Messengers are proud of their role 
in the city's bustling economy. An 
increasing number ride stripped-down 
track bikes for an added sense 
of accomplishment. 
tremely lightweight racing bicycles that 
have been stripped of all excess parts, 
including brakes, gears, and derail- 
leurs. Because the rear wheel of a track 
bike is “fixed” — so that the wheel and 
the pedals always turn together — these 
bicycles are commonly known as 
“fixes.” They require a good deal of 
muscle power to ride and even more to 
stop because braking is done by check- 
ing the forward thrust of the pedals. 
Track bikes seemed ill-suited for fre- 
quent stops and starts, so I was curious 
why messengers would ride them. To 
find out, I often had to weave in and out 
of traffic at breakneck speed, trying 
desperately to keep pace with speedier 
riders while screaming at the top of my 
lungs to catch their attention. I caught 
up with Zowie, a 23-year-old former re- 
cording technician, during a winter 
rainstorm. Like many others 1 spoke to, 
he favors the track bike because he feels 
more in harmony with it, more a part of 
the bicycle. Abdullah, a young black 
Muslim, uses Zen concepts to underline 
the value of riding a “fix”: 
It’s hard. It makes your life harrowing every 
day. It’s part of Zen. You push. You flex 
and you push. And you tense. You realize 
that you’re keener after you’ve been 
through it. You're a bit keener and a bit 
swifter and a bit more relaxed about what 
just might come at you in life. 
One of the most difficult tasks of 
messengering is to maintain an element 
of self-control. Bicycle riders are ex- 
tremely vulnerable and cannot with- 
stand even the slightest contact with a 
car, let alone a serious collision. Given 
the difference in weight between cars 
and bicycles, there is no point in forcing 
a confrontation, no matter how provoc- 
ative a taxi- or truck-driver might be. 
Like Abdullah, Joe believes that the 
control that messengers exercise has its 
wider applications: 
It carries over inio your regular life with 
people. You're able to watch people. You 
know what’s developing as they're speaking 
to you. And you see the reasons behind it. 
And you don’t just react to it. You digest it 
and get to the reasons behind it, and talk ra- 
tional. 
Messengering is mentally as well as 
physically demanding. Messengers 
learn to keep an inner core of them- 
selves alert and aware regardless of 
what they are doing. They develop a 
sixth sense for when to focus all of their 
attention on the road. 
Despite the apparent risk, the use of 
drugs, especially marijuana, is a com- 
mon feature of the messenger industry. 
Overhearing a conversation between 
two riders about obtaining some hallu- 
cinogenic mushrooms, I asked them 
whether getting stoned on the job cre- 
ated any problems. Both felt that the 
most serious problem was the tendency 
to get confused and either mix up ad- 
dresses or forget a destination altogeth- 
er. Another messenger joined the 
conversation, stating that although 
when he first started riding, he would 
not use drugs, he now believed they 
have beneficial effects. He described 
how his attitude changed: 
So here it is, Friday morning, everyone’s 
getting paid, and whatever their bag is, 
they’re getting stoned. That was the first 
time I got stoned, you know, on the job. . . . 
I remember getting on the bike, riding on 
the sidewalk. There’s a canopy on the block, 
and I rode between the poles of the canopy 
into the street, and I felt like I was entering 
an arena. And all of a sudden, everything 
that I learned the past month — I wasn’t 
even thinking along these lines— all of a 
