Gotta Be Gritty

Cross the Pond

2012-02-11T04:15:00.000-06:00

Came across this description of player ability over on the polo section of the London Fixed-Gear and Single Speed Forum and thought it was a pretty good description:

Stage 1
You're brand new to the game. For some reason, you've found yourself on court, on a bike and with a mallet in your hand. Try as you might, you cannot hit the ball. How people can ride so fast, cover their brakes, play on their off-side, do weird scoop shots and read the game tactically you have no idea. In learning terms, this player is unconsciously incompetent. That is to say they have no understanding of what to do or what they need to do to attain that understanding.

Stage 2
You've played some polo. You've crashed a few times. You tweaked some things on your bike and you have your own mallet. You've worked out that sometimes you need to play in goal and sometimes you're happy to sit there if there are two better players on your team. You've realised that there are things you need to learn to get better. You are consciously incompetent.

Stage 3
You can play polo but it takes mental effort and concentration. You need to focus to play your best. You need to ask yourself questions like “Am I in the right position?” You have become consciously competent.

Stage 4
Polo is in your blood. You do things without thinking. If another player asks you a question about a specific situation then you can't explain why you do it – it's second nature. You've developed a style and character to your play. You have become unconsciously competent.

Stage 5
Consciously unconsciously competent. You think about why you unconsciously do the things you do and you can explain it to other people. You can talk about and test your skills and theories against other people's theories. Consequently you become exposed to new ones that expand your own competencies.

The move between stage 1 and stage 2 will take care of itself. You may only be in this stage for a few hours which is why a lot of players don't really remember their early days and how alien it feels to try and hit that ball.

The move between stage 2 and 3 is tough. To make the move you need to start to question everything you do on court. What happens if you try new things? Ask yourself who has a polo game that you respect and look at what they do. Ask why they do it. If they can't explain it, try doing it and work out why they do it for yourself. It's about finding answers.

The move between stage 3 and 4 is experience. It's knowing yourself and your decisions inside-out. You can't get there until you've perfected your decision making process though – otherwise you will be making wrong decisions and feeling unsure of yourself. You need the confidence to trust your decisions.

The move between stage 4 and 5... I don't really know. I'm not sure if anyone is at that level in polo yet – I don't think there's been enough time in the game's evolution.

The other thing to remember is that these states are fluid when applied to specific areas of your game. Let's take the example of your shot. Say you discover something that changes the way you shoot – suddenly you shoot in a consciously competent way as you try to remember the new technique. Over time, it becomes unconscious until you start to tweak your technique again. Things can get worse before they get better!

London really holds it down. They have enough people to have two leagues going with nine teams each. I'd like to think I'm a solid stage 4 player - and that Memphis' best are all around there. But maaaaaan it'd be cool to have fifty active players in the city...

Urine Trouble

2012-02-03T14:17:00.001-06:00

Last night at polo, Adam's mallet got consecrated by our new puppy, Didgi.

For the too-hot-for-tv version, click here if you dare...

On that next level shit

2012-01-14T01:56:00.001-06:00

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?"

MLK Park

2012-01-13T01:47:00.001-06:00

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

Tentative 2012 Polo Away Schedule

2012-01-12T01:41:00.007-06:00

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.

2012-01-12T01:41:00.001-06:00

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.

Late to the game

2012-01-11T01:32:00.002-06:00

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.

Scoop de doop

2012-01-10T19:46:00.000-06:00

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...

2012-01-10T17:28:00.005-06:00

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

2012-01-10T01:22:00.000-06:00

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.

Power Snatch Kid

2012-01-09T00:42:00.001-06:00

This was Adam tonight:

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.

Flawduh Polo

2012-01-06T02:13:00.000-06:00

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.

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!

Mallet Stash

2012-01-05T20:16:00.003-06:00

Photo by Cara.

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

Finally, Polo in Mississippi!

2012-01-05T01:57:00.001-06:00

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.

Pontius of Palia

2011-12-25T03:50:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-23T02:35:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-18T02:46:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-15T22:09:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-08T02:19:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-05T21:37:00.001-06:00

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

2011-12-04T01:23:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-02T17:50:00.000-06:00

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

Polohaven

2011-11-14T02:09:00.001-06:00

On Saturday, some of the Memphis crew met up with some of the Little Rock crew at the Southaven Street Hockey Courts, about 15 miles south of our usual spot.

View Larger Map

Took a bunch of pictures, which you can check out here, but here's a few highlights:

Kermit's really reaching.

Adam's windup.

Two teams, fifteen square feet.

Polo Ladiezzzzz!

Cara kills it on the dropout.

Aaaaand, one more, which may seem ordinary at first glance...

but check out those expressions. Faces of polo, yikes.

Southaven is a much bigger, nicer court than we're used to, and I really think we flourished on it. Passing is so much easier when there's actually more than three feet between each player. The surface was pretty nice too, grippy yet smooth, and Adam's Canadian street hockey balls were perfect, bouncing off the backboards to set up rebounds and sideboards to get around pesky defenders. The other couple of times I'd been there, I'd found the size a bit too much, but either I'm in better shape or just don't have to chase the ball down as much, 'cus this time it just felt right.

Lotsa fun, can't wait to go back, can't wait to play with Little Rock again.

Oh, and I also managed to unthread my lockring, which I didn't know was really possible. I had thought that the design of the mechanism was such that resisting pedaling actually tightened a lockring, but I suppose that could be wrong? Anyways, I managed to slap it back on, but it was looking pretty ragged:

Milwaukee Mill-Rawk-ees!

2011-11-13T01:46:00.000-06:00

A little over a month ago, we got a curiously shaped package in the mail from Ben's Cycle...

Hmmm, what could it possibly be?!

BOOM! Six-pack of shafts courtesy of Milwaukee Bike Company! I can only assume they read my review comparing some of the different shafts out there and sent me a little thank you. I was super taken back and excited - definitely unexpected. So yeah, just want extend an enormous thank you their way! Their stuff is quality fo' sho', and down here in the land of no snow, you can be sure they're gonna get some use.

Enor Mouse gives thanks.

APB

2011-11-07T02:08:00.000-06:00

Be on the lookout; my friend Charles' bike got stolen outta a locked garage the other day. It's a teal Volume Cutter and it's fresh as hell, not to mention it's his polo bike, so if you see it, feel free to issue a beatdown, call the cops, call Charles up at up the Midtown Outdoors Inc, follow the guy home and burn his house down (while saving the bike of course), or just stop the dude and ask where he got the bike. Whichever strikes your fancy.

Here's a pic from polo in Little Rock:

It's a VERY distinctive bike with a pretty limited audience. I mean, I guess anyone lookin' for a hip fixie would think it was pretty sweet, but it's geared really low. So yeah, hopefully the person that stole it makes a mistake and tries to sell it in town and gets caught, 'cus this shit makes me sad.

Polo on Paper: The Hangup

2011-10-20T02:44:00.001-05:00

This play is a bit riskier, in that it's a three-up offense with little chance to fall back, but if executed correctly, it could be pretty deadly.

I call it the hangup, in that the goal is to block off the two defenders and create a one-on-one situation with the goalie. It could be especially potent on a left-handed goalie, as you'll be coming on their weak side, but you can easily reverse it for a righty. Players 2 and 3 are supposed to make a lane for the shooter by tying up the defenders. Of course, the other team's positioning has a lot to do with this, so the exact movements of the play would have to change, but the basic idea stays the same: Get in front of the defenders and don't let them get away.

It's important that if one of the two blockers should dab, it'd probably be a good idea to head towards the goal after the tap. There's definitely a lot that could go wrong with this play (missed block, foot down, bad shot deflection for a turnover) but if the blockers are really good, the shooter might even get a couple of chances to shoot by picking up a deflection.

World Finals on Paper

2011-10-19T17:47:00.000-05:00

Now for a couple of more advanced plays. Mr Do's videos from the finals in Seattle are stuffed with good polo. These examples are less plays and more just good positioning and teamwork, but they definitely could be run as plays and be effective. I'll be referring to times from Mr. Do's World Finals video if you want to follow along at home.

Here's the first example, found at 19:15 - a brilliant example of a three up, triangle formation attack.

Players 2 and 3 move up the right side of the court, player 2 controlling the ball. Near the half, he begins to barely circle back towards the left, passing to player 3. After a brief control, he quickly passes to player one, who has crept up the court for a shooting position to the left of the goal.

There are a number of smart plays going on here. First, with three up, the defense is forced to leave one man open to prevent an open goal. Of course, this opens up the possibility of a quick counterattack, which is why player 1's circle back is so key - if the play doesn't work, he's in great position to race back to guard the goal. Player 1 has effectively tied up one defender, and the pass from player 1 to 2 is just enough to draw the attention of the second, leaving the third attacker open. This would have also worked if the defense had chosen to cover the pass instead of attack, because to do so would give an open shot. About the only counter would have been to have two players back and one roving defender, but this strategy makes it very hard to regain control of the ball and begin a drive, and must rely on the other team to mess up.

Basically speaking, triangles are where it's at, offensively. The defense has a tough choice with who to cover, allowing great passing lanes to open up.

The second example can be found at 22:27, just a nice bit of passing that opens up a shot.

This play isn't quite as brilliant as the last, but is still pretty solid because its lines are very atypical. Player 2 is taking the ball up the left side, with player 1 to his left. Instead of continuing up the left board, both players curl to the right, player 1 just a bit behind, ready for the backwards pass. While you can never say for sure what the defense is going to cover, heading back towards the opposite side of the court when you don't have the ball is a good way to shake a defender. Again, if the defender had chose to cover the pass to player 1, it's possible that this could have opened up a shot for player 2. Ultimately, this play didn't result in a goal, but it's definitely a break from the normal, and in another situation, that could be enough to confuse the defense.

Polo on Paper: Kriss Kross

2011-10-18T00:28:00.002-05:00

The second play, and one that sees alot of use at pickup, I'm calling the Kriss Kross, a variation of the 1-2.

The basic difference is that, instead of taking a straight line, the two forwards switch lines before a pass and then a shot. The basic idea is, first, that it's harder to cover a player when they're moving around the court, and second, to possibly confuse any defenders. Again, good coverage will neutralize this play, but with an unwary or slow defense, there's a good opportunity for a shot.

