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I will leave his ID out of it unless he wants to talk about it. This is what happend. Went riding in the twisties, shot a small wheelie video, weather was beautiful, no traffic. Life was good. Riding the usual "pace" pretty much 65 everywhere, speed limit is 55. 65 is fun around most of the corners and it is not so fast as it will land you a major ticket. You will get a ticket however, they are "zero tolerance" pricks up there. I figure 1 ticket every 18 months is just a "cost of riding". I traffic school it online and that is that.
Well we stopped to rest and shoot the wheelie vid. My buddy mentioned the long straight stretch that was lying ahead and asked if it was patrolled. "Not usually", I said, but I also added that like to always ride it first to "sweep it" if I plan to haul ass down it.
Mind you, it is 4 lanes wide, arrow straight, in the middle of the desert and about as safe a place to air it out that I know if. I went 185 on another buddy's Hayabusa there. Plenty of room to run.
Unfortunately, my partner today charged onto the straight. I began to give chase for a bit, but warily looked down the road about 2 miles and thought I saw the shadowy outline of a car sitting under a tree a few miles ahead. I was not sure, but had a sneaking suspicion. I backed off to 60 mph. My buddy hauled ass, I am guessing 135. He was ripping.
The car starts to move and I see the flashing lights come on. By this time he is probably at least 3/4 a mile ahead of me (distance is a bit hard to judge but way far enough so there is no way a human without binoculars could see any detail. The cop car goes after him. I flip a u-turn (all this mayhem is, as I said, 3/4 of a mile in front of me) and head the other way at normal 65 mph speed.
First question. What do you guys do if presented with this situation? Technically I was briefly speeding. I have also been pulled over up there when I was actually going the speed limit (at the end of the day, going home through the heavy patrol zone) and written for 60 in a 45. I flipped that u-turn as the cop likely would have written me for 100 mph plus too. I know how they are up there - giant pricks. On the other hand, I hate to split on a buddy.
Now it gets interesting.
I go back up the road a few miles and decide there was no way the cop could positively ID me as I was so far away. Sport bikes ridden by guys in leathers are a common sight on that road on a Saturday morning. I head back as my buddy is not familar with that area and I wanted him to see me go by so he would follow me up the road later. Stupid decision on my part.
I approach the pulled over buddy and the cop on the side of the road, going the speed limit. I do not look at the cop. I make a turn onto another road (they were pulled over near an intersection) and hear the cop yell "hey!". I pretend I did not hear him, keep on going, not acccelerating hard, but brisk, never look back or even check the mirros, and ride off at the speed limit until out of sight, then I put the hammer down. That particular road is fast. I have run it at 100 mph. I did 95 today, smooth and comfortable. Just wanted to put a little time and space between me and the cop.
So, I am home now and have not heard from my friend. I called his house, no answer. I am afraid they impounded his bike. He was going awful fast.
The hell of it is, I hope I did not make it worse on him with my stupid little ride by.
Damn. I feel bad for my friend and somewhat responsible.
Los Angeles has too many squids throwing themselves off that road and it has brought major attention from the authorities. My buddy rides responsibly and within his limits. He is not a squid, just a guy who wanted to air out his bike a bit on a very straight and appropriately remote road. Ya, it is against the law, but it just sucks.
I am always cagily running the gauntlet up there, have been doing it for years. Maybe we gotta get up to Crashtd's way where the cops are not so thick and apparently not such pricks.
Well we stopped to rest and shoot the wheelie vid. My buddy mentioned the long straight stretch that was lying ahead and asked if it was patrolled. "Not usually", I said, but I also added that like to always ride it first to "sweep it" if I plan to haul ass down it.
Mind you, it is 4 lanes wide, arrow straight, in the middle of the desert and about as safe a place to air it out that I know if. I went 185 on another buddy's Hayabusa there. Plenty of room to run.
Unfortunately, my partner today charged onto the straight. I began to give chase for a bit, but warily looked down the road about 2 miles and thought I saw the shadowy outline of a car sitting under a tree a few miles ahead. I was not sure, but had a sneaking suspicion. I backed off to 60 mph. My buddy hauled ass, I am guessing 135. He was ripping.
The car starts to move and I see the flashing lights come on. By this time he is probably at least 3/4 a mile ahead of me (distance is a bit hard to judge but way far enough so there is no way a human without binoculars could see any detail. The cop car goes after him. I flip a u-turn (all this mayhem is, as I said, 3/4 of a mile in front of me) and head the other way at normal 65 mph speed.
First question. What do you guys do if presented with this situation? Technically I was briefly speeding. I have also been pulled over up there when I was actually going the speed limit (at the end of the day, going home through the heavy patrol zone) and written for 60 in a 45. I flipped that u-turn as the cop likely would have written me for 100 mph plus too. I know how they are up there - giant pricks. On the other hand, I hate to split on a buddy.
Now it gets interesting.
I go back up the road a few miles and decide there was no way the cop could positively ID me as I was so far away. Sport bikes ridden by guys in leathers are a common sight on that road on a Saturday morning. I head back as my buddy is not familar with that area and I wanted him to see me go by so he would follow me up the road later. Stupid decision on my part.
I approach the pulled over buddy and the cop on the side of the road, going the speed limit. I do not look at the cop. I make a turn onto another road (they were pulled over near an intersection) and hear the cop yell "hey!". I pretend I did not hear him, keep on going, not acccelerating hard, but brisk, never look back or even check the mirros, and ride off at the speed limit until out of sight, then I put the hammer down. That particular road is fast. I have run it at 100 mph. I did 95 today, smooth and comfortable. Just wanted to put a little time and space between me and the cop.
So, I am home now and have not heard from my friend. I called his house, no answer. I am afraid they impounded his bike. He was going awful fast.
The hell of it is, I hope I did not make it worse on him with my stupid little ride by.
Damn. I feel bad for my friend and somewhat responsible.
Los Angeles has too many squids throwing themselves off that road and it has brought major attention from the authorities. My buddy rides responsibly and within his limits. He is not a squid, just a guy who wanted to air out his bike a bit on a very straight and appropriately remote road. Ya, it is against the law, but it just sucks.
I am always cagily running the gauntlet up there, have been doing it for years. Maybe we gotta get up to Crashtd's way where the cops are not so thick and apparently not such pricks.
I agree you riding by your friend and the cop while they were pulled over wasn't the smartest thing to do. Usually when I ride with some buddies and one of us gets pulled over, the rest of the group rides to the nearest gas station and waits it out. Don't need tickets for the whole group 
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