Can I Survive The Day As A Bike Courier?

In London, bike couriers are the unsung heroes of the streets – fast, fearless, and flying under the radar. When it comes to zipping important packages across town, nothing beats two wheels in tight traffic.

But the courier world has evolved. Gone are the days of fixies weaving through buses. Now it’s all about the mighty e-cargo bike. Conor teams up with a seasoned messenger to see if he’s got what it takes to survive a day in the saddle. Can he handle the hustle?

⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
00:00 – Intro
01:34 – Meeting Mark and getting the e-cargo bike!
04:34 – At Santis HQ: the job begins
07:17 – All the gear, no idea
08:59 – First drop
11:50 – Onward to jobs #2 and #3
15:03 – Coffee break: catching up with Mark
19:33 – The biggest drop yet
20:30 – Race across London!
22:50 – Conclusion

Useful Links:
Join this channel to get access to perks 👉
https://gcn.eu/JoinYTmemberships
Subscribe so you don’t miss a thing! 👉 https://gcn.eu/subscribe
Insurance: Viewers in the USA and UK can explore GCN Insurance products 👉 https://gcn.eu/GCNinsurance
Sign Up To The GCN Newsletter 👉 https://gcn.eu/Newsletter
GCN Uploader 👉 https://gcn.eu/gcnuploader
Visit the GCN Shop 👉 https://gcn.eu/gcnshop
GCN WhatsApp Channel 👉 https://gcn.eu/GCNwhatsapp
GCN Instagram Broadcast Channel 👉 https://gcn.eu/instagrambroadcast
Join the GCN Club on Zwift and ride with us! 👉 https://gcn.eu/GCNClubRides

What’s you experience of the bike courier world? Have you been one – or are you one?! Ever been tempted to give it a go?

Watch more on GCN…
📹 https://youtu.be/6zahycYG3Eo
📹 Watch our Editor’s Choice Playlist 👉 https://gcn.eu/editorschoice
📹 Or why not check out our Features Playlist 👉 ​​https://gcn.eu/gcnfeatures

🎵 Music – licensed by Epidemic Sound 🎵
A National Treasure – Dillon Knighton
Cult of Disaster – Andreas Dahlback
Cyberfunk 4000 – Lukas Got Lucky
Detergent – Dylan Sitts
Direct Drive – Dusty Decks
Gitme (Instrumental Version) – Joan Hussein
Nonstop – dozeoff
Silent Currents – Tellsonic
Slow Down and Be Fooled – par
Sparkles – Sulu
Spectre in the Leaves – DonVayei
Swacardi – Tusabe
Tell You I’m Sorry (Instrumental Version) – Snake City

#gcn #cycling #roadcycling #roadbike #bike #bikes #bikelife #courier #cyclecourier #bikecourier #bikemessenger #omnium #londoncycling #cyclinglondon #urbancycling

📸 Photos – © Velo Collection (TDW) / Getty Images & © Sirotti Images

The Global Cycling Network (GCN) is the largest online cycling channel in the world, bringing together a global community of road cyclists to celebrate everything that’s great about the world of cycling.

Our videos bring fans compelling daily content including expert tutorials, techniques, training, racing, cutting-edge bike tech, unparalleled behind the scenes event coverage, humour, entertainment, and more.

Presented by ex-pro riders, GCN offers a uniquely qualified insight into the world of cycling, and most importantly it’s fuelled by our passionate and enthusiastic fans – everyone who makes up the GCN community. We also bring the latest and greatest tech to your attention, showcase the best places in the world to ride and get exclusive access to events and races.

Welcome to the Global Cycling Network | Inside Cycling

Thanks to our sponsors:
Canyon Bikes: http://gcn.eu/-Canyon
Orbea Bikes: http://gcn.eu/Orbea
Pinarello Bikes: https://gcn.eu/Pinarello
Topeak Tools: http://gcn.eu/Topeak
CamelBak: https://gcn.eu/Camelbak
Pirelli Tyres: https://gcn.eu/Pirelli
Vision Wheels: http://gcn.eu/Vision
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: https://gcn.eu/VW
Wahoo Fitness: http://gcn.eu/Wahoo-Fitness
Park Tool: http://gcn.eu/-parktool
Selle Italia: https://gcn.eu/SelleItalia
Zwift: https://gcn.eu/Zwift
Silca: https://gcn.eu/Silca
MET Helmets: https://gcn.eu/methelmets
Core Body Temperature: https://gcn.eu/corebodytemp
Precision Fuel & Hydration: https://gcn.eu/precisionhydration
Elitewheels: https://gcn.eu/Elitewheels

