As our Ultimate Messenger Dream Team, made up of The Collective team and their alternates, continues training for the Cycle Messenger World Championships Aug. 30 through Sept. 2 here in San Francisco, we salute their poise and dedication.
Name: Tommy Lau
Vitals: 20 years old, 5 feet 6 inches, 120 pounds
Sign: Aquarius
Company: Red Hot Courier
Hometown: San Francisco
Years as Messenger: Two
Identifying Marks: None
Last Book Read: Tao Te Ching
Bike: Bianchi road bike
Bag: Timbuk2
Background: Born and raised in the chaos of San Francisco's Chinatown, Lau grew up surrounded by his cultural heritage. You could say it was an ideal childhood. "I learned a lot from it," he admits. He also learned something else -- the brutal reality of tourism. As he played with friends on their home turf of Washington and Grant streets, they watched the cultural invasion of pudgy white people shuffling through the district, pointing at buildings and buying cheap sandals. Lau and his pals would look at each other helplessly. Would it ever end, or is this how life really is? Fortunately, for Lau -- and the messenger championship trick-riding competitions -- life is just beginning.
Goals: "Oh, I don't really like to plan ahead."
Name: Michka "Koshka" Hunt (alternate)
Vitals: 23 years old, 6 feet, 155 pounds
Sign: Gemini
Company: Flash
Hometown: Anoka, Minn.
Years as Messenger: Four
Identifying Marks: Lower-lip piercing, numerous scars, "about 12 tattoos"
Last Book Read: Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Bike: Cannondale, circa 1985
Bag: Zo ("The only way to go.")
Background: In school, Hunt had difficulty with math. She struggled through geometry, flunked out of pre-algebra, and never even made it to physics. This led to a lack of understanding of even the most basic laws of nature, and has made her job as a messenger that much more challenging. "For a while, I had a really hard time realizing that I couldn't run through solid objects," says Hunt. "I ran into quite a few things." Indeed, obstacles like cars, curbs, doors, and people -- things that messengers invariably encounter but must make a point of avoiding -- became almost insurmountable. "It was really traumatizing for a while, but I think I've mastered it," says Hunt, wiping away a tear. "Of course, I still see a therapist."
Goals: To messenger in New York City in the winter ("You have to avoid turning").
Name: Chris "Cosmo" Brown (alternate)
Vitals: 31 years old, 6 feet, 175 pounds
Sign: Sagittarius
Company: Flash
Hometown: Ginsburg, South Africa
Years as Messenger: 11
Identifying Marks: Nose ring, navel ring, dragon tattoo on left shoulder
Last Book Read: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Bike: Lotus one-speed named Martha
Bag: Zo
Background: Born to activist parents, Brown eagerly followed their lead, learning to speak five languages and immersing himself in the politics of apartheid. Such close community involvement meant a rocky road: He watched President Richard Nixon's resignation on television. His father's friend Steve Biko was killed; and he was detained in a prison for over a year for curfew violations. But nothing would prepare him for the Northern California rains of 1994. Upon moving to San Francisco and re-entering the bike messenger world, Brown discovered an awful truth that haunts him to this day: His suede tennis shoes were not waterproof. Torn between his favorite footwear and the unforgiving wrath of Mother Nature, Brown accepted the consequences and realized he would have to get used to making deliveries with soaking-wet feet. The Bay Area is better off for it, but to this day, he explains thoughtfully, "My shoes always squish when it rains."
Goals: To complete his first feature film, Metal, and enter it in the Berlin Film Festival -- "the only decent one there is."
Name: Nick Kasimatis
Vitals: 28 years old, 5 feet 9 inches, 150 pounds
Sign: Aquarius
Company: The Collective
Hometown: San Diego
Years as Messenger: Two
Identifying Marks: One large earring in left ear
Last Book Read: Another Country by James Baldwin
Bike: Bianchi road bike
Bag: Zo
Background: Kasimatis' youth was spent in the seemingly happy surroundings of suburban Southern California, in a tranquil neighborhood of split-level homes and cul-de-sacs. He surfed, he studied photography and painting, he drove around endlessly in a car -- all of it slowly eating at his insides. "The Brady Bunch, basically," he remembers, fighting back the emotion. "There were no hardships was what I had to overcome." He knew something else was on the horizon, hardships he had yet to experience, pain he had yet to ignore. He found all of that and more, in the Bay Area bike messenger community, which embraced his needs with open arms, and provided him an opportunity to enjoy all the pain and hardship he could ever want. Kasimatis has found a home at last.
Goals: "If I can make art and ride my bike for the rest of my life, I'll be happy.
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