The fourth running of the all female 'Ladies Army' bicycle polo tournament went off this weekend in Lexington, Kentucky. Hundreds of lady polo players from around the world (six countries?!?) descended on the courts at Coolavin Park for a weekend of fun and bike revelry.
I'm a bit shy on all of the details, but these things are clear...
Cherri (pictured middle) from The Velocity Factory took home first place with her team 'Cunning Stunts'. Congratulations!!
Our girl Quinn subbed in on team 'Bear Hugs' and took 2nd place and MVP honors.
Quinn was subbing for Elena, who was injured during competition yet still managed to score a goal with a severely broken collarbone. Wow!
On Thursday, I received a message from Quinn, one of our favorite polo players - but we might be a little bias. We see her now and again, but she also keeps us up to date with where life has been taking her. Today, sit back... relax... and enjoy Quinn little story of bike redemption.
_
Hey Velocity!
So I know this isn't polo related, but I have a pretty awesome story for you guys.
In October of 2010 I traded Kona Paddy Wagon that was way too small for me to a friend of mine for a Basso Columbus SL tubed Italian Road bike. The friend had purchased it from one of the local bike shops and road it around for commuting. Unfortunately, it had been stripped of most of its road bike parts and set up as a single speed, but it's still an amazing bike and I'm sure I'll have lots of fun finding old Campy road parts for it. So I made the trade with the friend, and was on my way to setting it up as a road bike.
I got a Cinelli stem for it, threw on my Cinelli road bars, some hooded brake levers and brand new handlebar tape. One of my friends had a Campagnolo road wheel set they were going to sell me so I started saving up for those, and at one of Ann Arbor's bike shops I found an old stock/new stock San Marco rolls white leather seat to match the bike/handlbar tape. After I put the seat on I could not stop riding the bike and I was super excited to race it in the "Night of the Living Tread" halloween themed alley-cat race in Ann Arbor that weekend. Also there was a Cyclocross race happening that weekend that I wanted to ride out to and check out the races.
But unfortunately on Friday October 29, 2010 a few of my friends and myself were out party hopping and we made a pit-stop on the way home at one of the cafe's I used to work at to go to the bathroom. I set the Basso right next to the front door with the u-lock locked to through the frame and front wheel, walked inside stood right next to the door waved to my ex-coworkers that my friends were using the bathroom and kept a close eye on my bike as literally 1 foot and a glass door blocked us. I turned towards one of my friends who had asked me something for literally 1 minute and turned back around to go outside and the bike was gone.
It had felt like my life flashed before my eyes in those 5 seconds of standing there realizing it was gone when I went into "child was just kidnapped from mother" mode and literally rampaged around downtown Ann Arbor all night long looking for it. We called the police, reported it stolen and for the next months I gave pictures of it to the police and my friends that worked downtown, I went to every single bike shop and left a photo and told them about it, spent hours on end everyday searching for it. I was super devastated and really mad at myself for that happening, but I never stopped looking literally up until yesterday when I received a text message from my best friend telling me to check my Facebook.
I was at bike polo so I sat out a couple games to figure out what was going on, check my facebook and saw that Matt Klute (a polo player in Ann Arbor) had posted a status that said "Just found Quinn's Basso".
I screamed so loud when I saw that and immediately called him. He said some bro had road past the Jimmy John's that Matt works at and Matt had stopped him asked him where he got that bike, took it back from him and apparently the "bro" had said that him and his friend were super black out drunk that one halloween and stole the bike that night. I asked Matt the condition of the bike he said it isn't rusty at all, and every single part I had on there including my clip less pedals that the bro had just been riding around with normal shoes on are still there.
I couldn't be happier, and I am so excited to see the Basso again when Matt brings it to the Bench Minor tournament in two weeks for me. When I get the bike back I am definitely taking it on one hell of a bike ride, and continuing to build it back up into a road bike like it should be.
I attached the only photo of it that I have. Luckily It was taken the day I bought the seat for it/the day before it got stolen.
We introduced you to Quinn last week and in stellar form we already received a write up from the tournament she recently played in. This might just be the beginnings of a new segment we'll call 'Story Time with Quinn'.
Get out and ride this weekend, stay cool, have fun. Enjoy:
Last weekend Alex and I head down to Columbus, Ohio to participate in the Columbus Bike Polo Invitational Tournament. All of the states bordering Ohio were invited, which made the tournament smaller than usual especially with only fourteen teams competing. I really enjoyed having a smaller group of people though because I got to talk with everyone and it was just way more fun instead of being serious and competitive like the bigger qualifier tournaments.
