London Bike Polo

(Dalston Polo last week / Flickr)

Weather permitting people will be playing tonight, 7pm onwards in the court corner of Downham Road and Ufton Road. Map! This court has a different feel to brick lane, go down and try it out, I reckon its more fun!

Check out Bike Snob’s lexicon of cycling for this little gem…

Bike Polo: A popular ironic social pastime for members of the bike culture who might otherwise opt for adult kickball except that it does not allow them to be close enough to their bikes. In New York City, bike polo is played in a Chinatown playground, which has resulted in exchanges like the following in many of the local homes:

Mom: Hi, son. What are you doing home so soon? You finished all your homework so I said you could go play with your friends.

Son: Yes, but when we got there a bunch of big kids was already there. They said we couldn’t play because they were there first.

Mom: Big kids? How old were they?

Son: I’d say mid-20s to early 30s. They were playing hockey on their bicycles.

Mom: Those don’t sound like kids to me. You should have told them the playground is for children.

Son: We did, and they said they’d be done around 10 or 11 and we could play after that. We explained that was past our bedtime, and they said too bad, they all had graphic design jobs to get to the next morning too. But they did say if we got there at the same time tomorrow we could do “odds-evens” for it. They also said we could play if we wanted, but it looked really stupid.

Ok the weather is good so unlike Dalston polo last night, this will happen.

7:30 onwards in Vauxhall Park, in the corner there is a court…

Here’s a map. Discussion here.

Update: That didn’t happen, rain.

New court! With brick walls!

Corner of downham road/ ufton road just off kingsland road from 7pm onwards. Hot damn. Click for map.

This was good fun last year despite the downpours - http://www.smithfieldnocturne.co.uk/.

(Jeremy Hughes/Flickr)

Five teams have already entered (theres loads of time left to enter, get your early registration here):

1. Team Trouble
2. Zombie RMY - Reigning champions
3. Team Haka
4. The Moving Targets
5. bAd pOlO

Sponsors already confirmed - Red Bull, Smeear, Archie’s Grobags, Fixed Gear London, Hell Yeah! Cyclo Supply, more to come!

If you like media stuff check out Quebec’s La Presse for an  article (in french) on bike polo and fixed-wheel in London. If you’d rather read in English have a look at Cooler magazine for a look at our very own Trixie Chix. Finally if you’re after some cheesy bike smut, check out Bust magazine.

(Saturday race photos from Selim on Flickr)

Organised by FUCCIT it will take place on the 25th July 2008. Chat about people going from London here. More details on registration etc. soon!

(Totally unrelated photo from Flickr)

HUMAN TORCH Presents ‘DIS-CON-NECTED’

A night of pedel powered mayhem where you will need to get involved to keep the Zorba music going.

Human dynamos only - this is a power-cut party.

The Old Boys Club, Bowlyn Road, Dalston.

Sunday 25th May, 8pm till shutdown.

5 quid in. Come in costume. Bring a torch.

Powered by The Magnificent Revolutionary Cycle Cinema.

Via MT Forum (more details there!).