powers2b

Yea, I think death is least funny when it happens to bunnies.
Oddly enough "Lapin aux Olives Vertes" is one of my favorite dishes.
You're nobody till somebunny loves you.

Enjoy

flythebike

When I messengered, I didn't start hanging out with messengers for like two years. By then everybody else had seen me a million times and thus I was familiar. But not familiar enough to breed contempt. Eagerness feels kind of insecure and clingy, and tends to push people away, I think. It is like John Faverau's (sp?) character in Swingers, who called that gal like five times within 1 hour of meeting her, and she called him back to tell him never to call her again.

Messengers are like other people, no? Some are friendly and interested in meeting new people. Some are insular, introverted or whatever. We have good days and bad days. Sometimes the bad days are very, very bad.

There is one messenger I've been seeing on the street for almost 15 years. We know each other by face. But the only interaction I ever had with him was when he was trying to rush me so he could lock up to the place I was unlocking from. He shoved me. That was about it. Do I think he is a jerk, no. Does that mean all messengers are pushy and in a hurry all the time, no. So try to avoid blanket generalizations. Not everybody in the world wants to be your friend, and especially if you only want to know somebody becuase of the category they fit into, that is kind of shallow, eh?

Guess it is time to learn to Bunny Hop your track bike, ha ha!

lala

Wahhhh!!

wasted weasel

dude....?!?

powers2b

Did you drop your pie?

Enjoy

flythebike

No, but I probably lost something. I think it was my legendary cool. But I found it later thanks to my radio network of messenger friends.

veloiseau

as much as i loved loved loved the bunny picture, lemme say a couple things i've observed with regards to messengers (specifically LA ones)... please know that i'm not trying to speak for all messengers and all cities. this is just what i have seen and concluded.

i lived in the same house as a messenger for a long time (we just moved out) and at first he was super-stand-off-ish and didn't want to let me in on his world. eventually we became really close and here's a synopsis of the way he's explained the whole messenger thing to me (of course this is just one person's opinion told second-hand, like i said before):

being a messenger is ridiculously hard, even though most messengers do it for love of it. they are often treated like vagrants or thieves (almost every day he'd have another story of some secretary who wouldn't let him in or a security guard giving him sh1t). their job is all about respect and maintaining that respect. fortunately for my friend, he was a hellofa good cyclist, and was regarded highly by his peers and his boss. but there is definitely a hierarchy, and slower messengers will get left in the figurative dust by the faster, more daring ones. things can get really messy, especially with some messengers' relationships to dispatchers being stronger than others, etc. lastly, their job is dangerous, which makes them stick together much like a team climbing mount everest would. the messenger community is one of the most tight-knit i have observed, even across city lines.

about the whole "i'm too cool for you because i'm a messenger"--i definitely think there are those who really believe that (as in any group). however, upon becoming close to the one particular messenger and hanging with his messenger friends, it became almost a joke to me that--it seems as if most of them want other people (esp. other cyclists) to think that they're really bas-a$$ just cuz it's funny. another messenger (who's regarded as really hard-core and nutty) put it this way... (*in an intentionally affected, rough voice*): "yeah man. i'm a messenger. i ride brakeless and i'm afraid of emotional commitment because i might die at any second." then he started laughing because we both knew that that's how most people perceive him. he thinks it's hilarious, and he'd rather keep that aura of mystery and toughness then not.

sorry for the long post--but basically just wanna say... yeah, there are those truly annoying peeps who will make you feel like trash because of their own insecurity. but in my experience, messengers have that facade of steel because it's the norm, it's sort of expected of them. but in reality most of them are super-chill and think it's funny that they are regarded i such a way. i am a brand-new fixed gear rider and i've had more than a few messengers give me tips and talk with me for extended periods about gear ratios and such.

(*sigh*) i love messengers.

zapb42

Just a clearin up thing...some oyall seem to think it was two chicks, but appears to be one rider of each gender.

Not significant though I suppose.

powers2b

Same can be said of strippers

Enjoy

turd

gold.

