too many ****ing movies about bike messengers

I think you'll be glad to hear that I'm going to making an 8 hour documentary about fair weather bike commuters and the exciting lives they live on the greenways and bike paths of the world. **** alleycats, its all about slow rolling on folding bikes!

not enough good ones though

uh ... That movie was made back in 2001.

i just dont get this deification of UPS guys on bikes. they're like the patron saints of fixed gear riding or something.

and this was more a response to seeing this film side by side with this one: http://www.bicyclemessengersmovie.com/

just look at those films and how the particular messengers filmed there ride...of course it's fun to watch. that's why people make those movies. it's fun to watch. not all messengers do that, i drop messengers all the damn time here (and feel bad--they're pros, after all), but those who do are fun to watch, hence movies being made.

Point one: Don't watch them.

Point two: Being a bicycle messenger, particularly in NYC, is one of the hardest jobs in USA. Not everyone who does it is an athlete of any appreciable calibre, but the people who do it deserve some sort of recognition. You don't have to give them any props if you don't want to, but I don't think they deserve your ire either.

Point three: Filmmakers tend to gravitate towards interesting subjects. Messenger culture is definitely interesting. While most of the films focusing on them leave a bit to be desired, they've been improving and I see it as an ongoing evolution of film.

Point four: Wrecks are fun to watch.

it's not the glorification of the people so much as it is the job. i'm aware that the courier lifestyle is over-romanticized by many, but you have to admit, in the most simplist sense, you're getting paid to ride a bike every day. and that's pretty damn cool.

I know know if i'd call it deification, but this whole "riding fixed gear bikes on urban streets" culture came from messengers, NY messengers in particular.

The two biker collision looked worse then the taxi hitting the girl...actually they both looked real bad.

Holy ****ing ****. They used that ****ing waking life gimmick. worst movie ever.

That poor girl looks like she got distracted by the dude handing her an advertisement before she went through that intersection.

i'm a little curious about the person with the backpack running away.

yeah, but you also don't ride all day long, 5 days a week... gotta pace yourself and prioritize according to how much work is available / rushes and deadlines

Thats what im saying. . .she was set up for the reasons we are watching this clip. She doesn't pay any attention to the intersection at all. I hope her habits of riding aren't indicitive of most NYC riders, otherwise I'll say they're overrated just like them Yankees.

http://amybolger.com/messengers/kt_adrian.jpg[/QUOTE]
I'm sorry but I can't get over how moronic this broad is. . . .

i think what happened imo is that she was showing off for the camera and decided to speed up
to look cool, and then perhaps a bit distracted by the desire to look cool on camera
made a stupid judgement. but i wasnt there it could have been anything, elicited the holy sh**
from me.

yeah, sure. i only feel a little bad most of the time. but the other day, when i dropped a girl riding a 30 year old cruiser with a wicker basket just cruising along, i felt weird. like "why am i not doing this?" i spent almost 2 months looking for work 8 hours a day, the whole day on a bike...and i don't know how to ride other than "fast as i ****ing can", and after 8 hours, i felt fine, no matter how i pushed myself.

Hey that's twice now. In post #12 you called KT an idiot. Now she's a 'moronic broad'. You were'nt there you don't know the details yet you just keep on dissing. Are you the kind of person that only talks sh** on the internet? Do you have the same mouth when someone is in your face?

Yeah, but you just started riding fixed and are what...18 years old?

It looks like a small mess bag to me, and a hip pouch, and a pink pants cuff on the drive side. Running because they a photog or checkpoint help, with/hanging with the checkpoint, and momentarily in the way (not really in the way, I ride straight at photogs if they're in my line, it's their job to get a shot and get clear and they almost always do). KT may have wanted to swing wide left to enter the intersection but not been able to, so shoulda woulda coulda braked/scrubbed speed instead of taking the center, hind sight yadda yadda but that left side would have been the clean line for slipping through the intersection. Either way it looked like a fun race.

And dissing her because she made a mistake and had an accident? Weak. Never made a miscalculation Chicagotrollboy? It's that or you never took a chance, take your pick numbnuts.

I almost jumped on you Sam for you relentless defense of anything messenger...but then I read Chicago's post and you are right. He is way out of line at best...probably trolling for a flamewar...

The flyer she was grabbing was the checkpoint. People were coming through, grabbing that on the fly and generally making that right turn down 2nd ave. I think she basically just made a mistake, albeit a pretty big one, but still a mistake. And chicagowhatever, I can assure you that she's not an "idiot" or "moronic broad".

Keep riding for a couple more years and you'll learn that riding as fast as you can all the time isn't very smart, whether you're doing messenger runs or the tour de france.

If you really want to race messengers, you should do an alleycat. That's a much better indicator of how you'll stack up than blowing by someone in the street.

in waking life, the technique used is called "rotoscoping" where live action footage is filmed, and then its animated by drawing or painting over it frame-by-frame. this looks more like something done on the computer, and while i thought waking life was kinda boring, it at least looked better than that garbage.

they explain it on their site. in waking life, they painted over real actors (though im pretty sure they used computers, not actual paint), sorta tracing them. in this they just filmed streets and traffic and then painted in people who arent there.

whoa there sport! it's kinda like when i go runnin' in central park--i feel all superior cause i've only been passed a few times ever, but when i pass folks i stop and think "hey, maybe that dude's been out here runnin' longer today or has different trainin' goals or whatever." what i'm sayin' is that don't get the bighead til ya raced a coupla these studhorses when they're not workin'. don't get me wrong--i'm sure you're fast and have good endurance, but let your actions on the bike speak for themselves. just sayin'. . . :) :)

Ouchie.

I dunno, in the bay area I saw a lot of bike shop employees riding fixed when most messengers were still riding mountain bikes with baskets.

i love these busted a** rugs on their new found fixie trend racing to and from work, or maybe the bar. some fictitious audiance in the back of their head applauding their raw talents and ability.
try 5 ten hour days for 7-8 years on that track bike and who gives a F*** who/if your passin. its then a life style.
what a kook