Polo on Paper: The 1-2

2011-10-17T04:36:00.003-05:00

While taking the ball up the court and slamming out a goal with no clear plan is awesome fun, it's amazing how just a little strategery can wreak havoc. Even the simplest plays can be extremely effective, as long as the entire team is on the same page. To that end, I've started collecting some of the simpler polo offensive plays. First, let's take a look at something so simple it barely qualifies as a play at all. I like to think of it as the 1-2:

In case you aren't adept at reading plays (polo is the only sport I have any semblance of knowledge about - I looked all this stuff up online), I'll break it down. A solid line with an arrow is movement forward, a dotted line is a pass, and the double arrow is a shot.

So, here we have pretty one of the most basic ideas. One player takes the ball up the court, crosses half, then passes to another player who has just reached a shooting position. Wham, bam, one-two punch, goal.

A good time to use this is right after being scored on. If you can get back up the court before the other team has time to cover player two, this can easily take the goalie by surprise. Of course, this is pretty easily countered by simple coverage, but what'd you want, I did say it was one of the most basic plays. It's easily reversible to take advantage of a goalie's weak side or a shooter's strong side, and can be really potent with a righty/lefty combo.

Oh ma gawd

2011-10-12T12:41:00.001-05:00

Mallet-Making 4011: Countersunk Bolts

2011-10-10T14:03:00.009-05:00

If you follow polo blogs at all, you probably saw this post on 321polo.net about a new mallet-mounting system. I could give a little tutorial about how to do it, but really, it's explained pretty well, so I won't bother detailing it here.

Anyways, this system is AWESOME. Drilling through the shaft has always been the worst part of making a mallet for me, and this does away with that completely. Plus, this makes heads easily swappable without damaging the integrity of the shaft by having to put in a new screw.

Adam's patented three screws and a drill bit attachment method
is now obsolete. Photo by Kermit.
On top of being easy and clean, this method simply holds better than any other I've tried. The head stays firm thanks to the filed teeth - no twisting or jiggling, no screw to bend or break.

Metal-Mantel Approved.

The only thing I would add to the tutorial is that the nuts needed weren't at my local Home Depot or Lowes - I had to go to a smaller, local hardware store for 'em. But I shoulda done that to begin with, right? Also, make sure the bolt head is flat and tapering down to the threads so it will be flush with the mallet-head and able to fit into the countersink hole. This might sound like a no-brainer, but I definitely didn't think about it the first time and bought rounded-head bolts.

The only downside I can see is that with this method, you end up having to cut off a good bit of the taper; the nut gets trapped pretty far from the bottom of the shaft. Maybe this could be solved with different nut sizes, but there wasn't a whole lot of selection at my local store. I'm not a taper-enthusiast anyway, so this doesn't really bother me, but I could see it sticking in a craw or two - but for me, this is perfect. Definitely not gonna make mallets any other way.

Do the chuckle hop

2011-10-09T05:42:00.001-05:00

Charles continues to jump. Not impressive enough! Next time, endo out, then fakie 360 off the truck. Haha juuuuuuust kidding.

Shot by Carter after polo, 10-5-11.

Dick Shaft Measuring Contest

2011-10-08T02:32:00.047-05:00

In which I compare the shafts of Fixcraft, Eighth Inch and Milwaukee Bicycle Co:

Since ski poles are basically impossible to find in Memphis, everyone has started to rely on the pre-fabbed junts. Since I've had/played with (at least) one of each of the major offerings (old and new eighth inch, black and silver fixcraft, green and orange MKE), I thought a review was in order. So let's break it down...

Milwaukee: Regal and Majestic

PRICE:
Basic question - how much is this gonna run me? Keep in mind, I figured all this based on being shipped to Memphis, TN. So if you happen to live really close to one of the various companies, that'll reduce the price a bit. But any way you slice it, fixcraft has got the best deal goin'. A single shaft is 14.99, and when I got mine, shipping was $10.80 - this was February '11; I couldn't get a current quote online since they're plumb out right now. Eighth Inch is next with $26.87 shipped (though they have the highest base price, $19.99), and MKE will pick your pocket (jay kay) for $30.34 (base price $15.99). Of course, eighth inch offers free shipping on any orders over $50, and MKE does on orders over $75*, so if you're bout to drop a bunch anyway, fixcraft might not be the way to go. But still, Fixcraft wins the cheapwad's choice award.

MATERIAL:
Fixcraft and MKE both use the same material on their shafts, 7075 T6 Series 4 Aluminum, while Eighth Inch uses 6061-T6. What does this mean? Hell if I really know, but I've noticed that 6061 seems to bend more than 7075, which might sound like a bad thing, but it also seems to bend back into shape easier. Personally, I'd just rather have a shaft that bends less. Score for MKE and Fixcraft.

Fixcraft: Beloved of Frogs

LENGTH:
Now, to me, this is pretty much moot. I've found my preferred mallet length to be around 37", and all three shafts are plenty long enough for that. However, I've seen people with mallets WAY longer than mine, so if you're one of those people, you'd probably be better off avoiding the eight inch, which is listed at 105cm (about 41"). MKE cuts 'em a little longer, at 43", and Fixcraft even longer at 49.5". Fixcraft wins again, although I do wonder if they're trying too hard to compensate for something like small feet.

WEIGHT:
For us weight weenies, MKE managed to make their shafts just a bit lighter somehow, at 3.54 grams/inch. However, the difference is pretty slight: Fixcraft manages 3.84 grams/inch and Eight Inch 3.87 grams/inch. I do wonder if this has changed since Febrary, as all this information comes from each company's website - the main reason I got a fixcraft shaft to start was because I calculated it to be a little lighter than MKE. Course, this all gets to be a bit wonkified anyway when you consider...

TAPER:
Eight Inch shafts are completely straight, meaning their weight is going to be consistent throughout the shaft. MKE and Fixcraft, however, both have tapering ends of 15" and 16" respectively. In theory, the more taper you leave, the lighter the grams/inch will be. Taper is also important to some people who claim that the taper is actually stronger than the straight section, and from my experience I have to concur. On the other hand, right now the taper is nearly moot for me personally, due to my method of mallet building. I always make a half inch hole in the top of the mallet head and force the shaft through it as far as it'll go, all but eliminating the taper. Even though it's all pretty much the same for me, I suppose it's better to HAVE the taper for the people that want it, and fixcraft has got the edge, if only by an inch.

Eighth Inch: R.I.P.

DURABILITY:
Finally, the big one. All that other stuff won't mean diddle if your shaft is gonna bend/break during the first game. While that might sound unrealistic, that very thing happened to me the first night I took out a mallet - and this was practice, mind you, not an actual game. It's nearly always the same thing that gets every mallet: the dreaded cross-the-wheel monster shot that whacks your shaft into your front wheel. So which shaft yeilded to the wheels of steel (or, well, aluminum) the quickest? The answer, surprisingly, was fixcraft. In spite of having the edge in pretty much every other area I can think of, I've found that they just don't wear as well as the other brands. While they probably bend and dent just as much as the Eighth Inch ones, it's much harder to bend them back, and snapping them is a real danger if you get too energetic with it. My MKE mallets, in addition to wearing better, just FEEL more solid. I know this is subjective, but I feel like intangibles like this are just your brain figuing something out that you just can't put your finger on.

Roasted, Toasted and Burnt to a crisp.

CONCLUSION:
Hands down, MKE shafts last the longest and stay the straightest for me, and that's what really counts - maybe it's that coat of paint they slap on it. Perhaps if fixcraft was noticeably better in terms of weight or price, I'd be tempted to use them instead, but really the differences are mostly cosmetic. The shafts are nearly identical on paper, one just plays better than the other for some reason. Still, once fixcraft launches their new XT (Extra Tough) shaft at the end of the month, I'll definitely give it a try. Since they are a bit cheaper, if they can make a shaft that resists bending, I'll gladly make the switch. I regret to say that Eighth Inch just isn't for me, again because of the bending, but also because of the weight. In theory it's not that much heavier than fixcraft, but it somehow feels that way - could be that taper difference. Of course, they do have the benefit of having mallet heads that screw right on, making them a little more appealing for an absolute beginner, but at this point I really enjoy the process of making mallets. For now at least, it's MKE ftw.

* - Originally, I had said MKE offers free shipping on orders over $100. Ooops!

Tommy Gun

2011-10-07T05:04:00.002-05:00

I haven't been keeping up with fixed freestyle all that much recently, so it's weird that as soon as I get bored and check on it, I find this amazing video that was released a mere four days ago.

Tom La Marche for Specialized from Uncle Buck on Vimeo.

Tom. La. Marche. Booyah.

Memphis Polo Vid

2011-10-06T03:42:00.000-05:00

Early this summer, Jason Sheesley got some game footage and interviews together to make a little polo intro. To my knowledge, this hasn't really been posted up anywhere so I thought, what the hell:

I managed to avoid getting interviewed, but he still managed to catch a few fleeting shots of me in action. Check out the sweet exposed lower back action!

In fact, if you look a little closer...

A tramp-stamp is born...

An open message to the NAGAV8R

2011-10-06T02:28:00.002-05:00

STOP RUINING POLO.

Thanks.

Photo by Cara.

Long Overdue Chrome Kursk Review

2011-10-05T03:01:00.000-05:00

As frequent readers might remember, last year, to kick off Chrome's entry into the shoe market, they gave away a free pair of their shoes to anyone that sent in their old shoes. Sweet deal. Well, after a year and change of wearing 'em on and off, I think I can finally make some kind of judgement on 'em.

Da shoes. And a mallet. For context?

As you can see, they've held together pretty well. I've definitely never had any shoes that didn't rip or lose their tread after around six months of abuse, much less a year and a half. I do have my gripes, however.

One of the laces broke pretty quickly - not a huge deal, but still, not fun. Laces, of course, are easily replaced, but these have little metal dealios on the ends so they don't fray. Eh, one step forward, one step back.

Also, right out of the box, the right insole felt like it had a crack running through it. A little weird, but not uncomfortable. Just a factory defect that got by somewhere. Pretty sure I could have gotten them switched out, but seeing as they were free to begin with, I didn't wanna bother.

