Today I managed to avoid my first "performance award" on the bike. For those not in the know, that's another term for "speeding ticket." Coming in to work this morning on I-5, right around the King County - Snohomish County border, I got lasered or radared by a police officer hanging out on a freeway overpass, with a pursuit car waiting on the other side. A classic setup, and one that I'd warned myself about literally minutes before - I see cars pulled over right around there every day. As soon as I got under the overpass, I saw a car merging onto the freeway, and suspected I was busted; the lights came on as soon as he got close to me.

At this point I wasn't angry, or sad, or anything - I knew I'd been speeding, and I figured I'd earned it. No real hurry; I got calmly to the shoulder, signaling each merge, and stopped the bike. Pulled off my gloves and helmet, and then tried to stow the earphones for my XM; I'm still not entirely certain whether it's legal to ride with them in. Then I waited.

The officer was younger than I am. He didn't come out swinging, just politely asked for license "and registration, if you've got it on you." Asked me how fast I was going, and I stammered something about how my speedo was indicating 72 but that probably equated to 68 in the real world. Yeah, I know, real smooth, especially since the speedo was actually indicating closer to 80 (74 true, give or take). He obviously wasn't buying it, and I don't blame him. He mentioned that he'd clocked me at 75, and I expressed some surprise.

He took my ID to his car, and did whatever it is cops do when they're deciding whether to write you a ticket or not - background checks of some sort, I'm sure. I spent a few sketchy minutes standing by the bike waiting, with freeway traffic hurtling past, before he came back, "suggested" that I keep it to 60 in the future, and reversed his way back up the shoulder into ambush position. I headed on to work a very shaky man.

First note to self: do not hop right back on the bike after getting stopped. My riding was, frankly, bad on the way to work - I was twitchy and anything but smooth on the bars, as well as distracted. I didn't even think to pull over and take a break, I was so distracted. I think that I was enough in the ride to handle whatever came at me, but I am glad that nothing tested that guess.

Second note: listen to instincts. I knew that there were cops waiting at that overpass, because there always are. I warned myself to keep my speed down, but the speed of traffic was at just over 70, and I feel very uncomfortable going at the same speed as everyone else and disappearing into their blind spots.

I'd earned a ticket today, and I'm just a lucky fellow that the officer let me off with a warning. I don't know what I did to get let off - was it the quick and safe pulling-over? the full armor and reflective gear? the non-race-lookin' bike? the fact that I'm a tax-paying middle-class property owner? I've got no idea. I'd hope not to test this question too much in the future, though.