Inpiration for pickup tonight!

The weather is beautful for january!
Should be a great night for polo at Wright.

-W.

Southwest Qualifier/Desert Invite IV results

Congrats to Julian and the Riggs brothers! Seattle is settin' up a dynasty!!

And notice that AJ and Jacob (the middle school grass polo sensations of NA's '10 fame) took 5th place! Tied with Pete's new portland hitsquad and a place better than Woadie's team!

Damn those kids are good.

Full results at Vince's Podium.

-W.

French bike polo photo shoot for Steel Magazine

Whoa beautiful photos and an amazing pickup spot! Assumedly used only for the photoshoot, but still looks like a lotta fun! Photos by Ronan Merot and spotted at Brussels Bike Polo.

The fuckin' french are so damn classy.

-W.

Tyler Brown gets a Joust!

So tyler wasn't joking the other day when he said "i'm getting a real bike"! Then after his bike broke at pickup monday i thought it was all part of some joke. Apparently (and happily) not!

His is number 12038, so somewhere in the past 37 waterfords they decided to change the seatstay position.. yet again. Probably something to do with Charlie Hill's frame snapping again...

He's a happy camper. And so am i. No one in our club has ever needed more a new bike more than Tyler.

Let's build that shit up dude!

-W.

Tyler Brown's Bloomington Polo tumblr

I think most locals already know about this, but Tyler Brown has been using his fancy space phone to occasionally take and upload photos to tumblr. While i'm always trying to capture podiums and bikes, he's more interested in the fun times that happen both off and on the court.
For instance, priceless shots like this...


...or this...


And since he always has his phone on him he can capture those random moments when the camera isn't around... for instance when you're playing foosball with the godfather of hardcourt at a shitty tavern in fort wayne...

Hope he keeps this up all year long!

Make sure to bookmark http://bloomingtonbikepolo.tumblr.com if you haven't already. Thanks Tyler!

-W.

"What's wrong with this photo?"

Another one bites the dust. Though after more than two years of constant abuse i'm surprised Tyler's aluminum steed held up this long! Not one game before this happened he mentioned to me that he might be getting a legit polo bike soon... guess this will speed up the process a bit!

Sorry bout yr luck dude- but good riddance!

Seen over at Tyler Browns polo tumblr.

-W.

MPLS polo player Ebbin Martin saves woman on local greenway!

Holy shit Ebbin saved a woman on the Midtown Greenway!!! I've ridden that bike path a handful of times, and while it's an awesome "bike highway" complete with on/off ramps at night it can be secluded from the surface streets and sidewalks. Such random attacks do happen even on the Monon in Indy (especially in indy?) but it's great to know that there are cyclists out there willing to stand up for a fellow human being. Courage in action.

Watch the video/interview here at CBS Minnesota.

News article from here; originally seen at Urban Velo and confirmed by Sven.

Everybody buy Ebbin a beer next time you see him! That could've been anyone's sister or girlfriend or friend... I'm proud to know such a good person.

"MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The biking community in Minneapolis is on alert after two recent robberies on the Greenway, one of which targeted a Minneapolis woman who works at a bike shop.

Kaitlin Knutson, 24, is back at work at the Dinkytown Varsity Bike Shop, and is now bearing a visible warning for all cyclists: marks of survival from a terrifying ride home.

Knutson was riding on the Greenway bike trail around 8:30 p.m. Monday when two men approached. One then lunged towards her, pushing her off her bike.

“The other guy came up from behind me and wrapped my scarf around my face and then they just starting hitting me a bunch,” said Knutson.

Knutson gave them her backpack with her phone and wallet, but said the men kept beating her, dragging her off into the woods.

“I thought they were going to knock me out, rape me, kill me or something,” said Knutson. “I kind of thought it was over and I was screaming bloody murder.”

At that very second, Ebbin Martin rode by on his way home, first seeing Knutson’s tail light from her tipped bike. He said he screamed and charged the men, who took off up the 12th Avenue bridge steps.

