messenger couture (longish)
 

yesterday, three interesting things (to me at least) happened inside of a half hour...

first, i passed a bike messenger on my commute home. he looked too cool for words, on a track bike that was as beautiful and self-assured as he was. he was so fluid; like poetry in motion. i couldn't help but smile. as i nodded in appreciation, he with his furrowed brow rolled his eyes and turned his head up and away in a look of seeming disgust as we passed each other on the two way street.

not five minutes after that, on my way to a grocery store, i spotted two very attractive young humans riding their bikes in the same general direction... it was a guy and a girl on two of most beautiful looking track bikes i've ever seen (one looked like a circle A and the other like an old benotto). everything about their bikes was top-of the-line and the riders were equally invested: very skinny, attractive faces, strategically placed tattoos, punky attire, cool messy hair. outside of the the grocery store, there were bike posts. we kind of arrived at the same time. so visually pleased by this sight i was ready to interact with them. their faces seemed closed and uninviting to me. they spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out how to lock their bikes together, but to no avail because i went in, did my shopping and came out to find them there again exactly where i had left them, only now in a quandry about which top tube would get dinged if they locked-up a particular way. finally, they abandoned their project and hit the old dusty trail.

in my own departure, not three blocks from where i had been, a car sped up behind me, slowed down, sped up again, and rode along my left side. i glanced over at the driver as he edged his vehicle even closer to me... disoriented, i was being pushed towards the curb. my wheels scraped along where the curb and street met, and front wheel lodged itself into the drain. i was thrown to the ground. laughter was heard, then an engine rev as the vehicle sped off. could have been worse. fork bent, front wheel out of true, damaged drop bars and a few scrathes.

and i ask, does $250 sound pricey for a "messenger" bag?

um. what.

Where's that bunny with the pancake on his head?

Enjoy

... so basically you were snubbed by "cool" messengers at a grocery and later got hit by car.

Sucks to be you, man!

Just kidding. Hope you're okay. Be careful.

Were you in Brooklyn, going to the Co-Op? That seems to be a general attitude around these parts. Sorry about the run in with the car. My friend was clipped with a side view mirror the other day, in Williamsburg. He ended up with a broken hand (4th and 5th metacarpals).

stoopid drivers!!

-m

The other day I was doing a run in downtown Philly riding along market street. I ride a bit of a beater converted fixie and I'm a pretty conservative rider as I am a bit paranoid of getting hit( no medical insurance, etc). I was in the far right lane and at an intersection when a cab to my left started to turn in. I had slowed down to let the cab go when out of nowhere this other messenger on a totally hot bike and looking too cool for school(yeah that's right I said it) blew past me nearly taking me out and WHAM! right into the side of the cab, which then also nearly took me out. I looked back and asked if the guy was OK but he just looked confused and picked up his bike.
I'm not sure what the moral of my story is but maybe being a bad ass messenger on your hot new track bike isnt so awesome when you are too busy looking cool.

Too bad about the crash. I don't think going messenger will make you invincible.

RFM

*snif* i miss oolong....

the car didn't hit me.

oooooolong long gone what does this mean?

you shoulda somehow done some damage to the car before he ran you off the road...

that's nice.

There he is....

best picture EVER.
seriously

here's the wikipedia entry for him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolong_(rabbit)

and here are a ton more pics http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~sokaisha/rabbit/rabbit.htm

http://kyle.lbsites.com/My%20Picture...py%20bunny.jpg

Here’s my take, this coming from an average fixie rider who is in the military, rides CM,.. but doesn’t really fit into any or even part of said subcultures.

Messengers work hard. Well most of them anyway. They are tight nit, mostly. You are, an outsider. You may have caught someone on a bad day. Some messenger’s may feel that anyone outside of their community is.. an outsider. They may be a bit stand offish. Just as you, or I am when someone we are unfamiliar with attempts to come up and make friends. I’m a bit wary of people naturally, and have to work at being friendly/responsive. I don’t always wave to a fellow cyclist. I’ll stop and help change a tire, been known to interfere in bike vs. car altercations. But generally, it’s me and destination. Is the messenger snubbing you in particular? Does he know you? Perhaps not. If he knew you would he talk to you, hang out? Perhaps not.

Riding a fixie doesn’t entitle you automatically to being cool with others.

Niether does having some specific bag.

My limited experience with couriers is that they are friendly; work hard, party hard. They did talk to me and were pretty cool. But I’m not doing the miles with them, and if I don’t share the same day to day experience (aside from playing in traffic for fun or as part of a commute), I don’t share that much in common. So, it’s a bit hard to bridge that gap.

You didn’t get a wave. Deal with it. Not that big of an issue.

Now, about the girls: you seem to snob it up on them too.. did you offer to help? Nope. So you’re just about the same boat as dude above.

Double standard.

Now about the car…. As they say, perhaps violence begets more of the same. Or not. But learn to ride and deal with those who will do wrong, in the manner fit to your personality, moral standard, and laws of local state in mind.

Did you drop your pie when you went down?
Tell me you didn't drop the pie!!!

Enjoy

i havnt experienced messengers up their own arses. but then our city isnt big enough to form large sub cultures, so messengers mix with the rest of society.
seems it only happens in places with large bike orientated cultures, and big bike scenes.
it does suck, anyone on a bike is fukin wicked in my book, and noone should look down on anyone.
(the only cyclists who annoy me are the liberals who dont want to run red lights at critical mass, god thats annoying)

i WISH i hadnt written that....urgh

I dont know why but that bunny with the pancake on his head is still cracking me up like 5 minutes later.
wtf

There's this handy little 'Edit' link in posts you have written....

You can even delete them!

Ain't technology great?

he was cracking up segments of teh internets for a long time...

I must of missed that...but then this is the first time ive had regular internet in over a year.
way to go bunny

messenger dissed you
saw two hotties with a lock
mean car broke your bike

Enjoy

sad to say he died a little over 2 years ago, there are some REALLY sad pics of his final moments here http://sokaisha.hp.infoseek.co.jp/030108/030108.htm