Special Delivery -- Bike Messengers Are Third World Of Document Delivery With A Culture All Their Own

The world of document delivery has its socio-economic levels like any other society.

The First World might be the Big Boys, as exemplified by the truck-driving, over-nighting, shorts-wearing professionals of Fed Ex or UPS. The Second World could be the number of other smaller delivery companies aspiring to compete with the Big Boys, driving smaller trucks but wearing shorts as well.

And then there's the Third World of document delivery - vast, mysterious, misunderstood; irritating to some, alluring to many, with a lifestyle and culture all its own: the Bike Messenger.

"It's a pretty damn cool job," says Mik Nei, who's been a bike messenger for about 4 1/2 years, the last 2 1/2 months with ENA Couriers. Sleek and spandexed, wearing the deep-red jersey ENA bike messengers sport, Nei cuts a smooth figure through downtown streets 48 to 50 hours a week.

No one who's driven downtown during normal business hours can miss the messengers. Whipping through the crowded avenues with ease, canvas packs and two-way radios strapped across their chests and backs, the messengers live lives of danger and romance, fraught with fitness, powered by perspiration, making their way through a world hostile to their existence but in desperate need of their services.

"People might call and wonder why we charge what we do, but I tell them there's no better way to get something there on time," says Dee Bell, a customer service representative for Elliott Bay

Messenger Company. "I have a lot of respect for our bike messengers. Drivers really try to bully them sometimes, but the messengers are just trying to do their jobs. I'm even thinking of becoming one now."

Pick any day, Monday through Friday, any hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and you can catch a gathering of bike messengers in front of Westlake Center. Some are resting on the Pine Street bricks next to their skinny, tricked-out bikes; others are balanced on one leg with the other slung across the bike body, pausing to exchange a few words with friends before speeding off on another delivery. Sunny days find rows of messengers lined up on the concrete slabs outside the Westlake SBC Coffee Bar, chugging espresso and catching a few rays.

STYLE OF THEIR OWN

They have their own language, dress and customs; the medium is their bikes and the common denominator is their love of riding.

"I used to race more, but I'm not into it too much now," explains Nei, though he still keeps the shaved legs and close-cropped hair of a competition racer. "I'm thinking of doing some road racing soon."

Bicycling is life for most bike messengers, and they see it as an ideal way to do what they love and get paid decent money for it.

"A lot of guys race, but there's really the whole gamut of people who are messengers," says Mike Reilly, who rides for MDR Legal Messengers. Reilly has spiky short hair and groovy tattoos, and sometimes wears a big chunky necklace laced with assorted beads and an action figure of Billy Dee Williams.

Messengers can look freak-funky, racing slick or straight-conservative, but Reilly says the only requirement for acceptance among messengers is to be a good rider.

"You have to hold your line," explains Kevin Briggs, who also rides for ENA. "That's the first rule. Don't weave all over the road. If you don't hold that line you create doubt, among other riders and cars on the road. Then it's trouble."

"Trouble" - accidents - is no stranger to the messenger lifestyle. The combination of speed, traffic, bulky packages and ultra-lightweight cycles make for interesting and hair-raising stories, the stuff of legends among the messengers.

"I got run over by a car on my third day out," says Briggs. "It was rainy and everyone was sliding. But the woman in the truck who hit me just rolled over the part of my leg on the calf where it couldn't do a lot of damage. Just got lucky, I guess."

"I had a head-on collision with a car while going down Olive Way," offers Justin Littell, who rides for Fleetfoot Messenger Service. "A few things got broken, but I was able to take a trip I'd planned to San Francisco the next day."

FREEDOM IS AN ADVANTAGE

"The great thing about messengering is being outdoors, the freedom," says Shawn Cassi, another Fleetfoot messenger. "And riding in traffic is kind of an adrenaline rush."

There are hard-riding women among the bike messenger legions, too, and they are uniformly respected by their male colleagues as tough riders. Couples and good friendships form within their close ranks, and Reilly says it's a part of the strong community among most Seattle messengers.

"The community of friends is incredible here," agrees Briggs. "It's a good mix of people. If you're in an accident a bunch of messengers will come over to help. It's not an easy job, and we're very protective of each other. To get along, it takes a good work ethic and the T-factor."

Others agree. The "t" in T-factor, naturally, stands for thrills.