows 90.6
He starts to back peddle and say ‘well, I didn’t get a really good look at the bike and can’t say it was definitely you going 110. you slow it down and have a safe ride home’.