Last kvetch: The shoes themselves are made of cordura, not canvas, which means they're pretty tough - hence the no tearing part. However, my tender-footed self finds the heel especially to be a bit TOO stiff. I haven't suffered any blisters, but it feels like the heel of the shoe is digging into my heels and ankles. I can't say this for sure, but I feel like they were partly to blame for a strained ankle - with my regular shoes, I feel like I can sorta roll my foot with a fall (which may cause its own problems, but still). With the Kursks, my foot plants, causing the ankle to bend along a very defined line. At one point, after wiping due to a pedal strike, it felt like the shoe almost SLICED into my tendons - it felt like something in my foot was popped outta place by the shoe itself. If the shoe had just a touch more give, I feel like I coulda avoided the injury. Orrrrrr, I probably should have just worked on NOT FALLING and stop blaming a shoe for my own ineptitude.

Now for the good stuff. Like I said, the shoe is VERY sturdy and tough. Some of the rubber on the sides has kinda peeled away, but the shoe itself is standin' up to whatever I throw at it, which is one reason it's become my shoe of choice for mountain biking. Another reason is the little elastic strap to hold your laces in so they don't get caught up in your drive-train. And of course they look pretty cool, although, as with Converses, when I look down I sometimes feel like I'm wearing clown shoes.

Finally, the sole of these shoes is pretty great:

It's nice and thick enough to dampen vibrations from hitting a billion roots at Stanky without feeling like there's a million miles between your foot and the pedal. Plus it's red, which looks especially cool on a bike.

Cut to the chase: These shoes are pretty dang nice. I would definitely consider paying the full 70 bucks for 'em once my first pair wears out, but only if I happened to have a bit more moola than I usually have. Great splurge, but far from an essential.

Cycle Memphis 4.0

2011-10-04T02:00:00.001-05:00

So, the latest Cycle Memphis ride went off without a hitch last Saturday - unless you count Jason hypnotizing Rem with phat beats so that he crashed into the boom-box trailer.

That sentence makes sense, I swear.

Anyways, the ride was pretty much how it always is: critical mass without calling it that. The pace was...We'll say...leisurely. Twelve miles per hour is leisurely, right? Little less turnout than usual, but there was alotta bike stuff goin' on that day already, plus the little cold snap. Kermit did manage to grab a few videos of Cara doin' what she does best: ridin' fakie, tire slides, rollouts. She makes it look so smooth! Check it out:

Butterrrrr.

Chuckles McGee

2011-10-03T01:00:00.001-05:00

This was posted up on facebook, but as not everyone is hip to the facespace/isn't friends with Rem (of memfixed fame no less), I thought I'd post it up here too:

Video by Rem

Featured is Memphis fixed rider Charles Fox on his Volume Thrasher, badass in his own right. Definitely at the forefront of Memphis FGFS, especially as far as hops/balls are concerned. If anybody in Memphis has the skillz to progress to the stuff some of the other big fixed riders are doing right now, I think it's him.

Where's yo' head at?

2011-10-02T03:35:00.001-05:00

Well, summer's winding down and I feel like it's time this thing had a purpose - other than the reading list on the sidebar.

There's a butt-ton (button?) of stuff to slowly sort out and post, but I'll start with the thing that's really started to grow on me the past coupla months: mountain biking.

Pictured: a butt-ton button.

About a year ago, I bought a Surly 1x1 from a friend of mine on the cheap with the intention of giving polo on a freewheel a serious try. It definitely seems to be the way most of the rest of the sport has headed and I wanted to see if there was a reason for it. Well, whether I just didn't give it a long enough try, or had just progressed too far fixed to turn back and try something new, or maybe even just wanted the extra cool points, I didn't end up liking the experience and ended up with (yet another) extra bike.

The 1x1, which I have dubbed "Hot Pants" due to the flamin' saddle it came with.

I took it on the Wolf River Trails a coupla times and had fun, but it really hasn't been until the past few months that I've waded waist-deep into it. After thinking I was hot shit on the WRT doing a coupla blue trail laps at mach 5, I finally got up the nerve to go to Stanky Creek with Kermit. Naturally he pushed the shit out of me (almost literally, as I overheated a little over halfway in and had to fight back puking), but it was still amazingly fun - albeit humbling. I've got a pretty long way to go before I can consider myself a decent rider, but every time I go I shave off a few minutes. Course, based on my most recent times, I'd still be competing for third-to-last place in category 3, but if I keep improving at the same rate I am right now (yeah right), I'll have first place on lock in...about three months?

Anyways, it's exhilarating as hell and very different from any other type of cycling I've ever done. If you're one of those road-only, commute/group ride/polo kinda people like I was, you should at least give it a try. Not to oversell it, but IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIIIIIIIND.

MapCrunch

2011-08-18T01:37:00.002-05:00

This guy's ready for bike polo.

July 4th Polo Friendlies

2011-07-13T02:33:00.000-05:00

So July 4th was awesome, largely thanks to a sweet cadre of Little Rockers. Our first time on the Riverdale court was intoxicating - can't wait to get back some time! Of course, it's STILL not within official NAH court dimensions - in fact, the only court I've ever played on that was is the Street Hockey court in Southaven, and it feels TOO big to me.

Nathan from Little Rock is downright dangerous, and I'm not talking about the spill in which he rolled over my back wheel (that was my fault anyway). I've never played against anyone with his gift for switchbacks, somehow enticing you to follow him on the wrong sides. Fast breakaways, combined with his shot - hard, accurate, lengthy, and surprising (you think you got him blocked? THINK AGAIN. He'll find that line.) - make him the elegant assassin of Little Rock polo.

Anyways, I took a few pictures, though, as usual, not as many as I wanted to going in:

Content? We don't need no stinkin' content.

2011-06-23T01:07:00.000-05:00

I try not to link too much on this blog, and I especially don't like doin' two in a row, but this article over on Lancaster City Bike Polo just struck a chord.

I like playing goalie, but I hate getting stuck there. It's just not fun when no-one else will cover it! In my perfect world, every goal from either side should facilitate a goalie change - at least in pick up. Obviously it's different if you have a perma-goalie, or you need your best offensive player pluggin' away at all times during a tournament.

Hardcore Polo Article

2011-06-20T20:03:00.000-05:00

Adam posted this to the Memphis Polo facebook. Probably one of the best intro to polo articles I've read in quite a while. Check it out:

Sean Ingram of Coalesce explains hardcourt bike polo

The Long Overdue Lesson of the Buttertown Beatdown

2011-06-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been more than two weeks since the Southeast polo champs in Savannah. It definitely went better than South Central for me, but if there's one lesson I need to take away from it, I feel like it's this:

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

As simple as it sounds, I just need to be BETTER. At this point, I've got the basics down. This ain't my first rodeo. But to really break into the next level, I need to stop screwing up. No sloppy passes, no whiffs when taking shots. Just do everything that I can do now, but do it faster and more accurately. Control and pass the ball like it's not the hardest thing in the world. Unfortunately, this isn't really something I can change about the way I play, I just need to keep playing. Sure there are little tricks that can help out - scoop tricks, pivots and the like - but they aren't gonna make or break games.

We managed to scrape out a ninth place tie overall, and I think that pretty much sums it up. We're just out of the running for the best teams (the top 8) but hangin' tough with the intermediates.

Memfix

2011-05-09T00:11:00.000-05:00

There's a new fixed-gear forum that popped up in the last couple of days called Memfixed, set up by Rem, who works at Midtown Bikes and wandered by polo on Wednesday.

I dunno if we convinced him to play much, but then again his bike looks like it was meant more for beasting out than polo:

He's reppin' that Kilo TT, what whaaaaaaat! Anyways, he seems like a cool dude, so register for the forum, if you're into that kinda thing. Guy just moved here from Las Vegas and he's already organizin' n' shit, good stuff.

NIPPLES!

2011-05-05T02:23:00.001-05:00

Hey, I learned a neat trick! Keep reading to learn all about my encounters with broke-ass nipples. Keep your own nipple count at home, kids!

I'm constantly breaking nipples and spokes playing polo, even with wheel covers. Maybe that's kinda my fault for using my wheel to block stuff while spinning at ludicrous speed, but anyways, it's a pain, especially with my deep rims. I've lost more than a couple nipples trying to poke 'em through the holes. So I was positively DELIGHTED to learn a little pro-tip from one of Outdoors Inc's resident shop rats, Matt.

The problem, as you can see, is a busted nipple. Time for a boob job, but how to hold on to that slippery little fella? Simple: Take a loose spoke and thread the nipple on backwards. Genius!

Now all ya have to do is poke the nipple in and screw it onto the wheel spoke. As it threads ON to the wheel, it'll thread off of your extra spoke.

Voila! Now you're good to go, at least until you accidentally bust two more spokes by thrusting your own mallet into your wheel, anyway.

So yeah, Matt's a badass. Maybe everybody knows this trick already, but it blew my mind.

Final Nipple Count (including this one) - Enough to feed this many puppies:

Nashville Tournament? (UPDATED AGAIN)

2011-04-16T23:17:00.002-05:00

My sources tell me that there's a polo tournament brewing in Nashville. Details are scant, but they're slowly being posted on their blog. The only thing I can say for sure is that it's limited zip codes, will probably happen some time in May, and it's the precursor to a Tennessee Tournament in the fall.

My hunch is that this'll be just for Murfreesboro and Nashville, but we can still hope.

(X-posted to the Memphis Polo Blog.)

UPDATE: Just as I suspected, you have to live between Dickson and Murfreesboro to participate in this one. Suuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

UPDATE ON DA UPDATE: The blog for the tournament has disappeared, as has the link to it from the Nashville Bike Polo blog. Either it's off, rescheduled, or I pissed off one too many people by suggesting that they change their rules to the official NAH rules.

Through the Cracks

2011-04-12T23:32:00.000-05:00

In all the hoopla about opening a bicycle path on the Harahan Bridge, I somehow missed this little article. As if opening a link to Arkansas wasn't cool enough, if the planets align, there could be a path all the way north to St. Louis and south to New Orleans. Whoa. Like whoa.

I also recently came across a new-ish blog about commuting in Memphis entitled, appropriately enough, Biking in Memphis. It's run by a professor at the U of M named Doug who is EXTREMELY passionate about not using a car except when absolutely necessary. So check it out!