“I wish it would have been me because I was the next person in line,” said Martin. “I would have been a much harder target.”

Martin then helped calm Kaitlin, who now says he’s her hero, arriving with courage at the most critical moment.

“The Minneapolis bike scene takes care of their own and I want to make sure that continues,” said Ebbin.

Knutson said she needed seven stitches on her forehead.

“I just feel grateful I am here, it scares me those kinds of people are out there,” said Knutson, who believes her attackers were under the influence of some substance.

Police have not found the people behind her attack, and it’s not the only incident that night.

Later Monday night, around 11:30pm, the Midtown Greenway Coalition says a solo rider was mugged by two men, one of whom was kneeling over pretending to tie his shoe as the victim rode up. One of the men had a black handgun. The victim’s backpack was taken and the suspects ran off.
.
The Midtown Greenway Coalition is asking cyclists to call with authorities with anything suspicious, and ride in groups or pairs.

“In both cases, bikers saw some suspicious behavior and did not call it in, and the next person got attacked, so we ask people call 911 if you see something suspicious,” said Soren Jensen, Executive Director of the Midtown Greenway Coalition.

Jensen says his organization also has a trail monitoring program where volunteers bike the Greenway at night. After these robberies, they say the need even more volunteers."

-W.

Mallet shaft weight comparison

Ever wonder which shaft is the lightest? Well since we recently received the some new poles in the mail we decided to go ahead and throw 'em on the scale.

The Fixcraft LT shaft is long, slender, and a lil' more than an ounce lighter than it's bigger brother, the "extra tuff" XT shaft. All our XT shafts were already built up so sadly they were left out of the comparison but we'll remedy that with the next order. Fixcraft makes excellent products and i've happily used them throughout 2011.

The Milwaukee shafts was the first on the market and is still the choice of many midwestern slayers. It's weight falls somewhere in the middle. Light enough but still extremely strong. And it comes in both orange and green... not my favorite shades but at least you have the option. I'm betting their next color will be something silly like purple.

...and the surprise winner- the Northern Standard "Gold".

Now to be fair the uncut Fixcraft shafts are pretty long and end up getting ~8 inches cut off for the finished mallet, but the uncut Northern Standard is still a good 5 inches longer than an uncut Milwaukee shaft and nevertheless whole ounce lighter!

Weight isn't the only consideration though, flexibility is important to how a mallet plays. The Fixcraft poles with their long and slender taper end up having the most flex, while Northern Standard poles are extremely stiff and the Milwaukee poles fall somewhere in the middle. Much like golf clubs different people like different amounts of flex depending on it's use (flexible shafts from long distance drivers and firm shafts for short irons and wedges). Polo mallets are no different, though since we tend to use the same mallet all match long it really comes down to preference. I like all three shafts and all three companies and all are better options than used ski poles. Hell, i'm just happy that going into 2012 we have this many options!

Of course Travis and I also have some high tech swiss space mallets coming in the mail, so i'll make sure to update this post and keep the comparisons comin'!

Thanks nick crow for taking the pics.

-W.

Urban Brad's awesome lock-in photos

These are already some of my favorite photos of the year! Thanks a ton brad for taking these- they'll have to keep me satiated until next year.

Check out the rest here at Brad's personal site. and don't forget to support his excellent print magazine, Urban Velo, which does loads of promo for the polo community and cycling in general.

-W.

Photos from the St. Louis Lock-In 2012

Best lock-in yet!

Check out the rest of the photoset here --> picasaweb.google.com/107567773132599730806/StLouisLockIn2012.

Mark yr calenders for January 12-13 next year!

-W.

Does anyone with fat sausage hands want a free pair of gloves?

I bought these for $35 but the fit was just all wrong. They're size 13 and that usually works for me, but apparently these are made for someone with big ol' fat sausage fingers... so if you know anyone who fits that description and needs a decent pair of gloves have them email me at polovelobloomington@gmail.com Just lookin' to spread the love!

-W.

*note: basically brand new; only used for two games of pickup*