Saturday, January 14, 2012

On that next level shit

Holy crap. And now for something completely different.



NEW WOLRD ORDER REVEALED!

The trails that lead to prison or death camps.

Haha, I wish Doug would interview him for cyclist of the month just so he could answer the question, "On a scale of one to ten, how awesome is the Shelby Farms Greenline?"

Friday, January 13, 2012

MLK Park

I wanna see this guy at the next cycle memphis ride.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Tentative 2012 Polo Away Schedule

It's still early in the year so none of this is really set in stone, but here's my tentative 2012 polo schedule:

February 18: President's Day Social, San Antonio, TX
February 24-26: Pick up trip to Mobile, AL
February 24-26: Hungry Hungry Hippolo II, Tallahassee, FL
March 10: Como Pullout, Columbia, MO
March 23-25: Duval Dirty Bike Olympics, Jacksonville, FL
March 31 - April 1: South Central Championship, Austin, TX
April 27-29: Ladies Army, Lexington, KY
May 12-13: Asheville, NC, Southeast Championship
May 19-20: 24 Team tourney, Little Rock, AR
May 28: Memphis Alleycat
June 30-July 1: Sudden Death Tournament, Austin, TX
Late October: Halloween Tournament, Austin, TX

After polo tonight, Cara and I were discussing how we seem to be struggling on the edge of getting better and taking it to the next level. Well, everyone seems to say that the best way to get better at polo is to travel, so yeah, that's my plan.

For me, it's all gonna come down to the Southeast Championships. I really wanna make top eight this year. I know we've gotten better, but yeah, so do other people. And if we DO make top eight, then I definitely wanna get to the Nationals this year so we can REALLY get mopped up. THAT will be a learning experience.

Youtube is the best.

One of the first videos to pop up if you search youtube for "memphis bicycle":



Classic. Haha, dude can bunny-hop better than me, so I can't really talk, but still.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Late to the game

Eh, this has been posted around facebook and was on fixmemphis already, but what the hell, I'm in this video for like two seconds so yeah, I'ma post it too!



Made by Danny Wilson.

Cara and I left late and didn't meet up with the ride until the halfway point, so you can see us sitting outside Muddy's sippin' on tea and nommin' on cakes.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Scoop de doop

Ok, this video is pretty cool on it's own, lots of great shots, but check the scoop trick at 1'11"! GAAAAH!

Shut up and play POLO! from Bike Polo Hamburg on Vimeo.


I always love/hate seeing awesome polo that you didn't know existed. Love it 'cus it's awesome, hate it 'cus I CAN'T DO DAT! Hamburg killin' it.

Speaking of gatesofmemphis...

Speaking of Gates of Memphis, I used to check that blog pretty regularly but hadn't in a while and was gratified to read this post.

Basically, he lays out all the good things and potential good things about Memphis that I felt but couldn't necessarily put into words when I started this blog. Instead, I encapsulated it into one word: Gritty. His post does a MUCH better job and is a great, inspiring read for any Memphian. Check it!

Blasts from the ass past

Whoah, dug up some old videos of Memphis polo from like a year ago. Pretty crazy to see how far we've come. Few wheel covers, pallet walls, cones, no goalies, and just general slow-ness. Haha, now that I've sold 'em, check 'em out!







Dunno who exactly made that first one, but pretty sure he was out there with Nielsen Ferry, who made the second video. As I recall, they were doing it for a class? And that third one comes from gatesofmemphis, who runs a pretty nifty Memphis-centric blog entitled, appropriately enough, The Gates of Memphis.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Power Snatch Kid

This was Adam tonight:

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Come to think of it, that's Adam every night.

In other news, he broke ANOTHER ball tonight and my golf mallet snapped. Eh, suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Now I just hafta decide if I build another one knowing it's probably gonna snap soonish, or move back to pre-fab shafts. I reeeeally like the way they feel: light and whippy. But yeah, one bad wheel shot can bend the crud outta one.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Flawduh Polo

Over the holiday, Cara and I got to go down to Orlando for her cousin's wedding to play some frickin' polo. I didn't know anyone that played in Florida, so I was relying on the passport that is the promise of pick-up polo. Needless to say, it was so so fun. Our first stop was Jacksonville, which calls itself a pretty new club (around 6 months according to their lobp page), but they seem to have progressed pretty quickly if that's the case. Here's a video they uploaded a couple days ago - we're not in it, but just to give you an idea of their court:



They were playing on three halves of a tennis court, so it was mostly enclosed except for where the nets ended. They also had two people playing on BMXs, which I hadn't really seen before, but seemed to work pretty well. They too, like our resident Florida transplant Seamus, seemed to have mallets that ran on the long side.

P1030470

Have to admit, we were a little nervous just getting out there, but we got a jumping-up-and-down welcome, and when my first goal busted their ball in the first few minutes, I was mostly able to shake off the jitters and just have fun. I'd love to get down there again for the Duval Dirty Bike Olympics in March, but it IS a twelve hour drive, so yeah, who knows. We stayed as late as we could until the lights automatically cut out mid-game and we had to jet back to the hotel for a few hours sleep and the short drive to Orlando. Cara's brother Graham took a few pictures that didn't really turn out great, but you can check 'em out here.

Orlando Polo was in a rebuilding phase. Apparently, they had a pretty robust club a while back, but lost a bunch of people. However, with a few polo junky transplants, it seems to be building back up pretty strong, not least thanks to Alix, one of the said transplants.


Alix, in the club, posted up with some gang bangers.

Dude had an uber-legit setup - dual pull front and back disc brakes, and was an awesome player besides. Good control, wicked shot, nice and quick. They pretty much shared all the equipment - tons of loaner polo bikes and mallets to encourage newbies. Apparently they had been booted from their old spot and were trying out a new one in a caged-in basketball court. Again, we played until the lights cut out and were forced to vacate. This time, Cara took some pictures which came out pretty dramatic thanks to their lighting; check 'em out.


A basketball court with a slippy-slidy pool of death.

I feel pretty great about the trip as a whole and reeeeeally wanna do another pickup trip somewhere new. As a whole, I think Cara and I repped Memphis pretty hard. Granted, these were two relatively new, small clubs, we definitely kept the pace and pressure up. I don't think we were blowing anyone out of the water, but I do think we were at the very least challenging people. Next stop? Maybe St. Louis. I have a feeling they'll challenge us, and I know I could use one to help get ready for the South Central Champs in Austin.



Between the great weather - not too hot, not cold - and awesome people, plus the sheer number of clubs in Florida, I really didn't wanna leave, but there's no way I could leave behind Memphis polo just yet. We at least gotta make it to day two of South Central first, ha!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Mallet Stash

mallet stash
Photo by Cara.

The collection's growin'. Next: Fixcraft XT with St. Cago, Pro-Model Eighth Inch, and Northern Standard.

Finally, Polo in Mississippi!

I was lurking around lobp last night, when I saw a new addition to the "Who's New" section. After a little sleuthing (read: facebook creepin'), it was confirmed: there's finally bike polo going on in Mississippi! I mean, other than us sneaking down to Southaven to play on their courts.

They've even got a little edit already:

HC BP in JX from Peter Hammond on Vimeo.


Definitely reminds me of the good old days. Now, we just gotta make sure they stick with it so we have some new peeps to play.

On the other hand, this does kinda kill an idea I had of holding our first tournament down at the Southaven street hockey courts and calling it the Mississippi State Bicycle Polo Championship. But I guess it's worth it.