Yesterday Pete was going full bore at the goal to defend an against an attack. Slammed on his brake, he heard a PING(which was his cable snapping), he crashed his tire straight into our heavy metal goals, he was thrown over his bars and cracked his head on the ground. Broke a huge piece right off the temple area of his helmet.

If he wasn’t wearing his helmet he’d probably be in the hospital right now but instead he was able to laugh it off and coast his fucked up bike home to his family with nothing more than a sprained wrist.

Please consider wearing a helmet if you don’t now. No matter how great of a cyclist you are there is always mechanical failure to worry about.

He hit the goal so hard that he bent his steel fork backwards into a negative rake.

Minneapolis put in a group order with MKE Bicycle Co for some of their aircraft grade polo shafts.

Thanks to Hewitt and the crew at Ben’s Cycle for getting us our order so fast!

Here’s a video of the World Champion Beaver Boys from Milwaukee from November 2009. It contains highlights from the 7th Midwest Bike Polo Championships in Columbia, MO. Where the Beaver Boys once again faced Chicago’s Machine Politics for the title of best in the Midwest. That time it was Chicago who showered a merciless rain of shots on target.

It chronicles the arrest of 11 poloists and subsequent their deal with the city for permanent courts of their own.

Yet another now classic film from Mr. Do.

The #1 Bike Polo Team in the World

Congrats to the Beaver Boys from Milwaukee on keeping the title of best in the world at home in North America. They defeated Machine Politics(picture below) from Chicago for the title. The three day championship took place in Berlin this year with over 90 teams fighting for a chance just to make it Sunday and the double elimination bracket.

This was a repeat of the championship game of Midwest 6 and 7. I’m so proud of our Midwest teams right now I could burst.

#2 in the world ain't nothing to sneeze at either

Photos from MWBPC8 by Christopher Berg Photography

UPDATE:

http://tinyurl.com/whbpc2010-finals – The double elimination championship bracket from the Hardcourt Bike Polo World Championships in Berlin.

The World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships are underway in Berlin, Germany. Two days of qualifiers all lead to a round of 32 on Sunday. Full list of teams can be found here.

Up to date info is promised at the Official tournament site as well as the thread on the League of Bike Polo. Here’s hoping for an all North American podium with a strong showing from the Midwest.

Minneapolis’ own Mr. Do comes up with another stunning video piece. This is a short teaser from the 2010 North American Bike Polo Championships in Madison, WI.

Send you comments and or bribes for him to dig up flattering footage to MrDo@mplsbikepolo.com

Grass bikeball at Calhoun

What: Grass “bikeball” polo and hardcourt bike polo pickup games and Grill-out

Where: McRae Park in South Minneapolis

When: Sunday August 8th from 1pm until we get tired.

Who: Minneapolis Bike Polo and the Calhoun Bikeball Club and you!

What to do: Bring yourself, your friends and something to grill. There will be mallets and balls for both games. Games will be going on all afternoon.

Related article: Grass and Hardcourt Polo Day

Heads up to Duluth, Menominee, Mason City, Madison and the rest of the Midwest.

We are having a grill out, hang out, bike ball AND bike polo Sunday shindig. August 8th. It’ll be a pretty laid back affair.

What is bike ball you ask? Well bike ball is what a group of cyclists in Minneapolis have been playing for 15-20 years.

Its a variation of grass polo that uses a large ball and wiffle bats. The web site bikeball.com is currently down. But its coming back and the archive is available here. A few have come and played hardcourt with us and loved it. This is our chance to play their game and learn a few new tricks.

Phoenix will be so proud of us.

Our home court is located in a park with a large manicured football field. Perfect for bike ball.

The idea is that whatever game you want to play it’ll be there and we will hopefully gain converts to both sides.

Drop a comment on this post with questions or drop us an email, info@mplsbikepolo.com

UPDATE: We plan to start around 1pm. Bring some food to share or grill and lets have a real good time.

A full report from the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships will be coming shortly but check out this local news piece.

68 teams will compete Friday and Saturday for one of 32 spots in the double elimination bracket on Sunday.

The level of organization the Madison club has put into this tournament is amazing. They already have their refs scheduled! 6 courts, some built by Mpls Bike Polo Inc,  at one site will mean each team will be playing no less than 10 games over the weekend. Add to that the 32 team elimination bracket and you have a recipe for massive amounts of polo.

Wish us luck as we travel to Madison and represent our fair city on an international stage.