It is spring. Today my wife and I hope go to the Como Park Zoo. However, it is a typical spring day in Minneapolis, dark and gloomy with a chance of rain. It will likely rain.
Another sign of that it is getting warmer in Minneapolis is the return of the Bike Messenger. Some of the really tough stick out the winter, but the majority find other work November through February.
Just down the street from my building there is a Jimmy Johns. Jimmy Johns delivers. This Jimmy Johns employs at least four bike messengers to deliver their sandwiches. One of which is tough. I saw him out on the street in the bitter cold and snow fighting traffic.
I have always admired bike messengers. I love bikes. I almost left my office job to work at Erik’s this year. I would have, but the pay was not enough. It was good, but not enough.
Pedal is a book of photography and a film (see my review of the film: Here). The pictures are of New York messengers, bikes, and gear, as they mount up for the 2005 Cycle Messenger World Championships.
The photographs are of real people who make their living riding through traffic and delivering packages or what ever they can strap to their backs. They are lean, mean, and part machine, a different breed than most. Some messenger to stay fit tired of the office life while others, many others, come to messengering out of desperation.
There are a lot of good books out the on the subject. I’ve read most of them. I will review others soon. However, Pedal is one of the best. The text that accompanies the photographs is written by messengers without apology. It attempts to explain the messenger mind.
Whatever your take is on bike messengers, you should seek out this book and film; together they document an important slice of American culture.
Pedal. New York: powerHouse Books, 2004
Photographs and a documentary film by Peter Sutherland
Film produced by Ana Lombard
Texts by Zepher, Ken Miller & Swoon
Another sign of that it is getting warmer in Minneapolis is the return of the Bike Messenger. Some of the really tough stick out the winter, but the majority find other work November through February.
Just down the street from my building there is a Jimmy Johns. Jimmy Johns delivers. This Jimmy Johns employs at least four bike messengers to deliver their sandwiches. One of which is tough. I saw him out on the street in the bitter cold and snow fighting traffic.
I have always admired bike messengers. I love bikes. I almost left my office job to work at Erik’s this year. I would have, but the pay was not enough. It was good, but not enough.
Pedal is a book of photography and a film (see my review of the film: Here). The pictures are of New York messengers, bikes, and gear, as they mount up for the 2005 Cycle Messenger World Championships.
The photographs are of real people who make their living riding through traffic and delivering packages or what ever they can strap to their backs. They are lean, mean, and part machine, a different breed than most. Some messenger to stay fit tired of the office life while others, many others, come to messengering out of desperation.
There are a lot of good books out the on the subject. I’ve read most of them. I will review others soon. However, Pedal is one of the best. The text that accompanies the photographs is written by messengers without apology. It attempts to explain the messenger mind.
Whatever your take is on bike messengers, you should seek out this book and film; together they document an important slice of American culture.
Pedal. New York: powerHouse Books, 2004
Photographs and a documentary film by Peter Sutherland
Film produced by Ana Lombard
Texts by Zepher, Ken Miller & Swoon
1 comments:
I had a friend who was a bike messenger in Boston for several years. It's a tough gig. The cars try to kill you. Pedestrians seem to possess death wishes. And, of course, the weather in Boston (especially the wind) can be brutal. But he loved it.
Now he's a banker. Go figure.
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