Not so popular demand...

...only Steph and myself turned up today so we played half court one on one until 3pm when we got tired of waiting. I suppose it is the holiday season. That's what I am doing for the next 3 weeks.

Happy New Year to you all.
I hope to see you all again next year. Keep January the 18th free for our next match.

In the meantime I would like to hear from everyone about how they would like Adelaide Bikepolo to be run. How often would you like to play? Is the current location convenient? Are there any rules you would like changed? Would people prefer more regular fixed teams or random-on-the-day teams?

Next year there is the potential for some kind of national championship and other inter-city competitions. Bikepolo is taking off in almost every major city in Australia. It would be great to represent Adelaide when the time comes.

Neil

Back by popular demand. The 2008 Bailout BikePolo Match. Sunday 28th 2pm, Edwards Park. Your last chance to play bike polo on a Sunday afternoon this year. Take home a free mallet at the end of the game (while stocks last)

Last Sundays session was a warm one yet the keen still ventured out into the sun. Judith showed with all her belongings on her back, she has found work in Lorne. Good luck with your travels, Judith, ride on.

The new mallets worked great, Reilly attempted to snap one of the poles (and a bystanding tree) but this was quickly fixed. Not so much luck with Kirra's bananarised rear wheel. Alex from Melbourne paid a visit to show us all how the game is played (or how much we really need to improve)

Tonight we had Critical Mass, 6:30pm at Victoria Square It was my first ride in such and event. A really good keen bunch of people you are and a really good turn out I thought considering the traffic was light, public holiday and all.
My one gripe: I think our well intentioned statement is wasted on the car driving public if we choose to ignore traffic signals. I hate cars that run yellow and red lights deliberately. It would be great if we showed them that we respect the road rules as well.

Polo This Sunday, 28th! 2pm, Edwards Park.

Coming up in the new year will be a mallet construction guide and revised rules.

Neil

Good news for mallet builders.
I literally stumbled across a small supply of heavy duty 60mm polythene pipe. So tonight I have made six new mallets with 16mm aluminium handles and recycled, thirdhand bartape. These puppies should take some beating, and they are only marginally heavier than the wooden shitters we played with last week.

If you would like some mallet heads let me know and I will bring a quantity along next Sunday. The aluminium tube was sourced from Bunnings retailing for about $14 for 3 meters. The handles on the new mallets vary from 980mm to 1070mm. I used 75mm long ,3/16" pan-head screws with nyloc nuts to hold the heads on then cut the excess thread off with a hacksaw.

One of our players, Bonnie, is also involved in organising the Adelaide version of the Critical Mass movement. The next ride is on Boxing Day, Dec 26th. Find out more about it here

See you next Sunday

Thankyou to all of those who turned out to play on Sunday. What a fantastic day it was and a good time had by all 12 or so players.
The pitch was hard, fast and wide with all players choosing to ignore the boundary cones at times. I dont really see the point of having a boundary. The ball always seem to gravitate towards the goals eventually. There were some admirable stacks and a few self inflicted malletings.

Check out Jeremy's photos

Check out Stephs photos



If anyone else has put up photos or video let me know. bikepolo.adelaide[ at ]gmail.com

The wood/pvc mallets started shattering even before we got underway but at least we had enough to get us through. What we can learn is that your mallet needs to be bomb proof and have an internal diameter not larger than 50mm unless it is capped. I still cant find any ABS gas pipe so I might fiberglass reinforce some 50mm PVC for the MkII mallets.

Our next organised game (if you can call it that) will be held on Sunday 21st December at 2:00pm, same location. If that all goes well we will kick start it again in the New Year. Of course there is nothing stopping people playing at anytime. It really is up to you.

If you would like to help promote bike polo in Adelaide you can download this .pdf poster advertising our next game in two weeks. Print out half a dozen to stick up on your work university or club noticeboards, favourite bikeshop, nearest bikerack, whatever... Lets get bikepolo known in Adelaide.

Are you coming or what?

Final reminder for you all.

Tomorrow at 1pm, Edwards Park. Bring your bike, helmet, mallet, sunscreen and friends.
All the other info you may need is in the older posts below.

See you there!

You've got balls...

Well, the very excellent Damon, one of our Melbourne counterparts has kindly donated three plastic hockey balls of varying consistencies for us to play with. His ulterior motive: that we play an interstate match someday "when we think we are getting good" he said. Bring it on!!
Thankyou also to Alex 4.0 for mentioning us on the Bikepolo.com.au website, the true hub of bicycle polo in Australia.

