Birmingham Bike Polo Chat & BS Thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpS1876qDSU

These excuses for my alter ego are not going to last.

No problems. Just didn't want to bring too many newbs on one night so we all got a chance to play but James has played before and Jay's pretty good at handling so it worked out good. Hopefully Steve will be more confident to play next time. Everyone's keen to come again which is great!

Pompino for sale in Brum - awesome polo bike: http://www.birminghamcyclist.com/forum/topics/onone-pompino

I think it's sensible to continue doing what we did tonight and have an even distribution of beginners/slow games, fast games, team games, and grand-shuffle random games. I'm not clever enough to think of a fool-proof/automated system for sorting it, but did it work okay tonight? I was only there for an hour, and got three games, but 2 of 3 were really good, so I was happy. Thoughts?

I thought polo was ace last night, good fast games, seemed like the new players didn't slow it down at all because they were introduced gradually rather than having a 'beginners' game straight away, only once they'd played a bit already, so the noobs game was pretty fast/organised too. Does that make sense?

Yeah kind of - I'm not saying we should segregate all games, just do a mixture of various formats/speeds whilst ensuring everyone gets roughly equal court time. I enjoy random games (good opportunity to practice new plays/moves etc) as much as anyone, and they allow everyone to progress together.

However, the team/fast games last night were on a different level; much more like tournament-level play, and I wouldn't want to put off new players by playing that aggressively against them. I noticed other players (especially Neil and Matt) playing a bit harder than usual too, which is something we need as teams.

More new players could mean more teams, too, which would be awesome.

After much begging, my friends have come tops:

http://sixeightkafe.tumblr.com/post/5401380220/the-great-cyclist-discount

^ Nice.

Intro to bike polo article will in July edition of Fused.

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=149285

Who keeps knackering 27 inch wheels?

Two more team games tonight:

Drill Collins 2 - Scouting for Goals 2
Drill Collins 1 - Scouting for Goals 2

I think...

Everyone was playing a bit weirdly tonight. Wasn't really flowing, and as Simon mentioned there was a lot of hacking (I was guilty of this) for some reason, which needs to be calmed down.

Also, people who are going to tournaments need to check out the accepted ruleset here:

http://www.lhbpa.org/resources/LHBPA_Bike_Polo_Rules.pdf

Things we need to sort include protruding axles/chain tensioner bolts and mallets with nuts and bolts sticking out. Get some kind of recessed nut thing to fix it in, or you may get your mallet banned.

Two more team games tonight:

Drill Collins 2 - Scouting for Goals 2
Drill Collins 1 - Scouting for Goals 2

I think...

Everyone was playing a bit weirdly tonight. Wasn't really flowing, and as Simon mentioned there was a lot of hacking (I was guilty of this) for some reason, which needs to be calmed down.

Also, people who are going to tournaments need to check out the accepted ruleset here:

http://www.lhbpa.org/resources/LHBPA_Bike_Polo_Rules.pdf

Things we need to sort include protruding axles/chain tensioner bolts and mallets with nuts and bolts sticking out. Get some kind of recessed nut thing to fix it in, or you may get your mallet banned.

Tourney pressure getting to you lot already...fucking calm down. It was like a crop sprayer flew over Highgate with mong dust.

Following discussion last night, which name are we going with then? 'Team Thingmy' or 'Team Wossname'? Or even 'How's-your-father Bike Polo'?

'Wossname' just made me laugh out loud at work, strange looks ahoy..

Team Wossname it is!
Get back to work. So should I

I've managed to get hold of a 550d and a 50mm lens sooooo team photo/video shoot next wednesday. Be there.

I reckon there's a 22% chance of there being three full teams on that one day. It'll take you a month (or more) to get all of the errants' souls.

(Although proper-job Lucas has been making proportionately much more effort than everyone else).

ha ha!!! thats fing funny =)

polo pics

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3 Attachments

Brill, love the top middle one. 'Action Fin, the greatest hero of them all...'

Planet-X are flogging stuff off cheap again. Pompolo frames are down to £130 at the moment -

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/FROOP/on-one-pompino-frame

London ABC polo tournament

Also Drill Collins registered + paid for london open.

I'm going to ABC, doubt I'll play though as need my proper bike for Nocturne. Got bored when I was ill:

Got crank extractor, just need the wrench/giant hex to use it now!

MG, are we riding to Stratford tomorrow? I have a crank extractor you can borrow.

Yes, well*** I*** definitely am! Thanks that would be good.

Matt/Neil's Cambridge report is up on the blog. birminghambikepolo.com

Neil mentioned a few rules which I'll try to clarify.

Golden Goal etc
Usually in group stages, draws are allowed, so it's a strict time limit and no golden goal.

In knockout stages somebody has to win, so if it's a draw after the alloted time, play continues into golden goal.

Both require different approaches. In a group stage if you get a flukey goal against a stronger team, you may want to play for the draw (expect heckles, but fuck 'em). Also, in group stages, goal difference counts, so you really don't want to lose 5-0 or whatever as that may prevent you going through to the knockout stages.

Mallet under wheel
As far as I'm aware, this is still a bit of a grey area, but in general it's up to the person with the mallet to get it out of the 'danger zone' in front of their opponents' wheel. You can't really use Neil's defence of 'you rode over my mallet'. It's good form to voluntarily double tap, but if the ref doesn't call you on it, it's up to you to decide if you're a gentleman or a dick.