Don’t shoot the bike messenger

The streets of Montreal are notoriously difficult to navigate. What might begin as a simple walk down a few blocks can spiral into an Odyssey through a dystopic landscape of potholes, puddles, and decades-old construction sites. One-way streets abruptly end at public parks, only to reappear ten blocks north. The steep slopes that crawl up the craggly face of Mont-Royal are made all the more treacherous by ice, proving to be a headache for pedestrians and drivers. From an outsider’s perspective, donning ski goggles and long johns to bike 25 km per hour up these unplowed boulevards seems like the last thing anyone would ever want to do. For the bike messengers who operate in Montreal, every shift involves another jostle through traffic, rain, snow, or shine. Yet, couriers have formed a warm kinship, founded upon mutual desires for improved working conditions and the world of alleycats—non-sanctioned courier races —that foster a sense of community.