My rideout on May 13, 2006

Out on the bikes again today with ‘makendes’ who was visiting from Blackpool. The plan was to ride up to Inveraray then on to Tyndrum and back home down the A84 via Callander. Things didn’t quite go to plan  as the ride went from bad to worse. We first encountered the police going up the A82 along the side of Loch Lomond by getting stuck behind a traffic BMW doing 60. Eventually the opportunity came to pass it and leave it stuck in traffic.

Good job I was watching my mirrors because 10 mins later it come flying up behind us at 90+ and pulls in behind us again (ie. they were obviously trying to catch us out). We lost them at Tarbet and headed up to the ‘Rest and be Thankful’ were we stopped to have a break and take some pics. At this point we didn’t realise that we were being watched by a another police car parked above us by the radio mast on the hill. When we left they slipped out behind us.

The first I knew of them was looking in my mirrors to check on makendes only to see that a white vehicle had got between us. Realising there was something odd going on ( either he had a problem and was slowing or they were travelling unusually fast for a car ) I rolled off the throttle just in time to see the blue lights come on. 

Half an hour, one lecture and two speeding tickets later we were again on our way. I was angry with myself for getting caught, the area is well known for police targeting bikes this summer. But the day was about to get a lot worse. I won’t go into detail, but I wrote and posted this the following  morning which sums it up for me :-

 

But I have been lying awake thinking about you since 5.30 this morning.
We only met yesterday….
Like me you thought it would be a good idea to go for a run whilst the sun shone yesterday afternoon.
We met on the A84 and spent the last 10 mins of your life together. You lay in the the road and I was kneeling beside you.
Your red CBR 600 RR lay mangled under the 4×4 you hit head on. I wish you had known about that sharp left hander over the brow of the hill by Loch Lubnaig.
I don’t think you felt anything….I just felt helpless as we waited for the ambulance…..it took 15 mins….but we lost your pulse, and you lost your colour, after 10.
R.I.P. brother.

I feel so sorry for your family who must have waited for you to come home last night.