They ride where others shiver to go

Sheer guts, without glory.

 The New Yorker magazine, tongue, as usual, firmly in cheek, this week paid tribute to "New York's Toughest" — the city's motor scooter food delivery riders. 

Artist Peter de Seve drew the front-page cartoon for the Feb. 2, 2026 edition, showing delivery riders as the only traffic on a snow choked street. They brave the bitter winter elements, with their big orange food bins on their backs. 

Let's give it up for the dauntless riders of New York City, and virtually every other city. 

Yes, motorcyclists on Royal Enfields have long braved the heights of the Himalayas. Competition riders have achieved higher speeds. Stunt performers have accomplished more outlandish trick riding. 

But for day-in, day-out riding with guts (and without glory), the door dashing riders delivering hot-to-go food to your door (because you don't want to go outside in THAT) deserve the award.

Not that I appreciate them blowing through red lights, cutting paths through traffic no one else can see, or terrifying pedestrians on sidewalks.

Sometimes unlicensed, probably uninsured, they go where they must, if the pizza is to stay hot.

Our natural reaction is to, rightly, curse their recklessness. But we have to admire their skill. Especially when it is a given that their machines generally seem in worse condition than anything else on the road.

Their mufflers, at least, are often missing in action.

We naturally resent the fact that they are obviously free of effective regulation: no police force could catch them.

The rest of us must pay for parking in the city. They fearlessly park anywhere they like, for free.

How can parking police write a ticket for something that has no license plate?

And, besides: the city has to eat. Restaurants have food to sell. Customers like the convenience. The tips are apparently good enough to encourage riders to go for it.

Scooters are cheap. Lives shouldn't be cheap.

Their rider training is Darwinian. Get good at it fast, or face the painful consequences. It isn't anything the Motorcycle Safety Foundation would endorse, but it works.

I can't ride like that, and I don't want to pay the price to learn. Not anymore than I'd care to learn how to ride The Wall of Death.

But I'll give skill a nod when I see it.