Blurring The Lines Between Work And Play
 

The Tampa Tribune, October 25, 2001
By Bill Ward
 

Troy Watson is one of those rare people who combine work with a driving passion. For him, it's cycling - lots of it.

Last year, Watson rode his bike 14,000 miles - farther than many people drive a car in one year. No wonder city officials recently recognized Watson with an award during Alternative Transportation Week. Living on Davis Islands, Watson rides his bike to buy groceries, to see a movie and to work each day in downtown Tampa.

Watson's job? He's a bike courier, of course. Watson delivers documents for Choice Express, a company with branches throughout Florida. When overnight isn't fast enough and a summons or other signed document has to reach the other side of downtown immediately, Watson hops on his bike and gets it there.

"The way I see it, I get paid to ride my bike all day," said Watson, 27. "I rode my bike everywhere as a kid and, now, I still ride it everywhere."

Most days, Watson doesn't even need to go into his company's office. Delivery orders, which generally cost less than the price to mail something overnight, are sent to him via e-mail over cellular telephone.

Prior to this job, Watson worked as a dental lab technician. He said he didn't mind the work but decided the pay wasn't good enough for the amount of continuing education it required. So when he heard of Choice Express, he applied for a job. To Watson's surprise, the company called the next day offering him its lone full-time bike courier position.

His day usually begins between 8 and 10 a.m. and consists of a dozen or so deliveries until 5 p.m. If he hustles and there's lots of work, Watson said he can make as much as $1,100 in a week. Last year, he said he earned more than $35,000. But one of the down sides to this kind of job is that when Watson isn't making deliveries, he's not making money. Another hazard to being a bike courier is the traffic in downtown Tampa.

Considering Tampa consistently has ranked among the nation's top three Most Dangerous Places to Cycle by Bicycle magazine, Watson knows his job can be dangerous. So far, he has had only a few close brushes with trucks and, oddly enough, a head-on collision with another bike. That mishap resulted in a trip over the handlebars and a badly cut lip.

Watson was back to work the next day.

When he's not cycling at work, Watson spends a lot of his free time training for time trial races. He has been serious about the sport only a little more than a year, but Watson already has risen to the level of a Category 3 racer (1 and 2 are the professional categories). In a recent time trial, he made a solo break from the pack where he averaged 27 mph during a 13-mile stretch.

While he probably always will spend a lot of time on a bike, Watson said he doesn't see himself doing this line of work forever. But for now, it suits him fine.

After all, how many people truly love their work?

"I can say I'm one of them," Watson said. "And I've worked enough jobs to know what it's like not to like what you're doing."