The North American Cycle Courier Championships were held in Austin this past weekend. I spent the weekend out at the races trying to understand what was going on and enjoying the fun.
Hern was in town to race and stayed at my place. He was super cool to hang out and seemed to really enjoy the races and riding BMX around town too. This is him in the video below…
[Can’t get this thing to embed, check video HERE]
For some reason this video reminds me of a quote I heard from a musician whose name I can’t remember. “Its easy to play hardcore with a bunch of amps and pedals and electricity amplifying you… its a way bigger accomplishment to make hardcore with acoustic instruments where its just you and the guitar.” I don’t know… maybe that doesn’t really apply here… but I think idea of pedaling the miles to the skatepark rather then showing up in car is pretty hardcore.
Sweet flyer!
So, the race. I found it all a bit confusing. All these dudes in messenger backpacks pedaling to little tents to get fake packages.
At some stops they made you lock your bike up (or someone would drag it away and hide it) and others you had to run through tires.
The confusing part as an uneducated spectator was that everyone was on different patterns so you really couldn’t tell who was in the lead or have any clue when the race might finish.
The good part was that everyone seemed to be laughing and having fun. For a “Championship” race it was happily not very serious.
The start for the finals was pretty funny to watch. They lined everyone’s bikes up on the track and then made them all run in those silly little clippy shoes, grab bikes and then launch into the anarchy of a mass start.
Tyrone (9th street OG), Ryan Corrigan and Sara were hanging out watching with me for a while.
I think in this photo Monty is summing up the weekend for most of the attendees… it wasn’t so much about competitive racing… it was more about having fun with messenger bags and beer.
