Pontius of Palia

Cara found some old footage from nearly a year ago on the old video camera and tossed it together while I was outta town. Rad!

Cara Notestine, spring 2011 from Cara Notestine on Vimeo.

Kvetchin' Session

Ok, time to expound on a pet peeve. I see this all the time at the Kroger on Poplar and Highland:



What the helllllll? Why do people insist on placing bike racks like this? There are two sides, ya know. I guess it could be worse, they could have put it right next to the building so the other side wasn't just blocking a sidewalk, but completely inaccessible.

...oh wait...what's that in the background?

'Nuf bitching. At least there IS a bike rack. But still, brains. Use 'em.

Lil Webby

Cara made a small edit of our day out in Germantown!

Memphis Bike Polo 12/16/11 from Cara Notestine on Vimeo.

I didn't really help, aside from choosing the soundtrack, and I was playing pretty gingerly because of the wrists, but like she says on her blog, I think it captured the mood of the day pretty well.

Hopefully more to come!

Days of Gore

I wear a helmet about 99% of the time. So of course, the day that I set off without it and am too late for work to go back for it when I realize, is the day this happens:



More gore:



Luckily, no cranial clubbing. I landed pretty much full on my palms, but all that force transferred to my wrists, which are pretty much useless today. I told Cara that I felt like I just had two fish attached to my shoulders - they feel like all they can do is flap around. And hurt.

All it took was one little chunk of road flotsam to turn me into street chum:



Such a nice day for a shipwreck, too. I was out of the seat sprintin' down Southern in the bike lane and just didn't see it and wham, fuh-LIPPED. And of course the thing doesn't weigh like a pound; it's that hard Styrofoam stuff inside of bumpers. Yet somehow it was enough to bend the crap outta my fork.



Oh well, at least my carbon monoxide levels are normal.

So now it's a nice two-to-eight week recovery time, during which I will undoubtedly still play polo and make it longer/worse.

Don't Call it a Comeback

Ok, full disclosure. As much as I like Eighth Inch stuff, I had kinda written off their polo gear. Well, they're shoving it right back in my face with their new "Pro" Model mallet head.



Color me impressed! They got their weight down to 80 grams (from 120 grams), which, in my opinion, was the main thing holding them down. I mean, literally - they were like anchors. I kid. But really, they just weren't as conducive to fancy-pantsin' around. Probably still not as light as good old-fashioned HDPE with speed holes, but gotta be gettin' close. As long as the weight reduction doesn't effect how they wear, I think these are a mondo step in the right direction.

And the kicker? There's a $5 replacement plan on every one, new or old. Send 'em your old one and five bucks for shipping, and they send you a brand spankin' new one. Now, if only they'd update the shaft as well...

Anyways, definitely lookin' forward to send them my beat-up v1 head and tryin' out the new one.

Forgotten Fotos

I took my old camera out to take a few pictures the other day, and lo and behold, there were some pictures I forgot about! Just a little set from Little Rock, joined by some Dentonites. These are from July 30th, and it was HOT AS FORK. You pretty much had to rest when you weren't playing so you didn't pass out. Consequently, I only took pictures of one game so there aren't too many great ones, and Denton wasn't there yet, but here's a small selection:


Vinnie Vedi Vici.


The original Hobo Farmer shows the back of his hand, but not the back of his neck.

TFH: Too. Freaking. HOT.

You can check out the rest of 'em here.

Mallet Head Season

I was walkin' through the polo fields and saw that the new crop of mallet heads is comin' up on Central:



So I picked me a bushel.



If only I could find a UHMW patch, looks like only HDPE is native to the area.

Polo Raaaaaaaage

It was just one of those nights.

You know, the ones where you play like shit and take it out on your mallet and then feel like an idiot when you snap the snot out of it.



Also, one of those nights where Adam busts ANOTHER ball.


RIP