The Iron Lung, Volume 2, Issue 1
as told by Jeff
The Arrival
You know how you always check out bikers riding by to see if you know 'em? And if they have a bag on you look even closer (if they're not wearing company clothes) to see if they are really a messenger, or if they just went to Gregg's and dropped $100 on a bag to look cool?" Well in San Francisco over Labor Day Weekend I had a stiff neck after about 15 minutes in town on the first day.
Messengers were everywhere. And this was on Friday before the races had even started! James and I rode from Dean’s place (my gracious host and crash pad) to the "Wall on a sunny afternoon after Southwest flight 192 had landed (in flight pretzels, not peanuts-what a drag). The Wall, as the local meeting place in SF is called, is a rough approximation to Seattle’s Westlake Center (or should I say Nordstrom/Pine St.?). Already, there were messengers who were obviously from out of town hanging around, watching as the confident SF guys took a call now and then and headed off on a run.
They were pretty cool, considering that their place was being overrun by dozens of look-a-likes trying to soak up some of the SF atmosphere, a couple said "hey , which I appreciated. In fact that was to be a theme for the weekend.
Messengers by nature tend to be hard on newcomers, and it could have been a whole lot different but for the smiles and hellos most of the gathering hoard gave one another.
The Food
Nothing like skipping breakfast to catch an early flight, then riding around town a few hours on a empty stomach to promote howls of discontent from the engine. One of my main goals of the weekend was to eat as many mission burritos as possible, and so the first food in SF had to be one. Damn! I admit, I am already partial to burritos, but these were the best! It doesn't matter to much which Mexican place you go to, the burritos are going to be great.
Seattle has Taco del Mar, and they are good, but add cilantro, black beans, and way better salsa, as well as a few fluent holas and gracias, all for 2.99, and you have a true burrito. in addition to Mexican burrito stands. SF also has lots of Chinese places, again for cheap. I had mounds of rice and vegetables and chicken and other stuff for under three bucks in between burritos a couple of times. That, including beer and power bars was pretty much the extent of food. I think I had eight burritos in three days, and I miss them even now as I write this.
The Ride
It started in SF, and they say the Friday Critical Mass was the biggest ever (3500 cyclists). Wow! It was real big, lemme tell yah- BIG! Cyclists rarely ride in groups, messengers hardly ever, and nobody with as much power and control and freedom as the riders present at Justin Herman Plaza on Friday night. The ride took us everywhere, around two hours of traffic stopping, road closing freedom to coast through streets normally filled by 50 mile-an-hour gas guzzlers. The snake of the mass was so long I couldn't see the front or the back from my vantage point on a long street half way back Everyone on a bike it seemed was there. It was an amazing place to be, amid persons of the same breed, with no fear of the jungle.
The Messengers
The Germans stood out the most next to the home team. They were the most organized as far as jerseys and attitude went. I think that on the whole, messengers in Europe have a different attitude about work, more specifically, how they act at work. The culture seems to be more professional in the sense that they all look clean and serious, and act like they are doing a job, not acting like they are. I think that the attitude towards messengers in Europe most be different, and they possibly get more respect in the workplace than U.S. messengers. But so be it, they were messengers just like everyone else. Two of the coolest guys I met the whole weekend were from Sweden. They were both really good riders who had worked for years in mostly winter conditions where six feet of snow was the norm for half the year. But they must have been well reimbursed for their troubles, because apart from their work bikes, one was riding a Merlin Newsboy ti bike with very trick stuff. Lots of the SF messengers were really poor, it looked like. They say SF is a tough town to live in, and for the messengers who CoHo in the flats, I heard most couch serf. 400 working riders makes for all types though, and I saw guys riding the best stuff in New Shoes! D.C. had a big group of motivated people, as did Toronto and New York. I think that most all of the cities that have couriers had a representative at the race. Seattle had about 20 people too!
The Bikes
I thought that it would be tough to beat Seattle for good equipment, but I was wrong. Most everyone had clipless peds, and expensive shoes. I saw lots of road bikes, some as nice as the European racer dude’s ti DeRosa with Shamal wheels. Most of the Europeans rode nice bikes. One city even had company bikes that were actually nice, Track bikes were pushed and crashed all over the course, and more than once I stared in amazement as a fixey made a sweet manoeuvre through a tight gap (and this with no brakes and lots of train tracks). There were lots of homemade bikes that were totally cool, with their swing arms and super long forks, and pivoting bottom brackets that made for wild rear wheel steering. The main order for the race bikes was gearing: very small gearing.
The Race
There were something like. 500 competitors at the race. To narrow the field down prelim heats based on points were run to pick the top five scores from 16 heats- leading to the final. The course was mostly up. And by up I really mean straight up. No one ever does a run that includes this much climbing in so short a time. Half the competitors pushed their bikes up, while the people able to ride did so at a crawling pace in their smallest gear. The prelims were all strategy in running the most precise route to accumulate a high point score in under 30 minutes. Riding up and down the three monster uphill blocks wasn't as important as setting yourself up with the right combination of packages to drop and pick up. Complex rules and route choices made for as many strategies as messengers, and I mean that literally. This fact definitely made for a good race and I congratulate the organizers on a well planned out event. I was bummed to be number six in my heat, finishing my hopes at the World's, but I know I rode my best race and the guys that beat me were better (that day).
The finals were more of a point to point style of race, with 100 starters being pared down every lap by 10% Very quickly the climbers were sorted out from the rest, and Seattle's own Sun Sachs from ABC was with the leaders. Although Mike, Justin and I did a nifty wheel change for him midway through the race, Sun deserves a ton of congratulations for riding great, finishing as the 7th best messenger in the world (the 3rd place overall went to female Ivonne Kraft from Germany!). The race was held on telegraph hill, going right through the middle of some very spendy condos with an awesome view of every thing. I only heard one person complain about street closures; mostly the spectators were really into the race and cheered loudly for all.
The Golden Gate
On Sunday a group of Seattle people went on a ride to Sausalito led by Dean. This turned out to be one of the best experiences I had in SF, and I know the others in the group would agree with me. The bridge is very dramatic with its sheer size. knock-over wind gusts, long ass drop to the water below. dramatic view of the fog rolling in off the ocean, and of course the around the clock painters high above. We cruised across, and towards the yuppie town over the water. Starbucks is of course everywhere, and after a trip through the local bike shop we sprawled on the park grass with coffee and watched the sailboats play in the breeze with the big city as a backdrop across the bay
The weather in SF dramatically varies from hill to hill. On this ride we had everything from cold fog to hot sun to gusting winds that threatened to slam us over. Once behind the cover of a big enough hill, we could relax in comfort able temps. But with the ocean right there fog and freezing cold mist can roll in at any time to make you wish you were wearing all the GoreTex and wool possible. A comfortable 10 miles later I could say had ridden the bridge and back.
Barcelona
Next Labor Day the, Messenger Worlds will be in Barcelona, Spain. Sure, its a long hike, but it could be the best trip you ever made if you get going on the planning now. It is an incredible experience to hang around people who do the same things as you every day, and have a heavy accent from some corner of the world you never knew had messengers. Leaving SF on Monday was a let down. It was like a week of fun filled summer camp where you met your best friends for 8 days and swore you would always stay in touch. It's worth investing in a piggey bank for next year's worlds. Trust me.
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