There's a new website in pololand.

www.leagueofbikepolo.com

you can go ahead and make an account, post to the forums, join the various clubs, that have their own individual pages, post your bike, trash-talk, etc.

www.madbikepolo.org has kinda served as the midwest hub but i think it's time that it goes back to a madbikepolo blog. discussion of midwest tourneys can take place on the new site.

I can only laugh

Originally uploaded by jonny.hunter

So, between hardcourtbikepolo.com and madbikepol.org we have had a lot of discussions about how the sport needs to move forward. It seems that things will change at a tournament level and that at a daily level bike polo will stay the same. It seems a lot is being made of our final game in T.O. between Doug and the Darlrymple's, the fact is that even though things were intense and broke down, we still played it out and as i move on from it less and less of it bothers me. I view all them favorably and i consider Doug a good friend and even though i took a nice elbow to the face from Paul, he is one of the most respectable folks i have ever seen on the court.

One of the reasons that Madbikepolo made such a concerted effort to bring three teams to Toronto was that we were saying goodbye to one of our own. Kevin, has been playing polo in Madison for 4 years and was there at the start. He has been invaluable to the sport in Madison. It is without doubt that he was our best player and a committed organizer and voice that will be missed greatly.

Ben, Kevin and I have played in 6 tournaments together now and placed on the podium at all of them. It is sad to see us probably have to separate for at least the next 6 months but it will be tough even then to get us back together for tourney play. It has been a real pleasure to play with kevin so often and i feel honored to have competed against him here in madison so often. He will be greatly missed and the void he leaves here will never be filled.

One advantage to working out in the sticks (aside from getting to walk along a geode and fossil filled creekside at lunchtime) is that the plumbing supply stores out there carry ABS pipe and fittings. I just completed this little beauty: 2 1/4" diameter, 5 3/4" long, closed ends, "trap"-style shuffle surface, recessed shaft cross bolt, it's everything I was trying to accomplish with much more complicated/expensive designs, materials, and manufacturing processes.

more to come soon ...

just for the record.

I have a string of thoughts from the past few days

* tourneys should be run by committee, it is too much for one or two people to take on and it sucks for one or two individuals to have to make split decisions, that often times due to lack of sleep, general chaos, stress, and ignorance, they are not qualified to make. leaving players and teams pissed at someone whose fault its really not...

* polo and messenger races need to be their own separate thing. if the happen to coincide at the same time fine, but neither should make concessions to the other, way to many people don't give a shit about polo, and i don't give a shit about races, unless joe wins.

Hopefully more detail later.
1st - NYC - Doug, Paul and Zach
2nd - East Vancouver - Paul, Rory and a third
3rd - Madison/Milwaukee - Didn't play the match probably will never get a chance to because kevin and crandle are now leaving their respected cities.

Polo at Alexendria Park

Originally uploaded by jonny.hunter

So things are off to a rocking start. We rolled into the polo scene yesterday and played pick up games for about 6 hours. The courts were nuts, super slippery and nice and long. It took a bit of time but things came through well. It was really fun to kick it with all the polo folks. Lots of friends now in the scene and i feel that we are building a nice little community here.

Ben polo 1

Originally uploaded by Jonny Cycles

So Jon K. from jonny cycles has been a really good friend to Madison Bike polo. He has brazed ben's bike, bent forks for me and helped me rake the mallets and sponsored our tournaments. Plus he helps us order parts too so we can have the polo bikes we have. Be has been playing on a new bike for the last few tournaments and months because he cracked his » read more | jonnyhunter's blog | 2 comments |

Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, Madison, Milwaukee; I want all y'all to play hard and have fun. Can't wait for friendlies later this summer so I can pick up on what you've learned from playing with the coasties (like, how to beat 'em in tourneys).

Someone please oh please bring a laptop and post updates or get Brian to. St Louis won't be coming, so I need my fix! Stats, standings, pics, and video.