Chi-Town Showdown

By Josh Noel.

Chicago Tribune, May 28, 1997

On two wheels they glided in, one after the other, to a secluded embankmentoff the north branch of the Chicago River. For years -- as many as 25 bysome estimates -- the locale had been a favorite of bicycle messengersfor post-workday congregation, which was evidenced by the thin layer ofbroken beer bottles and cigarette butts covering the ground.

There could be no better meeting place for Sunday's Chi-Town Showdown,a race amongg Chicago's bike messengers, that unique crew (of mostly men,though there are some women) who zip around the Loop, narrowly squeezingthemselves between life and buses. About 30 messengers-- including smallgroups from Minnesota and New York City -- turned out, arriving tattooed,pierced, with dyed hair, or at least wearing a pair of flamboyant sunglasses..

"We look punk rock or outrageous because we can," said 27-year-oldJack Blackfelt, who sports a spiderweb tattoo on his shaved head. "There'ssome pride in kind of being on the fringe.""

The weather was cold, gray and misty for the Showdown, but it didn'tpose much of a problem.

"Actually this is better," said Steve Smith, a messengeringveteran of six years and the only biker to bring along his child, six-year-oldErin. "When you're out working or doing something like this, 40 degreesor around there is just right. You don't get so drenched with sweat."

The weather didn't bother Chicagoan Patrick Babcock either. He won theShowdown's central event, a race covering a seven-mile course, in 26 minutes.The rules were simple: each rider was required to lug a two-foot-long boxthrough the Loop, stopping at seven checkpoints (including a peep showon Wells Street) before crossing the finish line..

"Basically it's a simulated hour on the job," said Blackfelt,who's been on the job for eight years. Other stops on the route were LowerWacker Drive and Columbus Drive (where racers had to either eat a doughnutor do 20 jumping jacks -- most chose the latter); 140 S. Dearborn St.;the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago; 131 N. Green St.; State andKinzie Streets; and completing the circuit back at the starting point..

Babcock also won the track standing competition, a bike balancing competitionbetween two parallel lines. A Minneapolis rider won the four-block sprintrace.

The event was sponsored by the Windy City Bike Messenger Association,an organization with just five or so core members, including Blackfelt,who called himself the group's treasurer, even though "there isn'ta whole lot of money to keep track of." He said the event was bornnot only to socialize, drink beer and smoke cigarettes -- as the groupdid for the hour preceding the race -- but also to help nurture a politicalmovement among bike messengers.

"The first step of a political movement is a social one,"Blackfelt said. "We hope to be unionized someday.""

Messengers in many cities, including San Francisco, Toronto and Berlin,have forged tight-knit communities, and, according to Blackfelt, affectedpolitical change. Members of the Windy City Bicycle Messenger Associationhope to ease what they perceive as a crack-down by Chicago Police againstbicycle messengers, even though Blackfelt called the people in his field"professional law breakers.""

"But 95 percent of us are quite good at what we do," he said."We don't put ourselves or anyone else in danger.""

Most bike messengers say they just want to left alone, or at least tolerated..

"People who do this don't do it because they're losers or becausethey have a bad education," said 23-year-old UV Awazu, who has beena bike messenger for a year and placed second in both the course race andthe sprint. "They like riding and building up a sweat and being outwith the elements.

Sometimes in the elevator, people say, 'I don't know how you do it'and we look back and say the same thing to them. I couldn't do what theydo all day.

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