And remember, keep checking back here for more updates about things that happened like three months ago!

SCBPC, De(com)pressed

2011-03-30T18:39:00.000-05:00

Hooooo boy. Well, I've had a few days to recover from a pretty grueling weekend up in Little Rock and, except for a lingering cold, I think I'm doing a little bit better. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty disappointed with my performance. It was kinda funny, I went in hoping to make top eight, with just a very very small corner of my head wanting to win the whole thing. Then, I just wanted to finish middle of the pack. Then, just to qualify; then, just to make it to day two and finally, just to leave.

(Ignore my smile, I assure you I'm crying on the inside.)

It's not that the tournament wasn't well put together, it was just the combination of quite a few things that left me reeling by the end of the weekend. I'm not gonna go play-by-play and make excuses or anything, because the majority of people there were genuinely better than us. However, I DO think we were dealt some bad luck and had to play some teams that we had no chance against. Furthermore, it was pretty disheartening to see the two teams we DID beat, end up with a better ranking than us.

Even with not making the cut for day two, I don't think I would have taken it so bitterly if the weather hadn't been TERRIBLE. I mean, while you were playing, it was fine (aside from an extremely slippery surface), but I realized something that perhaps I should have known going in: Tournaments are a lotta waiting around and just a little bit of actually playing polo. I was literally shaking from a combination of the cold, wet, and nerves. Yes, I am bitching a bit about something I shoulda just sucked up, but screw it, the fact is, I felt MISERABLE.

But all that's behind me now. For a sec, I was thinking about pulling out of the South East Championship, but after a few days of kvetching and moaning, that old polo fervor returned, and I'm rarin' again. However, I did learn a few things.

First off, I HAVE to get an easier ratio. 33x19 is not cutting it, which amazes me. Or rather, it doesn't cut it on a larger court, which is, I think, the next thing that needs to change.

We're used to playing on a relatively small court with pretty short walls. Acceleration (or rather lack there-of), while still important, won't lose the game for you - but it seemed like most of the people we played were perfectly at home on a larger court. You may ask, what's the difference? It's all about space to maneuver. On our court, we get so packed in there, it's more like a chess game, with one move made at a time. Plus, with the permanent, non-moving, tall side-boards, you don't have to worry quite as much about hitting the side. On our court, that stops the game altogether because the court is constantly falling apart. In Little Rock, it was constant movement because there was plenty of room to get around someone, if you knew how.

Know-how, of course, is another weakness. It's not that I don't think I'm competent, especially on defense, but I'm not as fluid. I need to be able to maintain a pretty high speed and still have control. I also need to work on controlling the side opposite my mallet. You HAVE to be able to pick up those balls on your weak side, there's just no two ways about it.

Lastly, and most importantly perhaps, is scoring. I didn't score a single goal in Little Rock. I think picking up my speed will help this to an extent, but beyond that, I just need to shoot harder, faster, more frequently, and from varied angles. It's just as easy to recover a blocked/missed shot on offense as it is on defense, if not EASIER. After all, you have some idea where it's going. As long as you have someone back, it behooves you to shoot - once you get fast & hard enough, being goalie is almost reduced to luck. I literally couldn't see some of the shots people took in LR because they were moving so fast.

These are the things that I feel are the absolute minimum to be competitive at the next tournament I enter. So to that end, I REEEEEALLY wanna find a new spot for polo. So far, I feel like the only viable option is Glenview Park - it's just a matter of whether or not the city feels like helping us out with some lights. More to come, for now, it's time to fix a spoke and play more polo...

Lancaster City Bike Polo

2011-03-16T01:39:00.002-05:00

Just stumbled upon this blog from the league of bike polo blogs section. Usually, I don't really follow the polo blogs of specific cities, especially if they're not very close to Memphis, but this one has some pretty nice articles that apply to anyone in the polo-verse. Check it out: Lancaster City Bike Polo

The Commish needs ya.

2011-03-15T02:57:00.000-05:00

x-posted to the memphis polo site.

Why Play Bike Polo?

2011-02-22T19:07:00.001-06:00

I have a confession: I am a polo junkie. Ever since I started playing, I was struck with how addicting the game was. I was so hooked, when games stopped materializing behind the peddler, I started trying to get together my own games. More and more, I began to look forward to that one Sunday a week, sometimes waiting in vacant parking lots for hours before I could muster up enough people to play. Even now, when I get to play twice a week for three-plus hours straight, I still haven't gotten tired of it. If anything, I feel more obsessed. Thus, the question becomes, why? Why am I still so obsessed after roughly two years? What is it about polo that keeps me coming back? In short, why play polo?

I've been asked this question before by a couple of reporters, but without thinking about it, I could only say that I'm a bit of a bike freak, and it's not far off. I think the reason I started playing polo in the first place has as much to do with a love of bicycles in general as anything else. There are quite a few other factors, but I don't think I would have even found bicycle polo without wanting to be a part of cycling as a whole. So to say that polo players are all, in general, a bunch of bike freaks is pretty accurate, but I don't think it fully explains why I've stuck with it.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the sheer novelty of the sport. It's new and different, and thus draws attention. I imagine the situation is pretty much the same at the outset of any sport, especially one that requires such a large accoutrement. Seeing people riding around with wheel covers, batting around a street hockey ball with very home-made looking mallets is bound to inspire a few gawkers.

In fact, this assortment of equipment is one more reason polo becomes so hard-wired into our systems. First, the home-made-ness of pretty much all polo-specific equipment lends itself to the whole DIY ethos. Because you've made your own equipment, you become more attached to it. It's hard not to be proud of a well-designed, sturdy mallet or a customized wheel cover. This also becomes a method for expressing one's individuality. First, your specific equipment can be a statement of who you are within polo, while the equipment in general comes to help define you in the everyday context. People see you with this crazy assortment of Little Rascals style items, and it becomes a part of your identity, to them if not to yourself. There are so few people that play polo right now that they can't help but think if you as the bike-polo-guy.

Some people are drawn into the sport BECAUSE of this. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a mainstream sport (…yet). While it might be easier to get games together and have a nice place to play if it were, some people like it because it exists well off of most people's radar. Polo becomes one more way to express how you're different than most people. I know I bemoan how few people bike in Memphis, but I can't help but like being thought of as a little crazy. In a (very small) way, polo is almost a revolutionary act. I don't pretend that playing bike polo will save the world, but it's probably doing more for the world as a whole than, say, NASCAR. If nothing else, polo can be a kind of symbol. People have, in effect, stormed the Bastille and taken "The Sport of Kings", be-horsed it, and returned it to the masses. Hell, the bicycle itself is such a revolutionary icon, it'd be hard for polo NOT to be seen that way, if you think about it.

That's not to say that you can't enjoy bicycle polo without being a crusty, punky, train-hopping anarchist. In general, polo is just FUN. In that aspect, it's not that different from any sport. You have a ball; you have a team; you have a goal. Get the ball in the goal. It's simple! As such, it shares a lot of positive aspects with other sports. It's great exercise, it makes you competitive, it's a great outlet for letting out some testosterone without going postal, it helps with hand-eye coordination, teaches teamwork etc etc etc. But if this is all you're looking for, you can pretty much play any sport. And I, for one, was definitely not showing up two times a week for football or basketball or even soccer, which I used to be pretty enthusiastic about when I was a kid. Sure, there are some mechanical aspects to polo that few other sports share: it's more about balance, coordination and control than strength or even speed. But I personally don't think these differences are what make me crazy for it. It HAS to be the intangibles.

Finally, there's one more thing about polo that I can't say for almost anything else. I'm getting in pretty close to the ground floor. It's pretty exhilarating to be part of something new, something pretty big. While I think I could be content just to be part of a movement, because the sport is still so new, I have the opportunity to compete with some of the best in the world. While some have been playing for a few years more than me, I'm not so far behind that catching up is impossible. Of course, I may get back from the regional tournament in Little Rock and have to change my assessment, but right now it really feels like anything is possible.

All in all, I think I'm into polo because every aspect of the sport is pretty much exactly tailored to me. It just ties together a bunch of the things I love: bikes, crafting stuff, revolution and fun. Its just, right place, right time. And judging from the growth I'm seeing, I have to assume it's the same across the country.

Polo: It's the new zeitgeist.

A coupla tips:

2011-02-18T13:31:00.000-06:00

Tip the First:

When playing polo, thou shalt lower thine seat. Ye shall be a better goalie, verily.

Tip the Second:

Thou shalt not look at the comments section of the Commercial Appeal, excepting those tymes when thou wanteth to bloweth a blood vessel.

PS - Vote yes on the (entirely unscientific and meaningless) poll.

Fixcraft

2011-02-11T22:49:00.000-06:00

About a week ago I decided I wanted some dedicated polo gloves. I'd been using some downhill gloves that Kermit had given me, but the palm had finally started to wear through. Not to say that they weren't good gloves, just a bit thrashed at this point. So I started looking around, seeing what was out there, and came across some street hocky gloves at fixcraft, and I thought hell, long as I'm paying for shipping I'll get a new pole, too. Nothing wrong with my eighth inch one, but it's always been a bit heavier than others I've used - plus, having a nice back-up (as opposed to the golf-clubbers I have now) is probably a good idea for the inevitable shattering of my current mallet. I was also thinking about trying out Milwaukee Bicycle Company's pole, but seeing as how I know someone who already loves their fixcraft pole, and the fact that it's just a hair lighter per inch, AND that the gloves were a tad cheaper, I decided to wait until next time to try out MKE's offering.

So, today my shaft and gloves came in, and I hit the jaaaackpoooooot. Observe:

Fixcraft really hooked it up! Lotsa sweet stickers, some spoke cards, sweet junk food pins (nachos, chips, pizza, burger!) AND a T-shirt! Made me feel all gooey inside! You can really tell that they're in it just for the love of polo. Can't wait to get out there and try it all out.

Polo Takes Over

2011-02-03T22:17:00.000-06:00

If it seems like I haven't had much to say recently, I can only blame polo.

Andy, Anthony and myself got into the South Central Bike Polo Championship. All of the out-of-region spots filled up literally in under a minute. I'm really excited we got in, especially since our in-region tournament is like 600 miles away. The MIDWEST tournament is closer than that!