Watch our sister channels:
GCN Tech – https://www.youtube.com/@gcntech
GCN Racing – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnracing
Global Triathlon Network – https://www.youtube.com/@gtn
GCN Italia – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnitalia
GCN en Español – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnenespanol
GCN auf Deutsch – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnaufdeutsch
GCN en Français – https://www.youtube.com/@gcnenfrancais
GCN Training – https://www.youtube.com/@GCNTraining
Global Mountain Bike Network – https://youtube.com/@gmbn
GMBN Tech – https://www.youtube.com/@gmbntech
Electric Mountain Bike Network – https://www.youtube.com/@embn

GCN1682

Today I am a fullyfledged courier cyclist for the day. Thanks to my friends on the London circuit, I’ve been kitted up with a full pro setup to give it a go for myself. I’m about to find out just what it takes to be a courier cyclist in a capital city. So, let’s figure out the challenges and understand the threat to the very existence of the courier cyclists themselves. First, got an important job to do. Let’s do it. I’m in London to meet a man called Mark Cobble who’s been a bike messenger and courier in the capital city here for over two decades. He reached out to us on the channel inviting me to take on his job for the day to see how I’d get on and see what this job really entails. And I’m really excited and curious to get stuck in and a little nervous because these streets are busy and it sounds like I’ve got a lot of riding to do today. Now, bike messengers, they’ve played such a large role in cycling culture. They’ve been around since the invention of the bike itself. They’ve influenced urban fashion. There’s been Olympic medalists who’ve come from being bike messengers. There’s even a whole underground racing that’s originated from the bike messenger culture. So, I want to do this job justice, and I don’t want to let Mark down. But first, I need to meet him at a shop called Paradise Cycles in the east of London. Get my bike. Mark, so nice to finally meet you. Thanks so much as well for inviting me along for the day today. I’m really excited, really curious as well to see what your job entails as as a as a bike curer in in the UK’s capital city. What exactly am I doing today, though? Um, right. Okay. You’ll be spending the whole day with me. Day in the life of me, e cargo courier on the central London circuit. And you’ve been doing this for over two decades. Yes, I have. So, you’re probably one of the most experienced people in London to kind of for me to be be shown the ropes. Um, how does it work? Like do I do you just do it on your own? Do you like just how where do the jobs come from? Right. Okay. Well, I’m self-employed um and I work for a um Santis courier company which is based in SE1. Um there’s about six or seven on riders like myself. Um I apply the central London circuit city and west ends. Um I can do probably between like um 15 and 20 dockets a day. Wow. Um I I on a good day I can earn up to about 150 pound a day as such. Um but what’s what’s your mileage? What what sort of mile? Um on a busy day I could do up to about 60 70 miles a day. Wow. And I’ll be in the saddle um for about 8 to 10 hours every day for about 5 days a week. Wow. That’s impressive. That is impressive. So I’m in good hands then to be show the ropes. Yes, you are. I’m hoping my legs are up for the task. That sounds that sounds tough. You’ve gotten me a bike though because you’ve made it pretty explicitly clear I couldn’t use my own bike. So why is that? And what what bike have you got me on? Well, the career circuit’s like changed a lot in you know since the 80s and ‘9s and pretty much like um you know working on a bike like that is more or less non-existent now as such. we’ve all like transferred over to these kind of bikes because um a lot of the work that we get now is cargo work um delivering luxurious goods, legal papers. Um about 20 30% of my work is document work, but the rest is like cargo. Um so yeah, in the last four or five years, the whole circuit’s like changed over to to like these kind of bikes. So I’ve sorted you out a um thank thanks to Omnium in Denmark um that you’ve got this. Well, I’m I’m up for getting started. Let’s do it. Let’s see. Let’s see what I’m made of. Let’s get Let’s get out there. Thanks, Mark. Let’s go. Okay. All right. I’m all set up. Let’s do it. Been dropped already. So, so light compared to the car that I ride myself. This is a bit of me now. So, we’re at Santis headquarters and I’m getting getting my my equipment I’m I’m going to need to do the job and find out exactly what that is. Get a get a bag on the front. Make sure the packages I’m I’m carrying aren’t aren’t lost. This is where the job starts for