BlackIsle
Member
Folks,
Spare me a few moments while I vent. I head out fairly regularly on weekends to the Trinity Bay North area and while on the veterans memorial highway yesterday on my way back to town there's a section two to three km's with rolling hills just before the old highway turnoff and just before you get back to the TCH. So lots of traffic (guessing 20+ cars in east bound line) and we're barely making 100 km/h. I noticed much earlier an older Gold Wing many, many cars back. As I get to the last hill who is next to me in oncoming traffic and clearly not in a good spot but the wing. he then proceeds to move in next to me, side by side , on the yellow line, lane splitting like and nails it for the gap to the car in front of me. That gap was barely enough and I had to brake hard and nearly got rammed by the lifted pickup behind me. That guy's arms are now waving and mouth is flapping and he's not to happy either. All this as the oncoming traffic honk as they go by!
The guy seemed to be able to handle the bike well but was stuck there for the next few km's before we hit the highway. But before we got to the highway though there's a sharp turn and he had to drop the speed down dramatically to make it. Once he hit the highway he was gone thank God! but half of the entourage went with him like they were trying to chase him down!
Why would you put yourself in that position? There's a time and place for everything and I confess to 'spirited' riding occasionally but not when in traffic. I had a family member in the same traffic line but near the end who told me later they don't know what he was thinking as he weaved in and out of the on coming traffic all the way up the line. I don't care about getting passed if it's done safely but squeezing yourself between several tonnes of moving metal is the last thing I want to be doing given the speeds and inattentive drivers out there! Makes me realize however it's no wonder people don't respect our space! </end of rant>
Spare me a few moments while I vent. I head out fairly regularly on weekends to the Trinity Bay North area and while on the veterans memorial highway yesterday on my way back to town there's a section two to three km's with rolling hills just before the old highway turnoff and just before you get back to the TCH. So lots of traffic (guessing 20+ cars in east bound line) and we're barely making 100 km/h. I noticed much earlier an older Gold Wing many, many cars back. As I get to the last hill who is next to me in oncoming traffic and clearly not in a good spot but the wing. he then proceeds to move in next to me, side by side , on the yellow line, lane splitting like and nails it for the gap to the car in front of me. That gap was barely enough and I had to brake hard and nearly got rammed by the lifted pickup behind me. That guy's arms are now waving and mouth is flapping and he's not to happy either. All this as the oncoming traffic honk as they go by!
The guy seemed to be able to handle the bike well but was stuck there for the next few km's before we hit the highway. But before we got to the highway though there's a sharp turn and he had to drop the speed down dramatically to make it. Once he hit the highway he was gone thank God! but half of the entourage went with him like they were trying to chase him down!
Why would you put yourself in that position? There's a time and place for everything and I confess to 'spirited' riding occasionally but not when in traffic. I had a family member in the same traffic line but near the end who told me later they don't know what he was thinking as he weaved in and out of the on coming traffic all the way up the line. I don't care about getting passed if it's done safely but squeezing yourself between several tonnes of moving metal is the last thing I want to be doing given the speeds and inattentive drivers out there! Makes me realize however it's no wonder people don't respect our space! </end of rant>
