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Friday, January 20

The end of an era, at least for me


Funny how some things can be overlooked by many, but the trained eye of The Original Big Ring misses nothing. I got this in an email from him yesterday.

Sorry ladies, I'm married.

Today will be my last day working for Mercury Messengers.

I'm sorry, I don't think I segued very gently into that topic.

After 14 years and 3 weeks of steady employment, I'll be moving on. To put that into perspective, that's 1/3 of my life, 81 times longer than my last job as a messenger, and 242 times longer than the job I had in between messenger gigs. It's safe to say that I don't think anyone has rounded the corner at 4th and College St more than I have at this point. I've gone through seven messenger bags, four bike locks, a shit ton of keys, and probably a dozen helmets. I'm old enough to have fathered some of the guys delivering for Jimmy John's (but then again, so are two of the other remaining messengers). In that time, I've only called off once, and that was the day I woke up in a pool of blood in the street with my front wheel missing. I was back at work the next day looking like a zombie who couldn't lift one arm.

photo cred: Big Worm

Before the raccoon eye effect and swelling had a chance to settle in for the week

Blame the economy? A little. There were as many as 16 messengers on the streets of Charlotte before the house of cards collapsed. Now the numbers are closer to where they were back in 1996 when I pulled my first job. Amazing. I've seen a lot of faces come and go, and Big Worm and I have talked about how we probably shoulda kept a log to keep track of them all. We didn't, so that history is lost. Niner rider Rebecca Tomaszewski (Tomma-wicki-wicki-wicki) was once amongst our ranks as well as Eric "PMBAR Honcho" Wever. Have a hundred riders passed through the "scene" since the era of modern messengering began in Charlotte back in 1995? Dunno. Sure seems like it.

One could say that I'm landing on my feet. Although I woulda liked to take a pleasant break in steady employment, I go back to work on Monday. While talking to my new manager, I was told that I would need to wear pants.

"I need to BUY pants?"

"You don't own pants?"

"Why would I?"

I now own pants (thank you, Goodwill). I'm pretty sure I'll have my shirt tucked in on Monday morning. I'll get over it.

Of course I'll tell you more about my new job next week.

I'm gonna do my damnedest to not be distracted by renegade trail work and beer, and make sure that I race the short track this weekend. Word on the street is that the what used to be a jump bump is now a jump once more.

This pleases me.

I look forward to rubbing elbows, trading paint, pointlessly jumping jumps, and mounting up a number plate for the first time in 2012. This should certainly stoke the fire for the what-is-called-a-race-but-is-just-a-big-party ICYCLE coming up on January 28th.

19 comments:

Jason said...

Oh God, not pants!!! I think I own one pair of real (non jeans) pants and I'm not sure they fit. At least you didn't say "tie." Good luck. Yada, yada, yada...

dicky said...

No tie, but I don't think they would appreciate my custom "I AIN'T NO GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH" leather belt.

tiles said...

wow, heavy dude.

Shawn said...

Congrats on the new gig Dicky. Will you ultra badass podium pants work? I'm sure they would look extra rad with a tucked in shirt.

kbark said...

Dang, the end of an era for sure.

Good luck

lm said...

Best of luck with this new position which sounds like it may be working indoors. Eeek.

You should put up a paypal button for the "buy Dicky some pants fund"...

And if this job doesn't work out for you, you can always use the money to buy some beer so you can enter more races. :-)

Anonymous said...

Boxers or briefs ? Chamois butter?

Anonymous said...

feel free to contribute http://www.bikepasa.com/index.php?option=com_agora&task=topic&id=1302&Itemid=2#p24555

Big E said...

Wow! What will happen to the sandals Dicky!? Will you just remove the cleats and wear them around the office like an old hippy trying to hang on by still having a ponytail? Good luck with the new job! I know with your massive shlong and new "pants" you'll rock out. Just not with your c#@$ out...

BIG JIM said...

Man what a boner, I mean bummer, what a bummer. Cool thing about tucking in your shirt is you can untuck it at 5:00 while you turn your back on the man.

Karen said...

Whoah! Big news. Good luck in your new venture.

(But watch out for your new manager... sounds like a ball-buster. Wokka wokka.)

sue said...

Thanks dude you don't know how much I appreciated what you did for Holt & Mercury Messengers. It has been a wild ride! Thanks for sharing it with us! Best of luck with the new adventure!

dicky said...

Thanks Sue, that means a lot to me.

Anonymous said...

Change offers new perspective, and as sad as it is to leave an era behind, what's to come is that exciting part in life, like a ride on a new trail that keeps you pushing around each bend. Will this trail lead to a sweet downhill, uphill, a cooler of beer, my death? It's always exciting. Wishing you the best!
-Chris

Jill Homer said...

End of an era indeed. Good luck.

cornfed said...

So 2008. Except I can still wear short shorts.

Mike said...

I just can't wait to see how fat you get.

dicky said...

Me too. Can't wait to see what this whole "fat biking" craze is all about.

Toisenlainen said...

All the best for you in your future endeavours.

I salute your time on the road and will continue checking in for the mountain biking.

Paavo,

Helsinki, Finland. (Fifth winter on the road)