Bicycle messengers are people who work for courier companies carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business districts of metropolitan areas. Courier companies use bike messengers because bicycle travel is less subject to unexpected holdups in city traffic jams, and is not deterred by parking limitations, fees or fines in high-density development that can hinder or prevent delivery by motor vehicle, thereby offering a predictable delivery time.
The Race Across America, or RAAM, is an ultra-distance road cycling race held across the United States that started in 1982 as the Great American Bike Race.
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling sports include artistic cycling, cycle polo, freestyle BMX, mountain bike trials, hardcourt bike polo and cycleball. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) is the world governing body for cycling and international competitive cycling events. The International Human Powered Vehicle Association is the governing body for human-powered vehicles that imposes far fewer restrictions on their design than does the UCI. The UltraMarathon Cycling Association is the governing body for many ultra-distance cycling races.
A fixed-gear bicycle is a bicycle that has a drivetrain with no freewheel mechanism such that the pedals always will spin together with the rear wheel. The freewheel was developed early in the history of bicycle design but the fixed-gear bicycle remained the standard track racing design. More recently the "fixie" has become a popular alternative among mainly urban cyclists, offering the advantage of simplicity compared with the standard multi-geared bicycle.
Downhill mountain biking (DH) is a style of mountain biking practiced on steep, rough terrain that often features jumps, drops, rock gardens and other obstacles. Jumps can be up to and including 12 meters, and drops can be greater than 3 meters.
A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m.
This is a glossary of terms and jargon used in cycling, mountain biking, and cycle sport.
Cycle speedway is a form of bicycle racing on short oval dirt tracks, usually outdoors, occasionally indoors, typically 70–90 metres long. Like motorcycle speedway, riders use machines without brakes or multiple gears but, unlike motor speedway, the object is not to slide bikes round the turns.
Monstertrack is an illegal alleycat race originally held in New York City in 2000. The race was conceived by bicycle messenger known as 'Snake'. The race is exclusively for riders on brakeless fixed-gear bicycles. The event gained popularity along with that of because of the use of track and fixed-gear bicycles on urban streets in the 2000s.
A spoke card, or spokecard, is a card placed in the spokes of a bicycle wheel. They lie parallel to the entire wheel. Most spoke cards are laminated.
Lucas Brunelle is an American videographer of bicycle stunts and races.
Supermarket Street Sweep is an annual charity bicycle race held in San Francisco, California. The race benefits the San Francisco Food Bank by tasking racers to collect both food and financial donations. The race is an Alleycat-style race that features specific tasks and checkpoints along the route for racers to complete.
The Cycle Messenger World Championships, or CMWCs, are an annual urban cycling competition whereby cycle messengers and cycling enthusiasts showcase their skills in an array of events, many of which simulate everyday tasks for a cycle messenger. Each year, the CMWCs are held in a different city around the world, with each host city designing its own unique course. The highlight of the CMWCs is the main race in which cyclists are given manifests and must pickup and deliver items to various locations around the host city as quickly and efficiently as possible. The total number of pickups and deliveries, or "drop offs" is unknown to the messengers before the race, but has been known to reach up to 100 stops and usually takes between 3–4 hours to complete. The cyclist who completes all of the assigned deliveries in the least amount of time wins the race. In addition to the main race there are also several side events which have become increasingly popular over the past few years. These events change yearly depending on the discretion of the host city but usually include backward circles, bike polo, bunnyhop, cargo race, longest skid, sprints, and trackstand.
The Transcontinental Race (TCR) is an annual, self-supported, ultra-distance cycling race across Europe. It is one of the world's toughest ultra-endurance races. The route and distance varies for each edition between about 3,200 and 4,200 km, with the winners generally taking 7 to 10 days. Interest in the race grew rapidly from 30 people starting the first edition of the race in 2013 to over 1,000 people applying for a place in the fourth edition in 2016, 350 of whom were successful; since then, these numbers have been reasonably stable.
The Trans Am Bike Race (TABR) is an annual, self-supported, ultra-distance cycling race across the United States. The route is about 4,200 miles (6,800 km) long and uses the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail that was developed by the Adventure Cycling Association for the Bikecentennial event in 1976. The route runs from the Pacific coast in Astoria, Oregon to the Atlantic coast in Yorktown, Virginia, passing through ten states. The inaugural race was in 2014, which 25 people completed, the fastest of whom took less than 18 days.
The definition of ultra-distance cycling is far more vague than in ultra running or in ultra-triathlon. Any bike race or ride longer than a century ride, which is 100 miles (160 km), is sometimes considered to be ultra-distance cycling. However, such events are relatively common, so using a longer distance to define the category is more useful, such as any race or ride that is longer than 200 kilometres (120 mi), 300 kilometres (190 mi) or even a double century, 200 miles (320 km).
The IncaDivide Race is a yearly, self-supported, ultra-distance cycling race across the territory of the Incas in South America and organized by the french organization BikingMan. The first edition took the participants through Ecuador and Peru in 2017. This is the first self-supported race to take place in South America. The inaugural edition route was about 3,500 kilometres (2,200 mi) long and went along some sections of the Qhapaq ñan, the legendary inca road network that was built by the Inca civilization. The main challenge of the race lies in its high altitude route and the challenging weather conditions of the Andes. All cyclists have to cycle across the Andes Cordillera with high passes above 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) on remote andean tracks and random road conditions. The inaugural race was held the 1st of July 2017. 17 athletes attempted to complete it but only 6 could reach the finish line. The fastest rider took less than 17 days to cycle from Quito to Cuzco.
Gravel cycling, gravel biking or gravel grinding is a sport, or a leisure activity, in which participants ride bicycles mostly on gravel roads. Sometimes, specially designed gravel bikes are used; in other cases, any bicycle capable of covering the terrain can be used.
Cranksgiving is an annual charity event where cyclists compete in an alleycat style race while purchasing food items at stops along the way. The event is scheduled near the American Thanksgiving holiday and the food is donated to local food pantries. The event was started in New York City in 1999 and has since spread to other cities in the United States as well as in other countries.