real. Santis basically is going to be like my my employer for the day. Um, so I I’m a fullyfledged career cyclist now, a newbie. We’ve just been speaking to Matt here who’s kind of like my my operations manager for the day. Got my bag. What what am I going to be expecting to carry for you mostly? Well, it’s changed over the years. Originally, it used to be documents, but now we’ve got an array of clients. Quite often, they’re sending laptops, headsets, or electronic um electronics. You’ve got some that are printers, lawyers. So, there’s still some blue ink that they describe it as blue ink stuff that can only be sent to get signatures and then go back. So, we’ve got an array of uh top lawyers that will just send you something, get a signature, go back. Uh printers, and you’ve also got the retailers now as well. So, yeah, luxurious goods. Yeah. Shoes. You might see a pair of Jimmy Chie. Yeah, Mark was saying I’d be delivering Jimmy shoes, which I wasn’t expecting. I wonder if they’re a size 14. But how important are are the kind of the courier cyclists in your fleet for the the delivery jobs that need to be done? Absolutely vital for uh there’s quite there a number of reasons for that. Number one is they can get across London so much quicker and safer. The infrastructure now has improved in the last 30 or 40 years. There’s now safe cycle superighways. There’s so much where they’re separated from the from the traffic. they can just get across London a lot safer and a lot faster than than the motorbikes and the vans. Greener air, of course, it’s all the mayor is trying to it’s almost certain areas are becoming pedestrianized, but we can also get the cycles in there, you know, and the urbans in and out where vans just can’t go. You put um couple of boxes on uh one of the omniums and they’re able to get across town so much quicker. And it’s also good for the clients because for their green credentials they’re quite often there are so many clients who go it’s only a short journey please don’t send me a motorbike don’t send me a van it will go on an omnium so they request these vehicles all the time amazing right just got to give you this courier bag okay so sling it over your left shoulder left shoulder like that wait no no way like that yeah no no the other Okay. Other way. Other way. I’ve never had a bag like this. So, like that. No. Right. Watch me. Watch me. Watch me. So, it’s Take right hand. Sling it over. Put it on. Got it. All right. So, so right hand. Yeah. Sling it over. There we go. We’re in. Okay. So, and then I’ve got my So, this is the maps. So, I got maps on your phone and you’re also getting your jobs through here. Yes, that’s correct. Okay. So, I I’ll get the job, the address of where we need to go, and then basically Yeah. follow. And you got a radio running as well? Yes. You’ll hear Chris, the controller, through this this speaker. Okay. All right. Actually, do you want to do your first call in on the radio? Should I call? Yeah. So, I call in say I’m ready to roll. Well, ju so just say Charlie 22. Charlie 22 reporting. Let go. Charlie 22. afternoon. And what do I say back? Yeah, just say you’re on your way to Tabard Street. Okay. On my way to Tabard Street. Over that. Thank you. Give me a shout. Um, right. Right. Either way, they’ll be fine. I’m a bit overwhelmed, but I think I’ve got everything under control. First job of the day. Let’s go. Okay. Okay. Right. I’ve got my first package. I’ve signed it in. Uh I’ve confirmed I’ve got it. I’ve p P Y O D. Uh package on board. Package on board. P O. Lovely. Carry on. Please. Carry on. Thank you. Right. Saying carry on. Carry on. That’s it. That’s it. That’s it. I don’t need No, just go. Okay, so I put the address in. We’re going near Black Fryers Bridge. I’ve got no idea where that is, but it’s saying set a 7 minutes. Only one mile. Yeah. Why can they drop it themselves? Yeah. It’s only a mile away, Mark. Um, what’s in the box? Okay, so we’ve got to first destination package safe and sound. Didn’t lose it, which is good first step. Um, so basically now I’m marking it as I’m at the point of destination right now. Pick up the package. Come with me. We’re off. Postman Connor. Hi there. What can we have? Uh just delivering a package from Southside Print for C containers. Yeah, you can just sign there in the box there. Please sign them. Thank you. Have a great day. Thank you. Hit your first package delivered. Hit your confirm button. I’ll send it through. You got plenty of time. And that’s your first docket done. I’m done. First one of the day. