Zachary Parke

Yesterday our dear friend and crew member Zachary Parke was killed by a hit and run driver while bicycling home from visiting a friend. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. Words cannot express our sorrow and loss. Zach, we love you!

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_18230663?source=most_viewed

Messenger Profile #7-Andrew Weyland!

We call Andrew the Super Rookie, whether it's banging out a medical delivery in under a half an hour, or handling a complicated filing, Andrew brings next level performance to his job because he cares about what he does and always wants to improve. It's a joy having you on Crew Andrew. Keep up the good work!-RG
Yo,
I consider myself lucky to be able to say that I live and work in beautiful Santa Cruz as a professional bicycle messenger. There aren't as many of us in this town as there are in bigger cities like New York and San Francisco, but we are working to change that every day. From day one I have been impressed with my fellow messengers' work ethic and positive attitude in even the most stressful situations. I would like to give a big shout out to my boy Brandon for helping me get my foot in the door when I was just a broke kid living in San Francisco struggling to get by; and to Rick for being a teacher and helping guide me along the path to becoming a good messenger. He doesn't accept anything but the best and that has made me better day in and day out.

I was born in Castro Valley, California; my family moved to Arizona when I was about one. My parents decided to move back to California in 2000 and we settled into Aptos. I attended Aptos High School and played varsity soccer for three years. I earned the rank of Eagle Scout in August of 2008. I had always hoped to play soccer in college and since I could walk I wanted to play professionally. But my life didn't turn out like that. After graduating high school in 2008 and not being accepted at any colleges with a soccer scholarship, I began to take classes full-time at Cabrillo College.

I just didn't fit in and I moved to San Francisco to get a change of scenery and experience city life. In SF I worked at the Freewheel Bike Shop as a mechanic. It was in San Francisco that I was first exposed to the messenger culture. Messengers would come into the shop during down time and I was so envious of their freedom of movement and autonomy. My boss was right in the other room, ready to crack the whip at any time, while these messengers were seemingly free with only a radio to answer to. I would see them gliding through traffic or hanging out at the statue and while the weather wasn't always perfect or the cars respectful, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I tried to get a messenger job in the city for a couple months, but no one was hiring, especially not a rookie with zero experience. In a phone conversation with Brandon, I told him I wanted to be a messenger and he told me that Clutch might need another rider. I jumped at the opportunity.

I have learned, since beginning work for Clutch Couriers, not only how to ride my bicycle farther and faster than I thought possible, but other life skills that have made me a better person. Learning to anticipate that door that someone in a parked car is going to open on to you has taught me to be aware, and then being able to stay calm and collected after it happens for the sixth time in a day has taught me patience. Accidents do happen, but most can be avoided through anticipation and careful positioning. I am happy to say that I have not had a serious accident as a courier, and I defy anyone to call this a dangerous job for idiots. Do you want your legal filing being executed by some brainless idiot with a death wish?

In my free time I love to play bicycle polo, a mix between horse polo and hockey played in all major cities and elsewhere around the world. I also love to play electric and acoustic guitar as well as my bluegrass mandolin. I like coffee, books, beer, music, friends, long rides, laughter, findings gaps in between cars that you wouldn't think existed, and wiggling my ears. Before I wrap up here I want to say a big thank you to my wonderful girlfriend Carrie. Without her love and support I wouldn't have made it through some of my tougher rookie days.

Thanks for reading. Yall keep yer noses clean and the rubber side down!

This job cannot be outsourced

Clutch Couriers is old school meets new school. Whether it's instant email notification on your documents, and satellite radio dispatch, or just getting from A to B quickly; we get the job done with the perfect mix of skilled labor, and the best of 19th through 21st century technology.

the fruits of our labor are too sweet to hang low..

What are the hours of your life worth? The time you spend working that you never get back.
Labor is undervalued.

A messengers labor has always been undervalued, and ever since the first messengers were killed upon their delivery of said message, this profession has been taken for granted.

Ever since my entry into the delivery business almost 17 years ago, and ever since entering the workforce at 16 I have known that this is true. The only weapon against this, barring a college degree, is to set a higher standard to constantly improve, and therefore over time, by working sharp angles and building solid relationships, you can incrementally increase your value in the market.

