Facing off against Como’s A-team.
My first time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. What a cool city! The streets were truly alive at night which being from Oklahoma kind of shocked me. The Tournament was great too. I played with the “Polo Furries” from Florida, we got 7th out of 48. I really enjoyed playing with Jerret and Jason and learned a lot in the process. It was also my best finish yet.
Idea from Chris Bottles on
League of Bike Polo
This kind of dual-brake setup would rule the court if it existed. The key is that the outer back brake could pull independently allowing you to skid and the inner front brake could pull together with the outer for immediate stop.
I’m pretty sure no one has ever made a split-lever brake before. In hardcourt bike pole we ride with one hand so this seems like a natural evolution. I can’t take credit for the idea but maybe drawing it out is enough to warrant me co-inventor status.
If anyone out there makes this part please send me a sample to test.
In Tulsa there are only about 12 polo players. We’ve met twice a week for the past year and had a great time. The style of play that developed was fun and challenging.
Photo by Pdillo at Tracy Park, Tulsa
Mainly one person played goalie and two took on two looked for openings and took nice close shots on goal. It wasn’t especially fast-passed. People didn’t exactly pull out in front of you to “stop short”. There wasn’t a huge amount of hard hacking or aggressive play. In short, we lived in a bubble.
A few months ago we went to a bike polo tournament in Columbia, MO. It was the first time our club had gotten out of our city to play other teams. Our insular circle collided with an other larger circle and things changed.
Our game is now about speed. Now everything is about fast-breaks and pushing the ball up. The goalie is obsolete. The intensity is over the top. We’re like Piranha circling and nipping at the ball and anything within our reach.
It’s totally on!
Tulsa has been playing bike polo for almost a year and this will be our debut tournament. We’re all totally stoked to try out our skills against some real competition.
If you’ve got a team, you want to be on a team, or just want to go please let me know in the comments. We could easily take three teams. There is plenty of housing so no worries there. We’re going down the night before.
The needs are strong, fast, stable, and can turn on a dime. The Astro Daimler is a real quick frame and the 28 to 18 gear ratio gives it a real jump and snap.
’79 Austro Dainler [fixed-converted] 27" back, 650 front
My mallets are the ones that are off-center, the green-taped ski pole with the flesh head is mine. Our club has about 15 mallets all in. Most were made by phillipd. I’ve made 9, of which four are used regularly and two are in use this game. I also made that orange-headed one with the carbon-fiber shaft.
Mallets are thrown in and divided up randomly for 3 on 3 pickup games
I think the off-set ones are lighter and give you more options in actual play. I strike it with either side and I feel like it lets me make nice shots both ways.
When I use the short-side it feels like there’s the whole weight of the back-side right there for striking. Also the point of contact is closer to the shaft so more in line with where I think it should be.
