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Seattle Cycle Courier Championships
Radio 3, CBC Radio, September 27, 2003
Couriers normally weave through the stream of cars, fighting for space on the road. But at these championships, they’re no longer the minority. Haddock was born in Newfoundland but now lives in Copenhagen .
“Ask anyone on streets. Couriers are scum, tattooed, on drugs rebels. They ruin traffic. They hit cars and get cars scratched.”
Couriers have more in common than just their job. Veteran cyclist Anya Reihe from Berne , Switzerland say s s he can spot other couriers walking down the street.
“It’s hard to explain. Maybe I look I see Damon’s leg with a bike tattoo. A special bag, stuff we need for work. A T-shirt we recognize. Someone rolling up his left pants leg.”
Elaine Griffiths is from Vancouver is one of the twenty women competing in the main race. She’s been a bike messenger since ‘96.
“They’re doing a job that’s really physically challenging. It doesn’t pay a lot of money. It’s probably for love of riding. They don’t want to buy into whole suit and tie corporate attitude working in an office. They share a common independent spirit.”
At the same time, couriers earn their living running errands for big business. They’re only free until their dispatcher tells them their next destination. The weekend’s cargo races simulate the work pressures of the day in the life of a courier. Val Kleitz is a Seattle native. He’s getting ready for one of the competitions, the cargo race.
Val: “My bike has a huge basket affixed to front, extended rear wheel base extended platform”.
Sarah: “What have you moved with it?
Val: “A Lazyboy recliner, I helped a friend move bookstore. Over twenty 4 by 8 shelves, books, a computer table, 200 lbs of loose cardboard, old dead tires, no problem.”
The competitors load their bikes with a car tire, a cinder block, a pylon, a bundle of newspapers and a bale of hay. They have trouble strapping their cargo on their bikes before they even attempt to make it up the hill. They race around the course, which spans several city blocks, delivering their packages. The winner this year is Ryan Hassigen, another local who rides a petty cab.
“I think it’s from hauling big old people at Mariners and Seahawks games…I’ve stacked up to 7 people in it. Well, 8 but they were small Asian women. People are pretty good at keeping in the cab with their arms and legs. But the cargo I just stacked up. It bailed a few times as well. I just jumped out and put it back in.”
The main race of the weekend is a three hour ride around the hilly streets of Seattle. The couriers are given instruction on where to go, and they pick up and drop off packages at the right check points.
80 men and 20 women unlock their bikes and cycle down the street, listening to cheers and jeers from the sidelines. 3 hours later the sweaty cyclists pour into the finish line. Race director Timothy Mason is the first to admit the race didn’t go as planned.
“All kinds of chaos in the first half hour…When they got to the simulated check points, they didn’t know where to get a signature for their deliveries. Volunteers were signing all over manifest and it created complete mayhem for the riders.”
The main race started two hours late, but I’m beginning to realize this is a normal for the couriers. The final award ceremony was scheduled for 10 pm but started around 2 am. By now, the couriers have been through a weekend of extreme endurance and excessive partying. The bar staff are pelting beer cans into the crowd. A punk does a full strip tease while standing on his bike. And another guy shows off his stunt of riding super fast and slamming into a metal trash can.
I don’t know how these guys ever manage to deliver packages in the real world, but somehow, they pull it off day in and day out, providing businesses with the important legal documents, blue prints and photographs.
And next year, they’ll be gathering again for the 2004 Cycle Messenger World Championships. Watch out, this time it’s in our own fine country, in Edmonton.