You are after all the ultimate freelancer, and as an independent contractor you can sell yourself to the best company and the best dispatcher in that company and that is incentive to improve. The more skills you have, the more services you offer, the more professional and wide reaching those services the higher price you can command.
This improves the industry and the messengers lot, one courier at a time.
Then came the 2000's and youtube and eco-groovyness, and fixed gears ridden by posers doing tricks and the whole idea of being a messenger turned on it's head. All of a sudden in the young, modern public's eye the value of being a messenger was in the cool points and the whole idea of it being something that you do for a living was lost.
Except for those that are still doing it. For a living.
Clutch Couriers who stick with it know the value of the hours of their life. They will not devalue them by subsidizing their job with social status and charging grossly below the standard to get business. We will up our game so that we can expand into new markets, earning new respect and pushing the profession upward to a more sustainable payscale. We will not participate in a race to the bottom because we are invested in the future of our job in this beautiful place. This is the real shit. A job we love and will fight to protect.

A perfectly normal job.

Being a Bike Messenger in Santa Cruz is a little like being a Muslim in America. Reviled by some, glorified by others, but universally stared at and set apart from the mainstream.
Some of this may be self-perpetuated, and some messengers are reactionary.
What we need to do is use the animosity as fuel towards reaching out to those that fear, and see the flattery for what it is, a desire to understand better.
Don't call us 'bike punks', or 'pedalers for peace'. Call us your friends and neighbors, and you may learn that we are delivering your paycheck, or your Uncle's divorce papers, or your Mother's biopsy.
Clutch Couriers is Santa Cruz's professional bike messenger company. Doing a perfectly normal job, the way that makes sense.
-RG

We are in a hurry so others don't have to be.

We are in a hurry so others don't have to be.
We are not racing you, we are delivering a service that has a specific time frame. A time frame that the competition can't or won't make. That's why you see us chirping away on our Nextel radios. Not so that we can be clowned by people with smart phones, but so that we can ...communicate directly and efficiently about jobs and positioning on the most reliable network available without dropping calls or running out of battery power.
Some examples of items that need to be hand delivered in a hurry: Legal documents like restraining orders or contracts that need to be signed, medical specimens, water samples for purity testing, camera parts for a delayed photo-shoot, or modified bicycle parts for your Burning Man extra-cycle.
Clutch Couriers is about getting it done, getting it done right, and getting it done right now. That's what coming through in the clutch means.
So if we take the time to smile and wave its because we like you, stranger, and we love our job, no matter how misconstrued it is.

Courtesy in the Courier's World.

Recently we were approached by a New York columnist who wanted to know the rudest questions we were asked about our job for a book he is writing featuring Miss Manners and other notables. It brought up the larger subject of common courtesy and how it relates to our job as we go about in traffic and through people's work environments.
It occurred to me that some bicycle couriers might be seen as discourteous and maybe that could have something to do with the supposed decline of the industry as a whole.
In truth you can't be a successful courier if you are rude or unaware of how your actions effect others around you. One of the keys to a smooth career or day as a courier is an acute awareness of your position and relationship to others on the physical plane. In traffic it's a matter of survival. You can't barge through a car even if they are trying take you out, and a pedestrian is better passed from behind, so as not to have them skitter in front of you and get hit. The main principle is not to impede the flow of traffic, which bike messengers should be great at because of their superior maneuverability.
Towards that end, Clutch Couriers practice letting people out of the door before entering (just like in NYC subway cars) and holding the door for those entering behind us. Other less obvious (and misunderstood) favors include moving to the front of the line at the red light so that the cyclist can be clearly seen, and get out of the intersection quicker when the light turns green.
There are a million ways that modern life has made us believe that "I am the center of the universe" and this disease is spreading like an epidemic. Being a good bicycle messenger is the one of the best ways that I know to combat this in myself.
Remember that common courtesy is really looking out for number one by realizing the symbiotic nature of society.

Flowing like water from the mountains to the sea...-RG