bicycle couriers world championships
knedlicky
Posts: 3,097
While the World Championships for professional cyclists have been going on this last few days in Switzerland, the World Championships for bicycle couriers have been going on at Tokyo in Japan. About 550 riders from 20 different nations took part.
After elimination rounds, the final race of the main competition was contested yesterday by 70 riders, each of whom had to pick up then deliver a package along the route, doing this three times over a distance of about 50 miles. The men’s race was won by a Japanese courier, the women’s by a Danish girl.
The competitions also included seeing who could stand still the longest without putting a foot on the ground, like bicycle couriers seem to prefer do at traffic lights, on a bike similar to a track bike (no breaks, no freewheel).
After 3 mins standing still, competing riders had to take one hand off the bars, after a further 3 mins, the other hand, then after another 3 mins, one foot off the pedals, then after 3 more mins, the other foot. Whoever lasted the longest before losing balance over was the winner.
I'd like to see if Vickie Pendleton could get to the no hands no feet stage.
In the final a Dane defeated an American who had won this competition in previous years and who, in his normal life, carries vegetables for Oregon farmers to wholesalers.
I don't know if any riders from the UK were there, but I would hope so since the second world championships for bicycle couriers was held in London in 1994. The first championships were in Berlin in 1993, and other cities which have hosted the championships since include Copenhagen, Toronto, Edmonton, San Francisco and Sydney.
After elimination rounds, the final race of the main competition was contested yesterday by 70 riders, each of whom had to pick up then deliver a package along the route, doing this three times over a distance of about 50 miles. The men’s race was won by a Japanese courier, the women’s by a Danish girl.
The competitions also included seeing who could stand still the longest without putting a foot on the ground, like bicycle couriers seem to prefer do at traffic lights, on a bike similar to a track bike (no breaks, no freewheel).
After 3 mins standing still, competing riders had to take one hand off the bars, after a further 3 mins, the other hand, then after another 3 mins, one foot off the pedals, then after 3 more mins, the other foot. Whoever lasted the longest before losing balance over was the winner.
I'd like to see if Vickie Pendleton could get to the no hands no feet stage.
In the final a Dane defeated an American who had won this competition in previous years and who, in his normal life, carries vegetables for Oregon farmers to wholesalers.
I don't know if any riders from the UK were there, but I would hope so since the second world championships for bicycle couriers was held in London in 1994. The first championships were in Berlin in 1993, and other cities which have hosted the championships since include Copenhagen, Toronto, Edmonton, San Francisco and Sydney.
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