by Guy Martin
New York, September 30,1996
Aside from pigeons and possibly rats, cyclists are the city's largestunlicensed moving horde: Last month more than 11,000 passed the DOT's 50thStreet counting posts during a working day, nearly double the number ofa decade ago. According to the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives,there are some 90,000 cyclists in the five boroughs. The riders and theirmachines can be ordained into archetypes, most of which have been around- though not necessarily tooling through TriBeCa or humping through a redlight at Lexington and 42nd - for a couple of thousand years.
Hermes
He started as a bike messenger at 15. Now at 31, Jose, "Trash",Davilla is the most swift of the most swift. Currently employed by ExpressIt on West 52nd, Trash has armor of aboriginal messenger providence - in1990 he was a founding member of the now disbanded "Team X-Men"bike messenger posse. The X-men culled motorcycle shops and sporting goodsstores for fierce hockey helmets, shin pads, and studded plastic chestprotectors.
His bike is a 21-gear Mongoose Rockadile with a suspension neck andXTR brake pads, a $1,000 rig Trash fondly calls "my creation."He rides it about 75 miles a day, including the 25 mile commute to andfrom the Bronx. He can make it from Central Park to Battery Park in fifteenminutes.
"I can do about 50 miles an hour," he explains casually. "Grabbincars. I grab mirrors, antennas, windows, bumpers, the wheel well. I canhold on with a finger. I can just lay my hand on the trunk and hold therewith gravity. The cars only go about 35, but when I let go, then it's likecatchin' a wave and I can shoot down see?"
Trash has never had a wreck. He would like to send all New Yorkers thefollowing benediction: "To my people in NY City: Ching/A/Ling, mybrothers and those who are incarcerated. To my co- workers and friendsat the auto and bike shop at 54th and Ninth. To my loved ones, to my ex-girls,especially to my daughter, Yaritza Maria Davilla, and to my teammates outthere: Yeah-yeah, go- go, live to ride and ride to live. Love Trash, theX-man."
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at messvilleto@yahoo.com