My confidence level varies. I really would like to finish top 12 (down from top 8) and feel relatively confident we can do it, but if I think about it or read the league of bike polo forums too much, I get a little shakier. Thus, all I wanna do is practice practice practice, but get thwarted by work and weather.

Our only experience with polo people outside Memphis has been pretty limited up to now. There's been Stefan from Denmark, the Little Rock folks and recently some people came through from Missouri. While we did really well in LR in a Bench Minor, it was kinda biased in my opinion. All the Memphis peeps were pretty into polo - had to be, to travel. Whereas LR was pretty much anyone that felt like coming out that day. Stefan was unquestionably good. Accurate shots, aggressive play. I wouldn't say he outclassed us, but he definitely pushed us. And Missouri, while perhaps not as good as us overall, had their strengths - definitely the best goalie I've played against. I feel pretty good about my skill level, but just can't get comfortable because I really have no idea what we're up against.

In short, my polo 'tude has changed. When I first started playing in Memphis, I was mostly just interested in making it happen. Now that the scene has solidified a little bit (though I'm still ALWAYS tryin' to get new people) and the polo-verse looms ahead, I kinda wanna do well. I mean, I always wanted to win, but that was second to playing in general. Now that I'm going to a tournament, it's like I've consciously decided to aim for something else. I won't be devastated if we don't do well, but I do feel like we have something to prove. It's a bit crazy how something I do for fun has turned into something I kinda stress about.

Straight from the B-Ped's Desk

2011-01-07T11:22:00.000-06:00

Just got a memo from the desk of Monsieur Schutz d'Wagen:

There's gonna be three public meetings about updating the City's Bike and Pedestrian Plan, so if you wanna have a say in Memphis Cycling, check 'em out! The dates are as follows:

January 19, 2011 - Intro to Phase 2 and Multi-Use Paths (Greenways & Greenlines) - 5:30pm-7:30pm
February 9, 2011 - Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities - 5:30pm-7:30pm
March 2, 2011 - Review and Revise Phase 2 Findings - 5:30-7:30pm

All of the meetings will be held at the Church Health Center Wellness Center at 1115 Union Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104 in Conference Rooms A and B.

Memphis Bike Polo in the Commercial Appeal!

2010-12-09T13:19:00.000-06:00

The Commercial Appeal did a write-up about Memphis Bike Polo in today's paper! Boo-ya!

Photo by Brandon Dill.

Please ignore that I'm resting on my mallet while Anthony appears to reach for the ball. I assure you, I was contemplating the mysteries of life and not simply staring quizzically into space. You can read the article here.

Movin' on up!

Commuter Pro Tip!

2010-11-25T18:04:00.000-06:00

Kermit turned me on to this a month or so ago, and it's definitely been good to know. Have you ever seen those little strips in the street right before a traffic light?

I had always thought they were weight sensors (and thus useless to bikes) but as it turns out, they're inductive loops - little metal strips that can detect when metal is above 'em, and then trigger the light to change. So if you can aim right for 'em, you should be able to set it off with your bike rim! Some of 'em are easier than others, but I've had particular success with the light at Midland and Highland, which is nice since it's on my commute.

A few days past breaking news, but still noteworthy:

2010-11-23T04:46:00.002-06:00

The final stretch of the Southern Bike Lane has been painted! I have yet to see the bike stencil or any signs, but the physical line is definitely there.

View Final Stretch of Southern Bike Lane in a larger map

That little section of Southern from Goodlett to Perkins was always a bit nerve-wracking, seeing as how the speed limit was 45. It's not unheard of to see cars zooming along at 55. While a little white line doesn't make cyclists invincible, it does at least discourage cars from forcing you into the gutter and draws attention to the fact that there may, indeed, be bicycles present.

And hey, at least now when you say you're on the Memphis Bike Lane, people will have to say, "Which one?"

Bike Stuff for Sale!

2010-11-21T19:00:00.001-06:00

So once again, I'm selling bike stuff. I've finally stopped denying that my Charge Plug Freestyler is just too big for me. It was okay set up with the stock fork and 23c tires, but with the tall trick fork and fatty 38c tires, it's waaaayyy too big. I've been wanting to get a new bike for awhile now and the fact that I'm not too happy with this current setup has prevented me from wanting to actually ride. So I'm parting out my old bike to fund a new bike!

First up is the Charge Plug Freestyler frame and fork.

I'd like to get $150 for the frame, fork, and headset, plus whatever shipping will be if you don't live in Memphis (prolly around $15). I have a Dimension stem that I'll throw in for another 10 dollars.

The frame is a size small, which is around a 52cm, and would fit someone that was slightly taller then me perfectly. I'm 5'5", so it would be suitable for anyone my height up to about 5'8". It's made from Tange plain gauge cromoly steel and has super burly tubes. The geometry is tighter than actual fixed gear freestyle frames and has a relatively short top tupe, which is how I got by riding it for so long, ha. With the stock fork, it's not the best for tricking, but with a different trick fork, it would work great for someone a little taller, probably around 5'10 or so.

However it does barspin a 700c wheel with the stock fork!

I know it seems a little tight, but it DOES BARSPIN! I promise, I've done it a hundred times. This would be a great bike for someone who is serious about riding fast, but likes to trick around a little bit every once in awhile and throw bars at red lights :D

The original powder coat on the frame is a dark reddish purplish, but it didn't match the colors of all my parts when I first got it, so I spray painted it a matte black. I've spray painted bikes before without much luck , so I didn't prep the frame at all before painting it, I just slapped it on top of the clear coat. It's held up shockingly well and only has a few scratches where you can see the original paint showing through. You might even can get the spray paint off with some stripper and the original paint should be protected by the clear coat, but I honestly think it looks pretty good, especially for a bike that's been thrown around a lot out of frustration (yea I'm one of those people).

It also has hella tire clearance. I was running 38c tires and it could probably fit up to a 40c in the rear. However, it won't clear the downtube for barspins with anything bigger than probably a 25c.

The deal includes an FSA Orbit headset, which is not sealed, but it is still very good and has never given me any problems. This bike was brand new in March, so is still relatively new.

Up next is a Volume Fu Manchu fork. I want $100 for this, plus shipping, so $110 shipped. The fork is black with a 1 1/8 inch steer tube and has been cut down to about 7.5".

This fork is in really good shape. It has minimal scratches and still works great. The only flaw it has is a pinch on the steer tube where the stem was clamped down too much, but any stem should still fit over this.

This does not affect how it rides or how any stem fits over it.

Next is a pair of 165mm Sugino Messenger cranks, gunmetal color.

I hadn't cleaned these up before taking this picture, but they should shine up really nicely. I've ridden on these for almost a year, and they're still in great shape. They have a few scratches but overall look great. They come with a 44t chain ring, chainring bolts, sealed Sugino bottom bracket, and crank bolts. I got the bottom bracket the same time I got the cranks, but it still feels super smooth and tight. I think I paid $100 for just the cranks and chain ring, so I'd like to get $90 for everything mentioned, $100 shipped.

Finally, my DMR Wingbars.

I don't really care to get much for these. They look cool, but her kinda heavy and hurt my wrists a little on jumps. I can't get one bar end out because the bolt is stripped but you can still get a grip over it and I'll include the other bar end if I can find it, lol. I'm asking $10 for these, $15 shipped.

All these prices aren't necessarily firm, but if I don't sell anything by the end of this week, I'm going to put stuff on ebay at these prices. There are additional pictures on my flickr also. If interested, email me at cnotestn@gmail.com or text me at 901-326-4008.

TCU: The Crunkest-Uppest

2010-10-21T03:46:00.000-05:00

Just a quick 'n dirty cyclocrunk #2 rehash.

Only shot I could find of me from this time, although Cort has a video up on fixmemphis that I'm in for like five seconds.

I definitely pushed myself a bit harder this time, but I think the thing that did the most for me was a better start. Don't get me wrong, I was still moo-ing through the first coupla laps, passing bunches of people, and at one point I actually just walked over a barrier that was so choked with people. But at least I did pass 'em, instead of getting stuck in a long line and playing it safe like last time. Next week, I'm toying with the idea of a semi-aggressive start. I didn't catch up to Cort until the fifth or sixth lap, and I feel like we're on a more or less equal footing. If I start a bit closer to 'im, maybe I can use all that wasted time behind people and close the gap.

The sand pit was absolutely KILLER this time. They lengthened it a bit, and I was definitely feeling it. The entire last lap I was a misstep away from a full-on calf cramp. Aside from the start, I feel like that's the only thing I can really improve on: race preparation - hydrating, maybe a banana right before the race, pre-riding a bit to warm up. And just working on nerves. It's weird how I have no intention of winning, and yet still get all shaky and bugged-out right before the race. Probably some of that has to do with just feeling a little bit outta place. It's not like I'm against being aerodynamic and bootylicious, it's just a little unsettling to be so seemingly outnumbered. I know they're just dudes, but they're UNIFORMED dudes! Like nimble stormtroopers!

Aaaaaaanyways, cyclocross is fun. Thinking about doing spookycross, but for that one you have to have a license and all that shit. Not that I couldn't get a one-day, but talk about intimidating. Welcome to the big leagues, junior.

And on a quick sidenote, according to my friend Andy, the bike lane on Southern has begun! I'm not sure how far it currently stretches, but Anthony went out to take pictures of it, so depending on when you're reading this, you can probably head over to his blog, Pedal Power and find out.

Mostly Comedy

2010-10-16T03:34:00.000-05:00

Haha so this is a page outta the random-as-hell book, chapter outta-nowhere. I recently appeared (if that's the appropriate verb) on 2009 Funniest Person In Memphis Andy Fleming's podcast, Mostly Comedy: the only podcast where comics can get together and get real gay about comedy.

I helped compose and record the theme so he brought me back to help co-host his musical episode which, inexplicably, turned out pretty well in spite of my neither being a comic nor a musician. You can check it out at his website, mostlycomedy.com, on itunes, or you can simply download it here.

In which I get crunk

2010-10-15T03:29:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's right. I bartered away a pizza for a coupla cyclocross tires, slapped a brake on, and I got crunk.

Maybe too crunk:

While I definitely finished in the solid middle of the pack, I had a ton of fun in my first cyclocross race and I'm definitely in for the next two. I might even check out Spookycross, although that one seems a bit less for fun and more for the pure, jock-tastic voyage.