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. What you do is Charlie 22 empty SE1. Okay. Charlie 22 empty SE122. I’m going to beat us for your room details. EC4 please. Goes EC4. Thank you. Call me P. Say Roger. Roj. Roger. Roj. EC4. EC4. EC4. EC4. So that’s a postcode, isn’t it? Yeah. We’re going across the river now. No idea where that is, but that’s what maps are. You know where it is already, don’t you? In your head. Yeah. I got to say, I’m really enjoying this so far. I love it. I’ve never seen so much of a capital city in my life in such a short space of time. And what I wasn’t expecting, I really feel I really feel like I’m part of the infrastructure. I feel like I’m part of the like the flow of the city. It’s really hard to describe. Okay. You can hear me. I’m on. I’ve got the radio going. I’ve got traffic. I’ve got to think about getting to the drop on time. I’ve got to figure out where I’m going as well. Oh my gosh. And keep track of all the road furniture and lights and the road network. It actually feels like I’m back in a pelaton. This is exactly the same. Exactly the same. Just a slightly different kettle of fish. There we go. Destination number two right in the city. Second pass in the back. Hit the POD button. Take a photo. Wasn’t the 84 boxes that we were hoping for, but I’ve got away with it. I haven’t I haven’t got a big one, but I’m kind of glad of that as I’m still getting through the ropes. Okay, we’re off to Temple. Temple. Not sure where that is either. I like this one. You are right then. Drop number two. Okay. Right. absolutely hating everywhere. There’s like Yeah, I’m exhausted just from concentrating the whole time. There we are into the financial heart of London. Beach. Time to drop off our package. Right, we’re on our second drop of the day. It feels like I’ve done so much more already. Yeah, just been like is I would be shattered tonight. I got what a fraction of your normal day you have. We’re all done. Yeah, it’s this one. Gibson done. This one? Yeah. Who am I again? Just say Sanchez. Courier pick s Santis courier pickup. Let go. Let go. Yeah. Santis courier pickup. Okay, there we go. Longest drop so far. We’ve made it. Location number three. Feel I’m a bit behind your schedule. It’s incredible the places you see doing this. Like we’re right underground. It’s like a labyrinth here. It’s great. Well, right, it’s been a pretty full-on morning. I’m I’m enjoying my coffee. We had a little pause, a little bit of food, taking my breath. Um, I’ve got a whole appreciation for what you do, Mark. It’s a It’s a full on. And you’re doing this every single day, every single week. Long hours as well. Yeah. Fair play. And I just wanted to know, how did you get into it? like how did you become a couer cyclist in the first place? I mean you have to love cycling in this job um first before you become a courier. Um and you know I I started back in like late 1986 just about 3 years after the the career circuit was invented sort of. Um and I I really just didn’t have any other skills or you know um job qualifications. So, I thought um like like Norman Tet said with the tours back in the 80s, get on your bike and that’s exactly what I did. You’ve been on your bike ever since. Yes, I have. Do you do you enjoy it? I love it. I love it. Um I mean, for me, it’s almost like therapy. It is, you know, when I get out on my bike, um yeah, I’m my own boss. No one tells me what to do. Um um every day is different almost as such. Uh, I’m picking up different packages, going different destinations, meeting different people, interesting people. So, yeah, it’s it’s and also it’s it’s it’s a bit of a weird feeling because like, you know, come Monday morning when everyone’s getting up and putting on like um suits and dresses and getting ready for work to going to the office, I’m donning my Leica and my crash helmet and coming out here to work, you know. So, it it it’s it’s an unusual job. Yeah, I can see how much you love it just from just from riding around and you interacting with everyone. We’ve been talking a bit as we’ve been riding. You mentioned to me how you feel the London circuit, the the courier cyclist lifestyle job feels to be a bit under under threat in your opinion. What why is that? I just wanted to dig into that. Well, you shouldn’t be really compared with, you know, a lot of the like these DIY um illegal uh ebikes and such. you know, uh I I like to consider myself a professional, you know, courier on the other end of the scale here and such. So, um now if we could get that change in the law that um so we we could ride more powerful cargo bikes, it would take on a lot more vans off the road, uh courier companies would hire more of us and I think um there’ll be a lot more people who want to become couriers as well. I mean to play devil’s advocate as well. I mean you could argue that opening up to more powerful bikes carrying those loads and potentially allowing the gate for more experienced inexperienced cyclist to be riding and that could it could pose a