Bolger rarely wears a helmet, despite having suffered five concussions as a messenger, he said. He has been hospitalized only once, after "dooring," a term for slamming into a quickly opened car door.
Most team members work their routes on their custom-made Cannondale team bikes. Each weighs 14 pounds and has the Puma emblem and colorful graffiti incorporated into the red glossy finish.
anti-freeze
Bolger has attached a hip flask to his bike. "In the winter, you put your schnapps in there," he said.
So how does one stop a fixed-gear bike barreling 30mph down crowded, bumpy streets of Midtown Manhattan with no brakes? By sharply locking up on the pedals and applying reverse pressure. Riding a fixed-gear bicycle takes much practice and is a badge of honor for many elite messengers, said Bucky Turco, publisher of Fixed magazine, which is devoted to fixed-gear bikes.
Team Puma members frequently invoke the name of Nelson Vails, a New York City messenger who won a silver medal in cycling at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Last month, at Kissena Park in Queens, several Team Puma members raced against Marty Nothstein, America's most decorated track cyclist and a gold medalist in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Puma members came in several seconds behind him. After the race, a winded Nothstein said he was impressed with the caliber of their riding.
"There's a certain ability you get by messengering that you can't get from the road or the track," he said.
Last Friday, Bolger knifed effortlessly through a herd of taxis and trucks, delivering packages and running errands in preparation for the Cycle Messenger World Championships in New York City that will take place over the Independence Day weekend. He was trying to solve a visa problem for the Warsaw Car Killers, a Polish messenger team.
Experienced messengers earn about US$100 a day, Bobe said, but a really good one can earn up to US$800 a week by "being fast, knowing your way around the city and having a good dispatcher." Bobe has worked as a bike messenger for 12 years and supports his two children with his courier earnings, which he supplements with prize money and bonuses from Puma for top finishes.
Bobe hopes to qualify for the Olympics. "I'm one second off the qualifying time for the 200m sprints," he said.
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