The race itself was a bit of a clusterfuck, with just over 75 people all starting together on a relatively narrow course. I mean, I always meant to just race for fun, but if you don't get out in front of the pack at the very beginning, you're pretty much screwed.

Of course, even with a good start I probably woulda been dropped relatively quick. While the dismount came pretty easy - I can come in pretty hot and still get off with just the two-step before the jump - I can't remount for shit. Somehow the vaulting directly into the saddle just freaks me out. I know I could do it, but my brain is just like, uh, no.

I also took a dive pretty early on, near the end of the second lap, skewing my handlebars about 30 degrees to the left for the remainder of the race. Ah well, I'm better prepared for the next one. The question is, do I wanna take this seriously enough to try and come out of the gate in a good position?

Anyways, cyclocrunk has two more dates, October 19th and 26th. Check it out! You don't need a fancy setup to race, just do it for fun - I could use the camaraderie. For some more pictures, check out the cyclocrunk flickr.

Sunny Damn D!

2010-10-02T21:47:00.000-05:00

Hey, I shot and edited my first video!

Memphis Edit - Cara Notestine from Brett Edmonds on Vimeo.

The song is from the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World soundtrack and was composed by Beck. I'm pretty proud of it, if I do say so myself!

Vollintine Evergreen Greenline...of DEEEEEEATH

2010-10-01T03:24:00.000-05:00

Riding my biiiiiike, la dee da.

Oh look, what's that little plant?

Looks harmless enough. But wait, what're these little brown things on my tire?

IT'S THE LOVELY GOATHEAD THOOOOOOORN. And it's punctured your tire in 12 different places. Have a good night, bitches!

There's a reason this little bastard is also known as demonhead and the devil's popcorn. Maybe it's the season, 'cus I haven't had any trouble before the past week, but they've ended the lives of five of our tubes. Beware the V&E, folks, unless you're running tubeless or just incredibly lucky.

Facespace

2010-09-24T12:24:00.000-05:00

There's now a Memphis Bike Polo page on facebook and Adam has a website in the works. If you're on facebook, definitely join it.

The nicest part about it will probably be organizing - for example, right now I'm trying to find out when people would be able to go to alternate courts on it. Plus, if you live far away, you can check who's gonna be there and make sure there'll be enough people so you don't waste a drive/ride from Raleigh, for example.

You didn't hear it from me...

2010-09-17T01:15:00.000-05:00

photo cred to Thad Cockrill

...but the Greenline is fully paved. Which I would know if I had just ridden it from Tillman to Farm Rd. Not sayin' I did, just sayin' that if one HAD done that, they could confirm that yes indeed, the Greenline is totally ride-able and beggin' to be used.

That said, there are still signs up that say not to use it yet, and you aren't supposed to ride at night anyway, but I have my doubts as to whether or not either of these will really be enforced.

Oh, and it shreds. Especially that stretch from Waring on. Can't wait to see how fast I can do it. I smell a new commute tomorrow morning...

Brett Hearts Gator Hardshells: A Review

2010-09-09T17:31:00.000-05:00

I skid. A lot. Too much. So when I say that a freaking LOVE Continental's Gator Hardshells, know that they've stood up to a LOT of abuse.

I've used a fair number or tires at this point, skidding through probably a half dozen nameless racing tires and a few fixed faves (fyxations, armadillos and randos), and none have held up as well as my Gators. After about two months of everyday use, I STILL don't have any skid patches! That's close to 800 miles of use, including polo, where I skid even MORE than usual. I think I've FINALLY found a tire I like!

While this tire does have many other features that I haven't really expounded on - flat resistance, good grip, not too heavy, long term endurance - I'll leave it to other reviewers. For my purposes, this tire is among the best I've ever used in the 700c set. Right now I'm using the 700x25, but it also comes in 23, 28, or an extremely elusive 32 (according to the website).

Way ta go Kyle!

2010-09-08T02:28:00.000-05:00

Since the city finally announced it, I just wanna join in and say congrats to Kyle Wagenschutz for gettin' the City of Memphis Bike/Ped Coordinator position! The Commercial Appeal has an article about it here, but stay away from the comments unless you wanna see red for a while.

It's a decent article for sure, but I hafta ask, is THIS the best photo they could find of him?!

It kinda looks like footage from a convenience store hold-up! Ah, well. Scary perp-photos aside, this is awesome news and I can't wait to see what he gets up to in office!

Chroooome!

2010-08-21T15:27:00.000-05:00

This is crazy! Over on deals.woot.com there's a deal - no, a steal! - for a Chrome marathon bag for just $39! These babies are usually $100+ plus there's free shipping on anything over 50 bucks. One day only so snatch it up quick before they run out!

Flickr Stream

2010-08-21T04:30:00.001-05:00

Cara and I spent pretty much all night editing photos, and the fruits of our labor can be enjoyed on our respective flickrs. I also added a little doo-hicky on the sidebar to show our latest stuff. But for now, here're a few highlights, which may or may not show up in Project Sketchbook. These were taken probably about a year ago with a Holga. The first set is from the Union/Poplar Overpass and the second is from Shelby Farms.

Victory Bicycle Studio

2010-08-20T23:29:00.002-05:00

Piggy-backed from Magnolia Cycles: Mike Crum, Robert Taylor, and Clark Butcher are opening a new bicycle shop, Victory Bicycles, which will be located in Cooper-Young, specifically 2294 Young:

View Larger Map

If ya didn't know, Mike is the dude behind Magnolia Cycles, which builds custom rides (and quite pretty ones I must say). Amazingly, the word on their facebook page is that they're gonna be open by September 1st. I guess I'm just used to things creeping along and getting delayed too much. Also from their facebook page, it looks like they'll be carrying products from Orbea Bicycles. Can't wait to check 'em out!

new straps

2010-08-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

My friend Charles had an extra set of Burro straps that he got for free somehow, so I decided to give them a try. I love my Hold Fasts but thought it'd be fun to try something new, plus they look pretty badass.

I tried them out yesterday at this spot downtown that I've been wanting to go to for awhile. Unfortunately it's too hot here to practice during the day when the light is best, so the photos we took didn't come out the best. Here's a decent one of me practicing barspins on a bank.

New Polo Deets!

2010-07-26T07:09:00.000-05:00

We've got a new spot for polo goin'! From now on, we're gonna be playing in the Bluff City Sports parking lot:

View Larger Map

Anthony was nice enough to hand saw a bunch of wooden pallets to make borders, so yeah, it's gettin' a bit more legit. He also can get out a bit earlier than I can, so from now on Polo'll be starting at 6 pm on Sundays. We're also trying to add a day, and right now we're trying Wednesdays at 7 pm.

The new court is MUCH narrower and a bit shorter than the church lot; definitely feel the difference. Time to bust out the 19 tooth cog - I felt kinda gimped last night.

If you're one of the people that can only come out late (Andy, Nathan mostly I think), I'm still down to play after y'all get outta work, just need to find a few other people who are as well.

SO! To summarize:

What: Bicycle Polo!
Where: Bluff City Sports Parking Lot.
When: 6 pm Sundays, 7 pm Wednesdays.
Who: YOU!

BE THERE.

Court, Polo, Vacation

2010-07-12T11:15:00.000-05:00

We're headed out the door to go camping for a week, but just wanted to post a quick update on a few things.

We may or may not be back in time for Polo next week, but Anthony has said that he'd host it if we weren't. He's got three of our mallets, so yeah, don't worry if you don't have one. He also mentioned that he might want to start earlier - say around 6 pm. But you should probably confirm that with him before you head out. We also talked about getting together a Memphis Polo blog, so yeah, be on the lookout for that.

Lastly, our court date for obstructing traffic was this morning - dismissed, as we suspected. I'm glad it's over, but it's still not very satisfying. We pretty much just told the lady (judge? clerk? I dunno exactly who she was) what happened and she dismissed it, adding that she didn't want to see us up there any time soon for the same thing - a bit of a jab considering we DIDN'T break the law. It kinda felt like they were saying, ok, you broke the rules but we'll let it slide. But I'll take what I can get from Lady Justice.

But all that's behind us now and it's time to relax for a week, so adios!

PS - Don't wear shorts to court.

PPS - Also don't take any bike tools with you because they are DEADLY WEAPONS! That includes tire levers and pumps!

Equation!

2010-07-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

+ = TONIGHT! 8 pm! 1st Baptist Church!

I've been thinking about changing the day of the week, or possibly just adding another day - Anyone have any particular day/time they like? I was thinking Wednesday sometime in the evening, just because Revolutions has their ice cream rides on Sunday and we have people that can't get there 'til late. But nothin's set in stone right now.

Frame for Sale!!

2010-07-04T13:23:00.003-05:00

Hey people, I'm selling my old frame for cheap!

I'm asking 100 for the frame and fork, and another 20 if you want the brake.

action shot!

This is an awesome frame and the only reason I'm not still using it is because I got my new bike kind of on accident. It's great for tricks and can barspin 700c with a 23c tire. Check out the craigslist post here, where I have my number and a link to the specs. Let me or Brett know if you're interested!

Bikeway/Pedestrian Coordinator for Memphis!

2010-06-30T15:28:00.001-05:00

The City of Memphis today announced that they're lookin' to hire a Bikeway/Pedestrian Coordinator! According to the job posting on the city website, the bike/ped coordinator will "serve as the Spokesperson/Advocate while promoting bicycle and pedestrian projects, programs, and policies." The entire job description can be found here.

This is great news! Just one more step towards making Memphis an awesome(r) place to bike! Obviously, this isn't gonna solve all of the problems facing Memphis cyclists, but if nothing else, it's a token from the city that they really do take these issues seriously. You can apply online here, just type bicycle in the search box and it should pop up.

According to the description, they would prefer someone with "knowledge of bicycle facilities in other areas of the country or world". Hmmm, who do I know who has just gotten back from a worldwide trip to study different bicycle cultures? Just sayin'...

The Flyer has an article about the job posting in their new issue; it also mentions that plans for the much-bandied-about bike lanes on Cooper are starting to materialize, though not for like a year. Not to bitch, because bike lanes are pretty cool in and of themselves, but Cooper's pretty ride-able as is. Maybe a lane on Central, sure - cars go pretty fast and there's not really much shoulder. But then, I dunno if we're at the point that people would give up more room for cars on such an often-traveled street.

