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Team Puma. "We want people to think more of us than just that guy who ran over their foot," says Kevin Bolger, bike messenger and captain of Team Puma, as reported by Corey Kilgannon in The New York Times. Among other things Kevin wants people to know that some urban bike-messengers are nearly Olympic athletes -- Alfred Bobe, Jr., for example, who claims "the title of America's fastest messenger on a track bike." Alfred, "a 31-year-old bike messenger from Brooklyn" says he's only "one second off the qualifying time for the 200-meter sprints." According to Alfred, "working as a city messenger is the best training for track races, where bikers ride in tight packs."
He explains: "Messengers have better instincts and reflexes and a lot sharper peripheral vision ... If you're not conscious and in the moment at all times, you can die on someone's car door. That's what separates us from regular racers. We have a different inner core and strength because our messenger work is our training ... We ride wearing a 20-pound lock and a 40-pound bag ... When you finally get to take all that off, you feel explosive, like you have wings or you just took a shot of Red Bull or something." Or like a Puma, as in "the athletic footwear and apparel company," sponsor of Alfred Bobe, Jr. and eight other hand-picked cyclists, otherwise known as Team Puma, formed by Puma last July.
Puma, puma.com, gives the messenger-racers "expensive racing bikes, uniforms and other apparel ... Puma's involvement reflects a recent rise in the popularity of track racing, which team members think will become as prevalent as skateboarding, in-line skating and snowboarding ... Most team members work their routes on their custom-made Cannondale, cannondale.com, team bikes," each weighing "14 pounds" and emblazoned with the Puma logo, of course. Those bikes are of the "fixed-gear" variety, meaning one gear and no brakes (there's also The Puma Bike). Fresh off last month's North American Cycle Courier Championships, Team Puma is gearing up for the Cycle Messenger World Championships in New York City, set for the Fourth of July weekend. Yes, Puma does provide "its team members with emergency medical insurance for the track and the street.
Tim Manners, editor
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©2005 reveries.com |
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