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Tuolumne County, Ca -- I’m furiously pedaling up Market Street, trying to decide if I want to call a co-worker to hand off one of these packages burning a hole in my bag. This will be the last run of the day. I’ve got 2 hot rushes due in 15 minutes, a court filing at San Francisco Superior due in 35 minutes, and eviction papers due by five.
If I hand off one of these tags (messenger speak for a delivery), that’ll mean less commission for me. But if I mess up this run and deliver something late, an attorney will be screaming at me for causing him to potentially lose a case. My company could lose a client and it would be my fault.
Out of breath, I decide to call Kidney Chris, another process server on our board. He’s fast, rides a fixed gear, and is sure to want some extra commission. I ask him over the Nextel if he wants one of the South-of-Market 15s in my bag.
Great, he can do it. At the 8th and Market hand off point, I reluctantly make a snap decision to give Chris the two rushes instead of just the one. I don’t relish the thought of losing our biggest attorney client just because I feel a little greedy today. That’s about $40 in commission that I won’t see in my purse come payday, but my loss is his gain. Sooner or later the easy gravy manages to come back and everything evens out.
I rush up to court with my filing and my serve. In line, as I inspect the documents, I notice that there’s no civil case cover sheet. Damn. The clerk won’t file this. I call the attorney to ask his permission if I can fill out a new one and sign his name. He says to do whatever I have to do, just get it filed.
After over an hour at court, I’m out at 4:47 pm. I have 13 minutes to make this serve. Quickly, I’m back in the saddle. I have to get this eviction to a law office on Capp Street in the Mission before they close their doors at 5.
I am much faster than the flow of traffic on a congested Friday afternoon. I split lanes, run red lights, and manage to harness the flow of traffic to my advantage. Running a red light safely - an oxymoron to most - is a special skill that requires practice, common sense, and one hundred percent awareness.
What may look like insanity to some is actually a series of calculated risks. Sometimes running a hot rush is like being in the ring with a bull. You take only much risk as is necessary to impress the crowd, but mostly it’s the bull fighter that’s in control. The simple truth is that reckless messengers get injured and leave the game; the ones with savvy and control survive to make a little dough playing their favorite sport, cycling. My personal rule of thumb: if a driver has to apply their brakes to avoid hitting a messenger, then the messenger has done something wrong.
I get to the offices of Schlubb and Lynch with 2 minutes to spare. Hopefully, their clocks are right. I know I’ve made it when I feel the glass door open with a push. I see a man in a suit chatting with the receptionist.
In my most jovial voice I say, “Hey, Mr. Schlubb.”
“No, I’m Mr. Lynch.” Perfect, a partner, and now I have a name to put on the proof-of-service.
I feel a sort of irony in serving an attorney’s office with eviction papers.
It’s one year later. I’ve quit being a messenger and after 9 years have moved back to Tuolumne County, my home base. I’m riding up 108 and I’m scared for my life. The control I felt in the city is gone. Now I feel quite powerless. Metal death machines barrel past me at 60 miles an hour as I cling to the edge of the thin white stripe that is my bike lane. 
Even in downtown Sonora, it seems that people don’t expect me to be in traffic, as if bikes somehow don’t belong. And maybe they don’t. Cycling is a perfect addition to any community. It promotes a healthy lifestyle, decreases dependence on foreign oil and pollution, lowers traffic problems, and increases the livability of any area. The problem is that in order for a bike to actually belong on the street, a portion of the community has to want bikes to be there. I get the feeling that most Tuolumne County residents don’t even have cycling on their radar.
I remember what drew me to city cycling in the first place. In San Francisco, there is an expectation to see people on bikes. They’re everywhere, business people, baristas, punks, hipsters, all commuting around the city as a part of normal daily operations. Cycling is much faster and economical in the city as well. There’s a give and take. Cyclists and drivers seem to get along fairly well.
In Tuolumne County, people seem oblivious to cyclists, either that or downright hostile. I remember coming down 108 many years ago around the 25mph curve right outside of Confidence. I was on a road-bike going about 30mph. A guy in a late-model green VW Beetle closed in on me and began blowing his horn. If I had been speeding in a car instead of on a bicycle, the VW probably would have backed off or simply tailgated to show his displeasure. But no, I was a cyclist, the lowest form of traffic. So low in fact that he felt justified in wielding potentially lethal force - an automobile - as an intimidation device.
I imagine that when some people see a person on a bike up here they’re thinking either, ‘That guy can’t afford a car.’ or ‘that guy has a DUI...’ It’s as if somehow people on bikes are thought of as being second class, like cyclists don’t belong on the road.
The obstacles to biking in Tuolumne County as a lifestyle here are numerous. From the general attitudes about cycling, the lack of cohesive bike lanes, to those pesky homicidal drivers, these factors all culminate toward making cycling as a matter of course an impractical endeavor. Of course fitness plays a factor as well. If one can’t pedal up a hill, riding in Sonora is out of the question.
Sure, there are a great many fantastic trails, but few of them go anywhere practical. Try grocery shopping on a bike. That’s a difficult task unless one lives in downtown Sonora.
As it turns out there’s no public support for bike lanes or a least a safe place to walk on many stretches of Hwy 108. There may not be any for a long time either. Tuolumne County has shown very little interest in creating sustainable bike transportation. Maybe it’s just a lack of cyclists. Besides that, budgets are drying up. We’re barely going to have enough money to fix the roads we already have, let alone spend money on bike lanes or pedestrian safe shoulders. Unfortunately, people who wish to travel by means other than the mighty auto - pedestrians and cyclists - are out of luck.
The only way for things to change is for enough people who live in downtown and beyond to start using cycling as a real form of transportation. And then start advocating for better conditions. Could that happen? Maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
It is fairly disappointing- after having experienced the freedom of riding a bicycle every day for the greater part of a decade, only to come up to car dependent Tuolumne County. I love it up here, but, man, I sure miss the city sometimes. JT Cycles:
55 South Washington
Sonora, California 95370
Phone 209-536-9882 Sonora Cyclery: 13867 Mono Way
Sonora, CA 95370
209-532-6800
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