The Worlds Start ...

20 october - today marked the beginning of the 14th annual Cycle Messenger World Championships - got into town a little past eight and was lucky enough to have nothing pressing for about half an hour which allowed me to feverishly inhale the high carbohydrate but extremely sugar rich breakfast provided - gulped down a few coffees and stole away a couple of muffins to eat throughout the day (they were crushed out of existence within half an hour, still edible though). The openingceremony was pretty simple - about a hundred couriers being obnoxious in the middle of Martin Place but it was quite incredible to be a part of such an event - all feelings of pride and wonderment were quickly dashed by a particularly flustered and mad run which was interrupted by the announcement that an envelope that i'd picked up and was supposed to be in my bag had somehow appeard in the mail room of a building i'd not even been to that day. have no idea how it could possibly have got there but one thing for certain was that it shouldn’t have been therre. eventually sorted out the mess but not after a very convoluted, very stressful and exhausting sprint cross town which had to be interrupted by a search for PJ near the Opera House - it might seem a trivial thing but the loss of a job (and it's always a small and seemingly insignificant thing like an envelope that can disappear) can be the loss of the job. But alls well that ends well. Rest of the day was reasonably exhausting but probably profitable - massive downpour in afternoon seemed to destroy the remains of front brake pads so was forced to ride brakeless for the last few hours - replaced them myself at end of the day (another mechanical first) but this is how these things start - riding fixie and brakes get tricky, some people too lazy too fix them so are forced to get used to doingwithout them. Got to the alexandria hotel in the evening - gagging for a beer - lots and lots of international couriers, all of them doingthe one thingthat couriers do best - drinking.
With my small crew of ps Sassafras and PJ managed to get some interview footage which could one day be used for something interesting. registration took forever but that's hardly a surprise as administration is not exactly a courier's forte although a desire for expediency would be expected to be one of them. There was an ill fated alleycat in the evening which seemed a little too pointless and dangerous at that time of the night - not so worried about being hit by a car that doesn't see me as being knocked over by a drunken courier. Did see a few accidents but nobody seemed unhappy about it and that can only bode well for tomorrow.
Registration took forever
Ill fated alleycat