bit of a danger. Would you not agree with that? Yes and no. But given the cost of these things like not most people can’t afford a machine like this unless you’re working on it. I mean mine costs like 8 12 grand to put together. So this really is just for for like e- cargo users. Yeah. Um not for ebikes. This, you know, all the line bikes and um all the ebikes you see being sold in B or whatever, that law will stay the same. It will you know it’s just like when you’re carrying car, I’m just asking for a change in the law as such. Yeah. So essentially, if we don’t, what you’re going to see is less of people like you riding these bikes and it’s just going to it’s going to be going more to vehicles on the road, but more traffic on on the capital streets and my community dies. Yeah. And I can see how strongly you feel about the community too. Um so it must be so important to try and keep that together as well. This is like a way of life for you, isn’t it? It Yeah, it it is. I mean, and also for all my friends that that you know, down at Hot Kingdom. Um, you know, we all understand each other. We all understand like like the work pressures and what each other goes through and we all support each other. You know, we we’ve got a great union IWGB. Um, we also got like the London Curry Emergency Fund to help you out like if you had a crash for example. So, uh, it’s a damn good community out here and I’d hate for it to like to die. Yeah, I can see that. I can see that. But it’s been fascinating to ride with you so far. Real on it. We still got a few jobs to go. Yeah, we do. Yeah. And it looks like the next one’s a big one. So, better finish our coffees. Y better get get going. Yeah. All right. Right. So, we’re back up and at after lunch and we’re a little bit behind. Bit too much talking from me. We’re currently having to step on it through the west end of London. The package we’ve just picked up, it’s a little bit time sensitive. We’re a bit late to get there. There we go. About to be delivered. One massive shle the whole way across London. It’s in good hands though. Get it in. Another job done. Um, and I can hear the pressure on the radio because we’re a bit behind schedule. We were. So, Mark’s going to get back out on the road, finish up this evening, and actually play a bit of catchup. Sorry. Yeah, they do need me out here. They need you. So, we’ve decided to come up with a bit of a headto-head and get a real taste because Mark’s been helping me out. He’s been running with me. And now we’re going to ride all the way back to Paradise Cycles where we started. Other side of London, head-to-head race. Yeah. Couer versus versus me. What do you reckon? Uh, well, we’ll see. We shall see. Yes, definitely. 4:00, right? So, full pelt. This is it. The time’s 4:00. You’re free to free to fly, Mark. Okay. Let’s see what you do it in. I’m I’ll be hot on your heels. Right. We’re green. Okay. We’re off. The race is on. A. Oh, he’s up already. Gosh, where am I going? Right. Where’s he going, man? He’s got the jumper me through the green. I’ve got stuck already. So, I’m going to try and follow him as long as I can. He’s gone a different way the way my maps are telling me. We’re off. We’re off for green. Properly got my head down this time. Final push the line. One mile to go. Let’s see what the damage is. Kind of resign myself to defeat. Let’s see how far behind Mark I actually was. He’s waiting for me. Oh, done for some ride across. Fair play. Oh my gosh. How? Oh, God. Tell me. 16 minutes. 16 minutes. Yeah. Twice. That’s l twice the time. I was pushing hard as well. Thanks so much for the day. I managed to recover a bit. Um, but yeah, that was a real eye opener and a massive insight to what what you do every day and what couerous cyclists in general are faced with. I mean, to do that every single day, it takes so much concentration. There’s so much going on. Um, I’ve got so much respect for you. Thank you. So, yeah, thank you for sharing it with me and and stay safe out there. Take it easy. I really very much enjoyed myself today working with you and uh I think you’ll make a very good potential career. You would? I’d love to do it. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. I think for me I I prefer to be out on my own in the middle sat. It was an assault on my senses for me. I’d love to get involved again though. You give it another shot. Um I can’t believe you beat me across the city by like half the time with no maps running as well. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. Um but any curious cyclist, let me know in the comments what you think of this video. Hope you enjoyed it. And um yeah, I’m about to go and recover because the legs are absolutely shot despite the motor. Thank you everyone. See you on the next one. Thank you CGM.