Mr. Do / Norteamericanos / "Modern Drift"

Bike Polo Modern Drift from Mr.Do on Vimeo.

God damn Dustin is good! This video has surpassed all others and claimed the title as my favorite ever! The soundtrack is perfect.. the slow motion captures the subtlety of the game... Maureen smiling at 0:58.. AJ Piranha scoring on COMO Chris at 1:13... and then it just gets better from there!

Well done, sir, well done.

-W.

Rustbelt Welding prototype polo frame

Whaaaaa? Saw this at Urban Velo's blog this morning. Cleveland's Rustbelt Welding appears to mostly make fences and furniture, but there's also a handful of creative frames posted on the site.

I'm not gonna lie, the frame looks a helluva lot like a Fleetvelo Joust. Well, no gussets and a shorter headtube, but even the fork looks similar. Not really improvements, but if that thing could fit big ol' fatty tires it might be worthwhile. Compare it to this photo of Travis' new 59cm Joust. Either way it's nice seeing custom polo jobs.

Marco from Cleveland (bike's owner) is apparently bringing it to the Midwestern Open in Lexington so hopefully i'll get to ride it, find out more and report back.

-W.

Thank you Seagull Bags and Louisville Polo!

The boys from the Lou were kind enough to gift this bag to me this past weekend. Suffice to say I've been needing a new bag forever and never thought I'd own one this nice. Ever. Seagull makes great bags and this has got to be one of the largest i've ever seen! I already fit a 30-block of beer AND a boombox inside no problem. Also one smallish polo player...

Now where to store the mallets...

To understand how creative and talented the good folks at Seagull are you really should check out the gallery at their site. All their custom work is amazing, though these recent ones are far and away my favorite...


Isn't the poloverse great?

-W.

Did anyone leave these at the Garage in Louisville?

Does one of these belong to you? Evan and I were the last people out of the garage on Saturday and found these on the bottom level pickup court. I forgot about 'em til today but if they belong to you let me know. I'll be in Lexington at the Open in a couple weeks, so i can meet up with whomever then.

-W.

German prototype handlebars

WOW! I've always liked BMX risers but the profile is usually too wide for polo. Even when cut down the bended section/crossbar pushes the brake further out then I'd like. With this ingenious design they eliminate the crossbar altogether and weld on an inner mount specifically for the brake lever! Brilliant. I'm assuming they're steel and they look to have a 4-inch rise. Hopefully the German boys making these will move beyond prototypes and into production. Or at least make enough so i get one!

Seen at the always awesome (and sometimes confusing) velopolo.de

German: http://velopolo.de/2010/10/15/new-polo-handlebar/
English (google translation): here

-W.

Other people's malletcraft

I can't seem to retrace the origin of this photo album (maybe the @bikepolo twitter?) but they include some neat shots of someone's mallet building process. The grid paper is a good idea, especially if you're making those sidecuts. Come to think of it i'm pretty sure this set is from Amsterdam... always love seeing how they do things across the pond.

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e208/jpwinter/Mallets%20and%20Marys/

-W.

Louisville's "Bluegrass Boondoggle" - photo recap

Why are all the players leaving the court?

Oh because we're getting kicked out by the very parks dept that gave us permission to play here...

They even kicked out the children who were learning to play with shorty mallets.

On the next location!

My favorite shot of the day. COMO vs LEX. The garage in all it's glory.

Note the guy on the far left. "Pee corner".

Setting up for the final match. Booze and running was to be involved...

...until the city police decide to get involved.

Alright, next location!

We return to Shelby park for one last "illegal" game.

The light was already fading when the match started- within minutes it was pitch black.

The flash from cameras was the only light available.

GO GO GO GO GO! (STL) came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat Shitty Titty (COMO) 5-4 in the black of night. Easily one of the craziest finals i've ever witnessed.
During one mechanical timeout Charlie even went and retrieved his headlamp.

This is an actual photo of the final match (without flash). Just goes to show how dark it really was...

The Lafayette crew. Every time I see them they get better and better.

The debauchery really started when we got to the bar for awards.

The battle for MVP. Literally.

Organizers and final brackets.

Louisville thank you so much! Especially Jimmy and Zach for putting up with the many headaches that come with throwing a tournament. Much respect gentlemen, much respect.

And thanks for the bag ;)

-W.