Originally Posted by
rubiksoval
Except you did not make a living racing your bike. Thus, in the context of this thread, you were not a pro. At all.
The messenger gig is an interesting one, though.
Actually, we did have a race and I won. The race was covered by the local news media. I made the equivalent of $80k a year in todays dollars. I made that money because I was the fastest, you can call it what you want. I knew many cat 1/2 racers and MTB/BMX champs who were washouts as messengers. Do you think you could make it through one week? I admit...Cat 1 racers are animals, but it is just a different sort of thing. The skillset is sort of a combination between different styles except if you crash you are much more likely to die.
There were more than a million people packed in a tiny place. Cars were bumper to bumper. You spent 8-10 hours a day with one car on your left and one on your right each not more than 2 inches from the ends of your handlebars, going as fast as you can. The pressure is constant and one mistake is too many. You could get doored at any time. And of course you worked in any and all elements. The hills of San Francisco are brutal, even NY City messengers can't hang. That is why SF messengers made more. Only about 15% of the messengers got the "rush" tags but those tags paid more than twice what normal tags paid. If you competed in a sport where the fastest made 4 times more than the slowest I would say it is professional.