Flying the flag for freedom

Crissima Pearce - Bike Courier

by Monique Dykstra
Montreal Gazette,September24, 1998

A Union Jack flutters beneath CrissimaPearce’s bicycle seat as she rides around Montreal delivering packages.And she always wears a Scottish kilt when she works. "My big sis boughtme the skirt at Marks and Spencer in England", she says. "It’s not veryaerodynamic, but it works for me."

A sturdy 24 year old from Brighton, England,Pearce currently works as a bike courier in Montreal. Before moving toQuebec, she worked as a courier in several European and North Americancities. Pearce is also frequent competitor in national and internationalcourier races.

"I just got back from the Cycle MessengerWorld Championships in Washington, DC. It was good fun. We had cargo races,track-standing (balancing on your bike with both feet off the ground),sprints and bicycle lock- ups. In the main race, there’s pick-ups and drops,check points and cardboard cut-out pedestrians. If you hit a pedestrian,you get 30 seconds deducted. If you hit them intentionally, they take aminute off."

"I race for the fun of it. And to see everyone.Couriers are great. I love them. It’s like a big community. They’re myfamily. They have this front of being really tough, but they’ve all gotsoft hearts down under. And they’re different wherever you go. In Munich,people support their families with couriering. It’s not uncommon to doit for ten years there. In Vancouver, they’re kind of studentish. And rich.They usually do it for a summer, then quit. In San Francisco, they’re acompletely different breed- kind of funky and weird."

"Cities are all different too. London iscrazy. The city is enormous and the streets are small and wiggly windy.San Francisco is hard on the knees- all the big steep hills. Montreal isbuilt on a grid system so it was easy to learn- I had it down in two weeks."

"I want to do a winter in Montreal. Youget respect for that. After that I want to Sydney, Australia. Or maybeMelbourne. I can go anywhere and be a courier. That’s what’s so great aboutthis job- when you get fed up, you can just move on. I want to do it foras long as I can. Until my knees give out. Or my back."

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at messvilleto@yahoo.com