Bike couriers vs commuters

I like to think that riding to work every day makes me a bit healthier and maybe even a little tougher. My co-workers even reinforce this idea. There are days when I get to work and people say, 'Dude, you are HARD CORE!' meaning that it was sprinkling outside and I must have gotten wet. This is obviously more of a statement of how easy it is to avoid going outside rather than a reflection of my inner Grizzly Adams. If you ride daily you are going to have days that are uncomfortable and, yes, sometimes really unpleasant. The unspoken secret among year round commuters is even the lousy days can be fun because...you are riding a bike. But I digress.

The true hard core folks in my mind are the bike couriers. These are professional bikers although they don't have the tight pants and workout coaches you are thinking of. These are people who haul stuff on their own two wheels, year round, hours a day, come rain, shine, or hail. If they have been in the job for a while they tend to look like a Grizzly Adams who has spent a few years living at your local bus stop.

This is a bit different in Minneapolis. Probably the most common courier you will see here is the Jimmy John's sandwich delivery guy/gal.

They ride year round but seem more numerous in the summer. These people often look like a cross between  a fixie-riding hipster and your typical midwestern college student.  This is probably because they are fixie riding midwestern college students. Still, they are out there in all kinds of weather delivering small orders of sub sandwiches. It is probably busy during lunchtime, quiet the rest of the day, and I can't imagine what kind of tip you get for delivering a sandwich and a soda. So, from a bike commuter: you may not be leathery and scarred, Jimmy Jane, but you are still a bike ridin' hero to me.