Is he trying to contrive meaning for the cycle logistics operative where non exists? If the situ where otherwise, how many riders would rather meet in the park - a la LC - have a beer and talk to their mates and wang round town after dark - for the craic? It sounds like a sociologist looking for a theory. I know it's about making the best of a bad job, but really...
Perhaps Kidder is affording subjectivity to the question of whether or not it is a 'bad job'. In an economic sense, that messengering is a lowly occupation is irrefragable. And where to even begin with listing messengers I know who are vocally bitter about the job... But even most of them consistently turn up to races and events, and do so amongst endless others who wholeheartedly enjoy the job, even on a soggy Wednesday afternoon. I think the article legitimately explores the oft-unintellectualized issues concerning the enjoyment of messengering.
In terms of doing it for the craic, specifically in terms of alleycats, I'd acknowledge a sense of reclaimed authority that goes some way to vindicating the intensity and dangers of the competition; authority in the sense of having a special sort of ownership over the streets---the same sort felt by anyone else with a deep knowledge of a given area, a knowledge gained through years of use--- as well as authority over oneself in a mental and physical sense.
But returning to the point, whether or not messengering is a bad job is really a personal issue, and a complicated one, the complication lying in a messenger's ability to concurrently love, dangerously, and hate, bitterly, the job. Reading back through this forum, you'll find plenty of quotes, typically from veterans, asserting that it's just a job, not a lifestyle, and that it's not an extreme sport. I embrace any pieces or ponderings which seek to give credit to the subjectivity of what this job IS and what it means to people, outside the cold hard terms of pushing parcels from A to B and doing the legwork of a largely corrupt industry.
The piece worked for this veteran. You can call me a 'career courier' or 'lifestyle courier' if you like - I won't object. But I never saw the point of racing. And it's not 'just a job' - even those on this forum who might say so joined a bloody forum, didn't they? So yeah, it's a shit job, but it's the best shit job in the world.
BTW: 'irrefragable' - good word. I had to look it up. Kudos.