bike polo

Bike polo. Fun, fast and not for the uncoordinated. My Free Press friend, Lauren, and I went to the local bike polo club one Wednesday night and found a group of twenty-somethings circling around a roller-hockey rink drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon on their fixies while trying to smack a ball into a net using a mallet. This is bike polo. Now I have to warn you, I'm a bit of an experienced bike polo-er myself. Back in the day, my brother, Todd, and I amused ourselves each summer with an array of backyard games with the neighbors, tree forts in the woods and pillow forts in the basement on the awful rainy days. We also had Pine Cone Polo. Our childhood version of bike polo consisted of two players: myself and Todd. Our goal was to bat around every pine cone in the vicinity of the storm drain at the end of our driveway until we had filled the storm drain. A massive task. There were no rules, we simply had to keep rolling on our bikes while smacking pine cones with our sticks into the sewer. I'm sure the Shelburne Storm Sewer Services (if that ever existed) were not happy but we were.

Now, Wednesday night's game was for the big kids. These guys weren't messing around. There were rules, teams and gear. I won't get into the details, I'll let Lauren explain it with the video she shot that night. Lauren mounted the camera on her bike as she played and I think the results are fantastic. Being the biker that she is, she managed to hold her own most of the time, but it goes to show how difficult the game can be. Enjoy!