So we are all set for Sunday

If you have just come here You may have been the lucky recipient of the latest promo card distributed around the city on Monday. This photo is by a fella called Vitam Inc. You can see this photo on his Flickr Site. Thankyou, Brother, for this stunning photo.


Neil

In the last two weeks 150 of these cards have been placed on bikes and posters have been put in various bike stores around central and east Adelaide (thanks to Norwood, Trak, JT's, Lifecycle, Super Elliots, and Biomechanics). It has taken a few hours but I feel like there has been some good response and enthusiasm. Yesterday I handed my last card to a trio of bike messengers heading out of Rundle Street. They were so keen they were already heading to Bunnings to buy materials for polo mallets!
Also this weekend I have constructed a set of 6 mallets and bought some goal cones. I have a little bit more research to do regarding a suitable ball. The backyard cricket ball I have tested is a bit sticky and difficult to dribble. I was hoping to find a harder plastic hockey ball. If anyone has one of these please bring it along.
If you just got here please read the older posts for useful info.

Only two weeks to go!

Rules of Bike Polo

PoloInfo and The Rules

What to bring?
A sturdy bike
Your helmet
A mallet, if you have time to build one. (6 mallets will be available for use)
Gloves recommended
Sunscreen
Beverages of your choice
A friend, the more the merrier
A sense of humour.

What to expect?
Bikepolo is a semi-contact sport and spills do happen. However, the pace of the game is slower than most people expect so injury is uncommon. There are only 3 players in a team.

A few safety rules.
Wear a helmet
No T-boning other bikes. Parallel contact, bike on bike, player on player is allowed, no grabbing or pushing other players
Mallet must held be below handle bars at all times. Backswings must remain below seat height.
Malleting is strictly prohibited (thrusting your mallet through another bikes wheels)

The rules of the game:
1/ Rules may change for safety reasons
2/Teams will be selected schoolyard style. Preselected teams can be entered if desired.
3/ Games are played three on three.
4/ The direction of play and time of game/goal count will be decided at the coin toss.
5/The ball is hit with the end of the mallet and shuttled with the side of the mallet. To score a goal the ball must be hit with the end. A shuttled goal will not count.
6/ Dabbing (putting a foot down ) excludes that player from play until they "tap in" by touching a marker on the side of the court with their mallet. A player who is out of play cannot interfere with the ball, goals or other player until they "tap in"
7/ An out of play ball may be tossed back into play by a spectator
8/ The team that scores a goal must ride back around their own goal posts to allow the opposing team to control the ball to at least halfway.

All players and bystanders are responsible for their own actions and their own property. Please respect the property that we play on.

Bike polo can be considered an activity of a social gathering rather than a fully organised competition. If you know you exhibit antisocial behavoiur or extreme competetivness please leave those attributes at home.
Likewise, The Adelaide Bike Polo Club will be using community areas without official permission. If we have to move for any reason we will and we shall respect the rights and opinions of other community area users.

Anyone for a game

Let there be bicycle polo in Adelaide. And so it came to be that the website for the Adelaide Bicycle Polo Club was created.

Welcome. You are probably this site/blogs first viewer and, perhaps, second player.

ONE LESS HORSE

Bicycle Polo is the mechanised equivalent of traditional polo with far fewer rules. 3 cyclists per team formed on the day, played on hard court, with frequent stops to sip coffee or swill beer. Any bike is a candidate (but don't bring your $10K carbon roady) and any cyclist can be a mallet wielding player. Cycle couriers, commuters, mountainbikers,track hounds, sunday streeters.. Bike polo is not just another way to hit a ball through goal posts, it is a collective of those who appreciate the diversity and social aspects of bicycle culture.

Bike polo has been played in a reasonably organised fashion in Melbourne for about a year and is taking off.
http://www.bikepolo.com.au
You can find much information there about rules and such.

Adelaide Bike Polo is in its infancy and is on a recruitment drive.
If you are interested in playing in this very casual and laid back sport, most likely on sunday afternoons in an as-yet-undetermined inner city carpark/netball court send a quick message or questions to
bikepolo.adelaide@gmail.com
and to be on the mailing list.

I will be updating this from time to time with more information and tidbits. If you feel so inclined, subscribe to the feed.

Neil.