Our team the "Disease Ridden Pigeons" was made up of myself, Alex(Grand Rapids), and our friend Gregg from Pittsburgh. We had never played together besides pick up at previous tournaments but it only took us a couple games to figure each other out and we ended up working really well together. We arrived in Columbus and just a couple blocks before the polo courts were pulled over because my wheel covers had been blocking the rear lights. Luckily we only got a warning and continued on to find everyone playing pick up still. Alex wanted to rest up for the next day but I jumped in a played a few games for a couple hours, and thanks to the never ending lights we were out there until three in the morning.
The Columbus Bike Polo Club has a few spots they play pick up at. Two of those spots were public parks separated by at least half a mile and each had one average sized hockey court. They were in real good condition, nice surfaces, nets, and full hockey boards. The tournament started Saturday with the fourteen teams split in half, randomly. Each half playing on whichever court they were told to. The two groups of seven teams were separated to there courts and the games began. Since there were so little people they had two mini double elimination tournaments, one in the morning and one in the afternoon with an amazing lunch break in between thanks to our friends in Columbus. My team did pretty well taking 2nd in the morning bracket, and fourth in the afternoon giving us an overall spot for the Sunday rounds in 3rd.
Columbus was also having an alley cat race Saturday afternoon that some of the polo players participated in, my team on the other hand went back to the house for a well needed nap before the after party that the alley cat crew was throwing. The party was pretty fun, there was a lot of tall biking and even tall bike jousting, but most amazing of all were the prizes given out to the racers. Almost everyone got a customized messenger bag, and huge boxes full of various bike accessories, and parts. The first place winner got a full custom single speed bike, didn't catch the name on the bikes logo though.
After only a couple hours of sleep I got up bright and early to practice and play some pick up before the final elimination day. Jon from Columbus was the only one there at first, but once a couple more people showed up we started with some 2v2 pick up. Once everyone trickled in from eating breakfast the tournament eventually started. It was a long hot and humid day of polo, but we played tough out there and got ourselves to the semi finals. Our last game was a really close one against Dickfist at Tiffany's(Greg Russo, Nico, and Lomax) although we did get knocked out in the last thirty seconds of the game after it was tied 2-2 for most of it. We took fourth place and we were pretty happy about it.
After that we watched the three remaining teams battle it out for places. Eagle Spurs from Bloomington took third, Dickfist at Tiffany's from Pittsburgh took second, and Perenium Falcon from Lexington took first place. Prizes were given away to the top four teams and the Most Valuable Player which was given to Greg Russo from Pittsburgh who really knows how to play some polo. He is an amazing team player and I really enjoyed playing against him and his team. Everyone said there goodbyes and most of us went out to eat for dinner at a place around the corner. After eating a real good sandwich and being squished into the corner of the restaurant with everyone Alex and I departed and headed back home to Michigan. We had a lot of fun and I can't wait to see everyone again tomorrow in Lexington, Kentucky for Summer Break!
One of the most beautiful things about bike polo is not only is DIY nature and organic growth but also that it is not a sport dominated by one specific demographic. The sports growing popularity around the world with each country, region, state/providence, and club contributing to help develop it into some thing pretty amazing. One of those contributions happened this past May down in Austin at an event, the Ladies Army III.
Ladies Army pulled players from around the US for a weekend tournament of ladies bike polo. We were thrilled to be a part of the event as a sponsor. After the event we were reading reports of how spectacular the weekend was for everyone who participated and watched. A reoccurring name we kept hearing came from our great state was Quinn from Ann Arbor.
Back in January, you might remember a group of us headed to Ann Arbor for some pick up bike polo. That weekend we had a great time playing polo with and against players from Fort Wayne,Grand Rapids and A2. One of those players being Quinn.
Quinn threw down in Texas in May. So much so she took home the 'Up-and-Coming Bad Ass' Award, which meant she also received a Fleet Velo Joust frameset. We couldn't help but be excited for her and obviously - what is frameset without some new wheels?
On that note, we are proud to now have Quinn as part of the Velocity family as one of our sponsored riders. Quinn will be rocking our 48 hole Bright Silver Chukkers on that new polo rig of hers. If you're in Columbus this weekend, Quinn and Alex are going to be heading down to play in the Columbus Bike Polo Invitational. Say hello, watch some polo, and heckle a bit.
