Ex-coder's account of life as a bike courier

Duff is an ex-coder in Toronto who took Neal Stephenson and William Gibson to heart, and gave up programming to become a bike-courier, shedding pounds, getting hit by cars, and working the best job in his life. This K5 story covers the joys of couriering in depth. i used to ride a bike winter and summer in Toronto, and it was amazing. These days in London I'm still looking the wrong way when I step off the kerb about half the time, so I'm not getting near a bicycle until I can get my subconscious retrained.

As a courier, you will get hit by cars. It is an occupational hazard. Most of the skill involved in being a bike courier relates to making sure you never occupy the same space as a car at the same time. Even so, no matter how hard you pedal, you can't outrun the law of averages...

Personally, I have been hit twice while working. The first time was by a cabbie who changed lanes into me. I was knocked from my bike. My front wheel and shocks were damaged, but i wasn't. The second time was a door prize. As i rode north up Yonge, someone opened the door of their parked car directly into my path. This one was very scary, as the fall sent me rolling across three lanes of busy traffic, but both my bike and my person came out of it unharmed.

One thing I was surprised to discover is that pedestrians are almost as dangerous to the full-time cyclist as drivers are. Especially if you indulge in sidewalk riding, but frequently even if you stick to the road, people will dart in front of you or suddenly stop or change direction without even the most cursory glance or indication of intent. A car, at least, can't change its direction of travel by a full 180 degrees in half a second. Personally, I have never hit a pedestrian, but on at least two occasions I have bailed in the process of sudden evasive manoevers which they required of me.

Link (via AccordionGuy)