Shiznaz

groupies!

dolface

i THINK they're carrots...

turd

here's a good read -- mike dee's essay about 'track bikes on his newish blog:
https://courierdispatch.blogspot.com/...rack-bike.html

nine

ok, why is it that all the "cool" looking messengers, always give me the hairy eye when they spot my cheap 80's road conversion, but every morning on my commute in from brooklyn to midtown i always have a friendly chat with the "other" messengers - the ones with the purple bags covered in stains, the dudes with the rubber bands around their pants, the ones who ride slow on bikes creakier than a 40 year old ball players knees. is it insecurity, do they hate themselves, what gives? its just a bike.

turd

some ppl think disdain the type of ppl go out & waste a bunch of $ buying a true track frame (and hence, know nothing about bikes) vs. building up a fixie yourself from some frame they dug out of the back of their LBS for zilch (and hence, know all). it's one camp against another.

*new*guy

what a prick.

filtersweep

My recommendation to deal with game playing cars- TAKE THE LANE. I'll do a quick nod to let the car know that I know he/she is there, but that bastard will have to hit me before I hit the curb... and as soon as he makes contact with me, it is HIS/HER responsibility. You are no less likely to be run over if you yield and they pinch you into the curb and you fall into traffic.

H23

You know, sometimes I think that the fixie messenger kids don't know the truth. I am sure that some of them do know the truth but choose to avoid it on principle (and that's cool). But now I'm thinking that there are a large number that don't know the truth.


The truth:

One can ride faster, much more efficiently, and much more safely on a road bike with gears and brakes.

jim-bob

Yeah, but then you have to know how to maintain gears and brakes.

KrisPistofferson

filtersweep

Take your road bike to the track and test your theory.

A fxied gear is just a specific tool for a specific job.

Take your road bike off road...

Take your road bike to a time trial...

jim-bob

Mike Dee seems like a bit of a ****. Is he about 20 or so?

noumena9

But what I don't understand is why would you expect strangers to want to talk to you? Do you go up to people on the street and look at them meaningfully and then feel snubbed when they look away? I HATE talking to people I don't know. It isn't because I'm cool, I can assure you -- I'm 32 + beer gut + 2 year old kid + systems analyst. Not cool. It just seems very junior high school to me to misunderstand people's being introspective and focused (I sure am on my bike) for being somehow a slight on you. It has nothing to do with you... these people don't know who you are and they don't care. I mean I guess I can understand certain circumstances where people are social the way you seem to want them to be: long distance hiking, the winnebago scene, things like that, but in a city most people prefer to mind their business and fo you to mind yours.

B17

"Vails", assphlegm.

It's "Vails".

Insecure mother****er can't comprehend that maybe some folks just found out how much fun this sport/hobby/means of staying in shape can be. He ought to thank whatever deity he worships that he lives in a place where people can just grow up riding fixed like the rest of us grew up riding geared bikes.

It's not like anyone really wants to emulate messengers. I just want to ride, and I appreciate nice bikes- geared, fixed, singlespeed, whatever.

neuron

250 isn't bad for a messenger bag...




i kid. that's a lot of cash. unless it has lots of stash pockets. get some nice bike parts instead! and keep it in its packaging -- it keeps its value better that way.

i agree with a lot of people's comments on meeting new people. i'll be friendly sometimes, surly others and it'll all depend on how hard my day was. most of the time in the mornings i'm stupid tired and slightly late for work, and when i'm heading back i'm stupid tired from work and want to take it easy. i'll admit i'm a bit more friendly to gals than guys, but if you've got an interesting bike i'll probably try to talk bikes anyway. i bug my non-biking friends talking about bikes all the time, so...

it's interesting the striations and subgeni of different cycle cultures and how people want to fit in with one or another. i'm in new york, thinking about ***** like not trying to get run down and whether or not the guy i'm closing in on is gonna act erratic; if i have the spare cycles i might say hello but if i don't it's not a snub. take it easy and have fun.