The story of La Ocho

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Dandy Blog, September 28, 2011

by Colleen Kirley
designs by Dieter Janssen

La Ocho

 

Dieter Janssen, architect and former professor at the University of Toronto, wanted a custom bike and went to La Carrera Cycles. One day, while he was in the shop, he overheard owner Nadir Olivet talking about having the Cycle Messenger World Championships (CMWC) in Guatemala. Janssen had recently taken interest in racing tracks – he visited the 333-metre outdoor velodrome in Cuba and has ridden the Forest City velodrome in London, Ontario – and when Nadir mentioned the figure 8 track, he was immediately interested in being involved.

Janssen was up for the challenge. He enlisted some students and created a work-study program out of the track. “It’s a complex geometry,” Janssen said. “Because of the physics of that geometry – we really needed to get right in terms of making this track function properly.” On Janssen’s website, you can view just how complex this work was – pages and pages of diagrams and equations map out what will ultimately become the track. “We worked with a mathematician who recommended some people who were also interested in the project. Very quickly, we had a team together.”

More…

La Carrera Cycles hits the road

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Dandyhorse, September 2011 

by Tammy Thorne with files from Colleen Kirley

La Carrera

 

It was in La Condesa, Mexico City, where I had my first official safety meeting with Nadir Olivet.

Olivet not only cares about the safety of his fellow cyclists, he also cares deeply about the craft of building and painting bicycles.

During our meeting he introduced me to a man named Futura from NYC.

Futura painted the Colnago bike in the photo above. Futura (or Futura 2000 as he is also known) is also one of the earliest pioneers of graffiti art.

This fact was hard for me to fully comprehend, so I just thought of him as the amazing polka dot bike painter to help keep my brains from exploding.

We were in La Condesa for an urban bicycle race (aka “alley cat”) called Chill ‘n Go that Olivet helped organize as a precursor to his 2010 Cycle Messenger World Championship event in Panajachel Guatemala, which would feature a specially designed figure-eight track called La Ocho. Olivet is also a fan of unusual racing tracks.

Fast forward a year-and-a-half and I’m sitting in the back of La Carrera Cycles, in its final days, discussing cyclist safety, personal well being and the future of cycling with founder, Olivet.

Read the rest at Dandyhorse

Cyclists are run over by bus and lorry

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Peter Dominiczak, Emine Sinmaz, and Lucy Osborne
 
Evening Standard,  September 20, 2011
 
A cyclist was fighting for his life today and another has serious leg injuries after two accidents in central London.
 
Police said a male cyclist was critical after being hit by a lorry in Vauxhall this morning. Witnesses told how his bicycle was dragged along the road by the HGV before the driver realised what had happened.
 
In Aldwych, a cyclist was left with “life changing” leg injuries after being run over by a number 243 double-decker bus.
 
There was chaos on roads closed while the emergency services dealt with the victims.
 
The first accident happened at about 7.45am today outside Vauxhall Tube. It is believed the cyclist, thought to have been a courier, was hit from behind by the lorry. The bicycle was dragged along Vauxhall bridge before the driver realised.
 
Police said the cyclist was initially in a critical condition but had now been stabilised.
 
Sean Skinner tweeted: “Looks like cyclist hit from behind by large refuse lorry at lights and bike dragged underneath for over 200m.” The Aldwych accident happened at 9am outside the Waldorf Hilton hotel.
 
Abi Sultana, 27, who was working at a café opposite the scene, said: “The bus was pulling into the stop and the guy tried to overtake from the inside.
 
“I saw him lying on the floor and there was loads of blood coming from his leg. He couldn’t move.”
 
Another witness said the victim was in his fifties or sixties and was left lying under the bus in a pool of blood.

NIU assistant professor delivers insight on bike messengers

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Northern Star, September 13, 2011

By Chelsey Boutan

When assistant professor of sociology Jeff Kidder first rode his bike downNew York City’s streets, he was afraid.

Angry commuters, red lights, traffic, one-way streets – Kidder struggled to weave through the urban maze so he could pick up an application at a bike messenger company.

“It’s sort of like being in the middle of an aluminumGrand Canyon,” Kidder said. “It feels very frightening.”

Kidder’s interest in this subculture grew as he worked as a bike messenger for his doctoral research, which became the foundation for his recently published book, “Urban Flow: Bike Messengers and the City.”

“A bike messenger’s self identity is really wrapped up in their work, and I find that very interesting,” Kidder said. “My book tries to unpack what about this job allows that to happen.”

For more than three years, Kidder worked as a bike messenger inNew York City,SeattleandSan Diego. Kidder said having direct experience with the group’s activities is the best way to study a subculture.

Continue reading →

2011 Markus Cook Award – Call for nominations

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It’s time to call for nominations for this year’s Markus Cook Award for services to the international messenger community.

This will be the 14th year that the award is presented. It was started by Buffalo Bill in 1998, to remember Markus and to draw attention to messengers whose work benefits all of us.

From the IFBMA’s Markus Cook Award page:

“The MCA for services to the International Messenger Community is not a prize for winning a race. At the time the Award was conceived, CMWC was beginning to be more about the racing than the happening. I [ Buffalo Bill] wanted to re-establish the spirit of the championships, to restate the reason that we all come to this event every year.

The MCA is a reflection of the axiom that everyone who comes to a CMWC is a winner, whether they race or not.

Markus himself was very much in love with the CMWC, and in many ways he was the unlikeliest bike racer imaginable. He was several other things, of course. Editor of Mercury Rising messenger zine, unofficial spokesperson of the SFBMA, leader of L Sid, and a friend to all. The enthusiasm of Markus brought CMWC and the international messenger community toSan Francisco, and it saddens many people to this day that he did not live to see it.

This award is for people that inspire and empower the wider messenger community, that put all of us before themselves.”

Continue reading →

Darcy Allan Sheppard – A life’s last moments

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On August 31, 2009, former attorney general for Ontario, Michael Bryant, killed cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard in one of the most violent and horrific cases of road rage in Toronto’s history.

Neither Michael Bryant nor his wife, entertainment lawyer Susan Abramovitch, gave statements to police regarding the circumstances that led to Darcy Allan Sheppard’s death. They will have many months to tailor their testimonies to fit the known evidence and weave it seamlessly into a vigorous defense mounted by one of the most elite criminal lawyers in the country.

Bryant’s victim, Darcy Allan Sheppard, who was known as Al to his friends, will not have a voice at the trial. He will not have an opportunity to challenge Michael Bryant’s carefully scripted and rehearsed testimony. He will not have a chance to correct Bryant’s devoted wife and an experienced lawyer when she unconditionally supports her husband of twelve years on the witness stand.

Al’s voice needs to be heard. It’s important that people have an opportunity to understand his life’s last moments. Al could have been any one of us. He just happened to be the cyclist who crossed paths with a driver on the verge of a road rage meltdown.

I have attempted to rebuild those last moments of Al’s life from his point of view. All of the events are based on the factual evidence contained in security camera video, witness statements and news reports. Al’s point of view is also primarily based on the factual evidence as well as my own experiences as a bike messenger and cyclist.

On the evening of Monday August 31, 2009, Al Sheppard was heading home to his apartment at Dupont and Dufferin Streets. His route took him along Bloor Street in front of the trendy blocks of retail stores and boutiques near Bay Street.

At about 9:45 pm, a security camera captured images of a black Saab convertible stopped at a red light on Bloor Street near Bay Street. The car was driven by Michael Bryant. His wife, Susan Abramovitch, sat next to him in the passenger’s seat. The Bryants were on their way home after a night out celebrating their twelfth wedding anniversary.

Read the rest at Bryant Watch