Polo Wheel Covers

2010-06-25T20:06:00.000-05:00

So, after a few busted spokes and some crazy out of true wheels, I decided it was time to make some wheel covers. There are numerous sources out there if you're looking how to do it yourself, but I mostly used this one. They recommend using corrugated plastic, which is exactly what campaign signs are made out of. So if you don't mind waiting 'til right after a race is over, they're pretty much yours for the taking. Just make sure you wait until the race is over. Unless it's a candidate you don't like. Kidding! (mostly)

Here's how mine turned out:

First I spray painted them a nice base blue and then went over with acrylic paint. I have yet to zip-tie 'em to my wheels, but I hope to be rockin' 'em by this Sunday. Come on down and play, this Sunday at 8 pm! First Baptist Church, East Parkway and Poplar.

Back it up and dump it

2010-06-18T09:16:00.000-05:00

Polo on Sunday is gonna hafta be moved back a bit. I've got a store meeting at work that starts at 8:30, and I really doubt I'll make it outta there before ten. If six people want to/can get together at eight, they're welcome to use my equipment; just let me know.

But, unless this thing lasts way longer than I can stand, there should still be polo around 10:30 pm.

Midnight Classic!

2010-06-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

That's right, it's time for the Midnight Classic! Booyaka! Well, ok, it's not really time yet, but you can register now. Definitely the most bikes you will see on Memphis streets all year. DO IT. Check out all the info on their site.

Last year, we were able to register as part of the Harrah's team so we got in free - score! We even got a trophy for being part of the largest group to register. In fact, if you check out the Midnight classic website, you might even see a couple people you recognize in the group photo. Yeah, that's right, rockin' the green converses that I ended up trading for some Chromes.

But anyways, Midnight Classic is super fun, if for no other reason than it's a 1400-strong ride through Memphis. Just don't fall off of a tall bike like I did and end up hobbling around on an ankle the size of a grapefruit.

GRIME GEAR

2010-06-15T15:52:00.002-05:00

Charles and Catherine went to New York and returned with Grime gifts. WOOO!!

Need I remind you?

2010-06-13T09:13:00.000-05:00

You know the drill. Polo, 8 pm, tonight, 1st Baptist.

WE PLAY HARD

2010-06-07T21:47:00.003-05:00

Or at least Jason runs into people hard. Sorry about the wheel, Nic.

*Edited by Brett to add: Sorry 'bout the thumb, Kermit.

POLO.

2010-06-05T03:11:00.003-05:00

Just a reminder! Bicycle Polo on Sunday at 8 pm. First Baptist Church Parking lot at East Parkway and Poplar. We got the tools, you got the talent. We've also got brand new balls, so no more Mr. Blowfish. These new guys are that high density shit so they don't squish when you run 'em over.

First barspins success...!

2010-06-03T15:26:00.003-05:00

So, I know this is of interest to like two people, one of them myself, but here it is anyway, one of my first barspins. Cara's been doing them for months now, but I've just now been able to try since I got my new fork.

Bicycle?

2010-05-30T01:56:00.000-05:00

POLO!

Just a reminder, Polo this Sunday and every Sunday! 8 pm! First Baptist Church at the corner of East Parkway and Poplar. I'll bring four cones, six mallets and a ball, but not all the mallets are in the best condition, and the ball has a big ol' crack. So, bring whatever you have and we'll go from there! Even if enough people don't show up, I'm probably gonna hang out for a while, I know there are some people that can't make it 'til like ten. So don't worry if you can't come 'til later, just come out and experience the wonder that is bicycle polo.

View First Baptist Polo Grounds in a larger map

Lucky Cat

2010-05-29T00:57:00.000-05:00

Just a heads up for anyone that didn't know, the Lucky Cat is coming up! You can get all the deets over on Two Five Fix. A few of us from Memphis were gonna try to make it down, but work is getting in the way. Still might happen, but, eh, kinda doubtful, especially so soon after getting a weekend off for BFF. Unfortunately, my weekends are Wednesdays and Thursdays. Boooooo.

BREAKIN THE LAW

2010-05-27T05:17:00.006-05:00

So most of you have probably already heard, because Brett angry-texted everybody in his phone while it was going down, but we had a little run in with the big bad MPD last night. Around 1 am, Brett, Charles, Andrew, Catherine, and I headed downtown to jump the stairs in front of the Forum. We went straight down Poplar, which was fine for a weeknight that late; hardly any cars in sight. We got to Second (a one way street) and turned left. Andrew veered off left at Jefferson to check out some little stairs in front of the courthouse, which was the first bad idea. Never smart to linger around federal buildings at night, but we got away with that.

Shit hit the fan when we turned left back onto Second. Charles, Andrew, and I cut way across to the right lane, and Brett and Catherine stayed left, both of these moves being fine because it was a one way street. But then officer Ernie Craft spotted us and, of course, started giving us crap. By this time, we had all met together in the right lane, and he passed us on the left, saying over his loudspeaker, "next time I better see y'all wearin helmets, understand?" It was over a muffled loudspeaker atop a moving vehicle, so no, not all of us understood, and with the slightest shake of Andrew's head, good ole Ernie pulls us over.

Right off the bat, dude looks me in the eye and asks me how old I was. I guess I looked too young to be on a bike, what the heck. After taking all of our IDs, he starts writing us tickets for not wearing helmets. We, being the well educated and prepared cyclists, politely asked him if it actually is illegal, which it isn't, but he (the cop, mind you) did not know this fact. After realized he could quite possibly be a dumb, hot-headed cop, he quickly changed the charge to "obstructing traffic". This is 1 am downtown on a weeknight; traffic was nonexistent.

I automatically think to get this guys's car, license plate, and badge number, and I got a pen out of my bag and started writing them down on my hand while he's running our IDs in his car. Immediately, the cop comes stomping out of the car, saying "I'll give you something to need those numbers for" and puts me in the back of the car. ME! A little, innocent girl that apparently was too threatening to not have contained inside a police car. I freaked out for a second, but after realizing he didn't have anything to arrest me for, it basically just turn into a smelly and boring place to have to spend a half an hour. Apparently Charles was being too dangerous also, and ended up joining me for a few minutes, after being searched.

The cop eventually called for back-up because he didn't want to write out 5 tickets himself. They eventually let us out of the car, but we still were stuck sitting on the curb until 2:45 while they searched through a two-inch thick book of codes, just to make sure we were actually breaking a law. We ended up all getting citations for "obstructing highway or passageway", which is in violation of code 21-139. This would be true, but technically to be "obstructing", there has to be at least one other vehicle present, which there was not. Even if there were other cars, we are allowed to be in the right lane of traffic, which is right where we were. The other two cops basically thought that Ernie was full of it, and I think they kind of felt sorry for us, but dude has influence, apparently.

Us, with our citations (Charles's being a torn-up ball wooshing down past his face)

We all have the same court time and date, which also happens to be Charles birthday. The whole thing isn't that big of a deal and the ridiculous charges will most likely be dropped, but it's just an example of how terrible cycling conditions are in Memphis. No only are roads bad and motorists evil, but even the Man keeps us down, when we aren't even breaking laws. Even this time wasn't as bad as when Charles got hit by a car, who fled the scene, and he still ended up with a traffic ticket. Some lady hit him and drove off, leaving Charles with a ticket, a bent frame, and a dislocated shoulder.

It was three hours of cops researching what they could charge us with, while constantly asking us how old we were. We each answered that question around 6 times. AND, they all left their cars running for the whole three hours, which kind of pisses me off more. Our law enforcers are not only ignorant jerks, they're wasteful, ignorant jerks. Brett might write a more articulate post later, but I was too baffled to not tell as many people about this as I could and as soon as possible.

We live in Memphis. We don't know the meaning of bike lanes or compensation, whether monetary or medical, when we get hurt riding our bikes because of cars. Here in Memphis, it's always going to be the cyclist's fault. We can't argue with being written a citation, and we also can't retaliate and raise hell because we all have jobs and responsibilities we can't risk by being arrested. Tonight I felt that being a cyclist stripped me of my rights and I had no power. I couldn't do anything but give in to something that was completely wrong. The officer even threatened us by saying if we didn't sign our citations, we would be going to jail.

I hadn't really let this situation bother me until now. Even when I was in the car, I was completely calm and strong-willed, but now that I'm typing it all out, I realize that this sucks really hard. We need to do everything we can to make this never happen again. This is a small incident for us, but a HUGE injustice to every cyclist in Memphis. We need to make this better somehow.

ANDY

2010-05-26T21:29:00.003-05:00

photo by cort.

Handicat Results!

2010-05-26T16:11:00.002-05:00

After a few days of work and recovery, I hafta say that I'm really pleased with how the Handicat turned out. There were snafus and problems, but on the whole, I think everyone had a pretty good time. I learned a ton so hopefully next time I decide to throw an alleycat it'll be even better. And maybe next time, it won't be the hottest day of the year so far.

But anyway, huge props to Charles, who pulled out first fixed/first overall! Not to mention being the first to every checkpoint and therefore the one who had to do the most stuff. Here are the full results:

1. Charles
2. John
3. Ted (Although technically he skipped a few checkpoints and didn't really do alot of the tasks.)
4. Andy
5. Chase
6. Adam
7. Kenny (First Outta Town - and beefiest ratio ever. Um, 60x14? CRAZY.)
8. Ali (Tho' she didn't pull out first girl due to forgetting a checkpoint.)
9. Jason
10. Catherine
11. Alan

Taylor and David both had to leave in the middle, and Brandon got a flat, but still, big thanks to everyone just for coming out. Seriously, just having people come out pretty much made the event for me. And DEFINITELY big thanks to all my volunteers. Sitting around in 95 degree weather just waiting on some sweaty dudes to show up all at once is not easy or necessarily fun.

I didn't get to take any pictures between setting up the last checkpoint and being on the phone coordinating with ten people, but Cort has some nice shots from the last checkpoint especially.

The whole affair was quite bittersweet for me. I'm definitely proud of myself for getting it together, but I really just wanted to be out there doing the checkpoints myself. Check out my entire rundown of the event after the cut:

So, this whole affair started about two weeks ago at a Thursday night ride. I had heard that Cort wasn't going to have time to throw an alleycat at bff this year, and while I had tossed around the idea of doing it myself, it wasn't really until that night that I decided to do it.

