Nick Dale is the 23-year-old president of the Courier Association of Seattle (CAOS), a nonprofit advocacy organization that supports the interests and issues confronting the city's bike-messenger community. CAOS is the local liaison for this year's 11th annual Cycle Messenger World Championships (CMWC 2003), taking place on the weekend of September 12-14, when hundreds of participants from as far away as Osaka and Amsterdam will converge in Seattle to compete for the title of Most Skilled Messenger. Dale is the event's chief organizer and the person ultimately responsible for helping a notoriously hardheaded and individualistic community prepare for an influx of international competitors. Like most bike messengers, Dale is wiry, scruffy-cute, and a bit hyperactive--he's also refreshingly kindhearted and impressively relaxed about donning women's lingerie.
Why did you want to be a courier?
I was working as a stock boy, making six bucks an hour and waking up at 5:00 a.m. to go to work. So my brother [who was a courier] said, "Look, let me hook you up with something better." Now I co-own my own company [Stealth Systems].
What do you deliver?
Architectural plans, design-firm plans, CDs, tape dubs, depositions [from] reporters going to lawyers. Anything, really--flowers, food, whatever....
What's the oddest thing you've been asked to deliver?
Blood for a firm that only deals with contaminated blood. They wanted us to deliver vials of contaminated blood.
I'd put a big price tag on that.
We ended up dropping them, because none of our couriers wanted to do it. It was just glass vials in plastic bags [shivers].
Tell me what this "bike Olympics" thing is all about. I'm envisioning an obstacle course with baby carriages and pedestrians randomly jumping out.
That would be fun. But no--it's called the Cycle Messenger World Championships. This is the 11th one; it's gone on in 10 cities all over the world. It's a celebration of the messenger lifestyle, because we're kind of shat on by society. People think of us as those people who cut you off and break the law--we look crazy and we're punks. But really, bike messengers are just a bunch of loners who have said, "No, I don't want to sit in a cubicle and type on a computer all day; I want to ride my bike." I love to ride my bike, feel the rush of traffic, and be on my own time schedule.
So what are the issues that CAOS would like to have a say in as far as city policy or legal ordinances go? What's the laundry list of things that bikers worry about?
Idiot drivers, too much congestion, too much traffic downtown, stupid people who open their car doors without looking. Luckily a state law was recently passed that says if someone opens their car door and [causes an accident], it's their fault no matter what. That's smart, because it used to be judged on a case-by-case basis, which is ridiculous.
That said, I'm assuming you generally don't like people in cars.
I don't mind drivers, I don't mind driving--I know it's a necessity for some people--but all you have to do is pay attention; that's all I ask. And even that is impossible for some people. Especially with the money in Seattle--everyone's got a huge SUV and they don't realize how dangerous their vehicles are.
Well, that certainly is a trait of Seattle drivers--a maddening combination of passivity and obliviousness.
I know--the worst is when a car does something stupid. I react, and then they get all angry at me--start swearing at me or start chasing me.
Does that happen to you very often?
Yeah--luckily there are a lot of alleys, so I can zip out of there. You get that reaction from people because they don't know what they're doing in their cars, so they make a mistake and get mad at you. I can't expect too much, though, because it can make me really mad.
I would imagine losing your temper would be a hazard of the job. What do you do? Just assume everyone's a moron?
Yes. Especially with traffic and pedestrians. Don't try and weave around me; don't do the dance. I'm a professional. Keep your line, that's what we say.
Tell me about the culture. Based on what little I know, messengers are usually pretty well-read people, usually punk in some respect, at least ethically. And they're quite often stoners.
[Nods head and smiles] Oh yeah.
What do you like about your community?
The solidarity. It's an international brother- and sisterhood. To promote the CMWC, I was sponsored to fly to London for the European Cycle Messenger Championships last Memorial Day weekend. When I went over, I only knew two people there, but I ended up making friends that will last a lifetime. I have a friend from Copenhagen who's staying with me right now.
So what do you think facilitates that solidarity?
We all have the same love of the bicycle. I just feel more comfortable around bike messengers than I do around any one kind of people. It's hard to explain. We have a worldwide e-mail list, so I'm in contact with bike messengers all around the world on a daily basis.
So what about injuries? What's the worst crash you've had?
I've been really lucky. I've ripped up my elbows a few times, and I banged my brow on the cement. I just flew over a car and hit my brow. That rang my bell!
This is rather dangerous work. You must have days when you just don't feel like sticking your neck out there....
I had a really weird day a few weeks ago. I was riding from Capitol Hill to the office downtown, and I just felt like I was going to get hit. Once you ride for a while, you can feel traffic. I don't think that I could do it with my eyes closed, but you definitely start to sense the flow of stuff better. So I just took it really slow, stayed to the right. I got to the office fine, but my brother, who now messengers in San Francisco, called me at lunch and told me he had gotten hit at 8:30, which is right when I had that feeling.
What are people going to see if they go
to the races?
There's live music at Graceland, the Crocodile, and Consolidated Works--which all the competing bike messengers get into for free. Friday night we're going to have a group ride, which anyone can participate in. It's just a police-guided tour around the city. We're trying to get 1,000 registered bikers to race, so it's going to be huge.
There are a couple of events. The racecourse is a three-by-five-block radius with 11 checkpoints scattered throughout. There are manifests--which is a pickup and drop-off order--that have to be completed. [The contestants] get their stamp at each checkpoint and then pick up different things--a tube, an envelope. And you have to plan carefully because it's all one way--you can screw up if you don't route yourself carefully.
So what do people win?
There's a tradition of giving out skirts and dresses. I've won lingerie before, which was fun.
I'm assuming you're racing.
Actually I don't think I'll have time. Any messenger would tell you I'm more of a planner than a racer. Racing is fun, but the last two I've done, I got DFL.
What's that?
[Smiles] Dead fucking last.