With only two weeks to plan it, sponsors were pretty much out of the question, which was just as well for me; I didn't really feel up to randomly petitioning for prizes at that point. Maybe next time? Luckily, Cort had a nice stockpile of leftovers from past events, and Cara was able to toss in some of her nice handmade stuff.

After a night brainstorming with friends for checkpoint ideas, we came up with quite a few good ones, but here are the ones we actually ended up using:

1. Crableg
This turned out being one of the ones that I felt the worst about. Basically, to start the race, people had to crab-walk a good distance to their bike. Little did I know that the grassy spot I had chosen was full of prickers - people were really in pain, and this was just the first checkpoint!

2. Temporary Tattoos
And of course, since the checkpoints were ordered, I knew that the first one was gonna get mobbed like crazy - sorry Jessica! But here, the riders had to slap on a bunch of temporary tattoos before moving on. Unfortunately, lotsa sweat and heat are not the best reagents for applying tats.

3. Trampoline
Pretty self-explanatory: people had to jump on a trampoline. We were gonna cut down on the number of jumps for people by letting them do tricks, but after balling for like 5 miles, I don't think anyone really felt like it, though I'm told Charles tried.

4. Drive-by
Originally, people were supposed to be handed a watergun and hit a few targets while on their bike, but it ended up just being, "Get hosed down while people throw snap-pops at you."

5. Climb a tree
People had to climb higher if they got there earlier.

6. Find a book
This was actually one of my favorites. People got to the library and were given an author and title and had to go copy down the first line of a book.

7. Get Made-up
Another checkpoint that suffered due to people riding more or less together. Tiffany originally had plans to give the first person corpse paint, but it still ended up pretty cool.

8. Eat bread. Lots of it.
Or at least just cram it in your mouth and gag a bit.

9. Dizzy Bat Spin
I thought for sure between this and the last checkpoint I'd see a hurl, but no such luck.

10. Cardboard slide down a hill
This was gonna be so cool, but it ended up not happening due to Memphis in May monopolizing the bluff hills. Just ended up drinking a beer and rolling down the hill.

11. Take pictures with strangers on Beale St.
Haha, look for these pictures to be scanned soon. It's pretty awesome, with all these sweaty dudes in make up and a bunch of random tourists.

12. Slip'n'Slide
Ended it up with a checkpoint lifted from last year's Watercat. Wanted a pool, but yeah, this worked relatively well anyway.

So yeah, that was pretty much it. I had a great time. Can't wait for the next one!

Checkpoint Order

2010-05-22T12:29:00.000-05:00

Just like it says, here's the order of the checkpoints.

1. Brooks Museum (1934 Poplar)
2. Underground Art (2287 Young)
3. 3760 Carnes
4. Davis Park (Spottswood & Prescott)
5. Chickasaw Gardens Lake (Chickasaw Parkway Area)
6. Main Library (3030 Poplar)
7. Hi Gorgeous (1475 Madison)
8. Wonderbread Factory (400 Monroe)
9. Autozone Park (175 Toyota Plaza)
10. 263 Wagner Place
11. Beale Street (2nd & Beale)
12. ???

The last stop will be announced day of the race. Starts at 2:30 at the Brooks, registration is at 2. Be there!

new blog!

2010-05-18T12:42:00.002-05:00

I made a new blog just for my photography, check it out here and follow it! I'm going to be working my butt of this summer on my portfolio and hopefully will have new images everyday. The blog itself still needs some work so excuse the boringness. I'll still be posting bike related stuff here, but I'll be using the same flickr for the new blog, so there will be plenty of bike-related images.

Ali and Casey scarf staches!

Polo follow-up

2010-05-17T02:19:00.002-05:00

So outta like 30 people that Brett texted/called and the people that saw the previous post, only six showed up (including us two), but it was enough! Because our limited number of players, we were only able to get in two games, each to 5. In the first game, my team (me, Sam, and Andy) had a bitchin lead only to get smoked in the end by Brett, Charles, and Nic. Final score was 5-4. The second game was a rematch, but we still lost (lolz) and the score was 5-3.

Even though we lost, I had a really good game overall. I had a couple of hard angle shots from mid-court, as well as a few little ones, so I felt accomplished. The night didn't last long, but it was super-chill and still competitive (in a friendly way). It was also my first time to play on the Plug. The crazy head tube angle made sharp turns really easy and controllable. I always feel really good riding home from a polo game down Poplar with mallets sticking outta my bag and a stack of goal cones on my handlebars.

The night was fun, but the turnout of people was kinda disappointing. Memphis needs to get on it! We're going to start making this a weekly thing. Every Sunday at 8 pm, polo will happen, we just need folks to come out and play! We have about 8 mallets currently, but plans and materials to make more, and if Fix Memphis wants in on the action, I think they have around the same number (?).

SO. SUNDAYS. POLO. 8 PM.

POLO!!

2010-05-16T04:32:00.005-05:00

So it's been a minute since polo happened, March 11th to be exact. I only remember that because it was my bday, but it was TOO long ago. All you lazy people that don't wanna come out after midnight might have to get over it because that's pretty much the only time when everyone's off work and available. Just kidding about the lazy, but seriously we should play soon! I was thinking tomorrow night. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow until around midnight, so it's perfect timing for you late workin folk. So polo tomorrow night around midnight? ehh? same spot? Brett mentioned Rocky showed him a couple spots to play at, so we might migrate.

(back when my bike was still somewhat fresh and clean)

And since it's going to rain on my first day off in forevs, I might try and get some more mallets made. I still have tons of that plastic tubing but no ski poles or clubs to stick em on! Anyone got any ski poles laying around? I'm also going to make some prizes for the alleycat, caps and bags probably. Speaking of bags, sorry Cort for kind of flaking on making messenger bags to sell, this is most free time I've had in awhile.

So if you're down for polo tomorrow night (if it's not raining), let me or brett know because it most likely won't happen if less than 6 people want to. It most likely won't happen anyway, but I still have hope!

I'm considering buying this completely ridiculously awesome saddle. If it wasn't just 15 bucks I wouldn't consider it at all, but it's terribly silly and I want it!

Handicat Flyer!

2010-05-12T15:10:00.000-05:00

Here it is!

Feel free to print it out and post it up anywhere bicycles can be found!

Also, I'm still looking for a few volunteers and a stable pool for the afterparty. Gimmie a call, leave a comment or email me at notquitealibrarianATgmail.com

BFF Handicat

2010-05-10T23:33:00.003-05:00

This is it! Flyer coming soon, but for now here's all you need to know for the upcoming (tentatively titled) Handicat!

BFF HANDICAT

When: Sunday, May 23rd, 2010. Registration starts at 2:00 pm, race begins promptly at 2:30 pm.
Where: Starts at the Brooks, end TBA.

There will hopefully be 12 ordered checkpoints including the start and finish, depending on how many people I can get to run 'em. At each stop the racer will have to perform a task, and the earlier you get there the harder it'll be - in other words, there'll be handicaps. So it's anyone's race!

Registration is totally free, but then again, sponsors are nil. There will be a few homemade prizes and Cort is gonna toss up some swag, but for the most part, this one's for fun and braggin' rights.

Tell your friends!

Oh, and here's the tentative list of checkpoints (though not in any specific order yet). I'm also looking for someone with a pool in the midtown area. Andrew might have one lined up, but it'd be good to have some other options in case it doesn't work out. I've also got it mapped out here, but here's the list just in case.

The Brooks Museum - 1934 Poplar
Underground Art - 2287 Young
Chickasaw Park - E. Chickasaw Parkway & Sparrow Hop
Wonderbread Factory - 400 Monroe
Beale Street and 2nd
3760 Carnes
Hi Gorgeous - 1475 Madison
Autozone Park - 175 Toyota Plaza
Main Library - 3030 Poplar
Davis Park - Spottswood & S. Prescott
Commerce Square Parking Garage - 2nd & Union

I'm fucking pumped!

You thought you were safe?!

2010-05-07T21:57:00.000-05:00

Didn't think there'd be an alleycat at BFF Memphis this year? YOU WERE WRONG!

Andrew and I have one in the works tentatively scheduled for May 23rd! Stay tuned for full deets within the next three days! Lots of Exclaimation Points! Booyah! Spread the word - hopefully people can stick around Memphis for one more day.

Ugh!

2010-05-04T20:45:00.006-05:00

I can't help but feel completely hopeless after some random person in a car calls me a bitch on my ride home today. Not to mention watching another car full of drunk women deliberately swerve at my friends and then at me the other night. A girl I was talking to today in class about cycling had no idea bikes were allowed to be on the road. I can't help but think it's pointless to try and change people's minds about bikes in this city. I love riding my bike and the happy things and awesome friends riding a bike has brought to me, but damn, it's scary sometimes. If I get hassled, me being a young girl on a bike, I can't imagine the kind of shit you boys get. Is this just Memphis? The South? What is so evil about a bike? The other night when Brett and I were riding through an intersection (with a green light) a woman in a car (stopped at the red light) was shouting as us, "REALLY!? REALLY!?", like she couldn't believe we were on bikes. I think that's the weirdest one I've gotten so far. She basically was implying, "you fucking dumbasses, why the hell would you ride a bicycle?". We all work so hard here in Memphis, trying to do the right thing for ourselves and our community by riding a bike, but the only reward we ever get is harassment. Riding by Republic Coffee about a week ago, someone on the patio shouted "This isn't Portland!". No it's definitely not even close to Portland, but what does that person get out of discouraging me from trying to make Memphis a cycling city? Who are we hurting? I'm perfectly content with loving bikes and knowing that some other people never will, but does that make me a bitch? Does that make me worth swerving at with a car? We deserve encouragement, recognition, and respect instead of blind and ignorant hatred. I usually don't let motorists get to me and definitely never let them see me bothered or just affected at all, but they have been persistently evil lately. I guess I should spend less time on the internet and more time riding, like Christina.

Christina over at bmorefixed is basically awesome. She, amongst tons of other girls out there riding, makes me feel better. I stole this from kteket's flickr, which is as equally awesome.