Sunshine State Polo

Attention Floridians!

Ft. Lauderdale is honored to host the All Florida Bike Polo Championship this year! It's going to be so much fun, and a fight for the glory. You can check out all the info here.

Also, there will be an Midnight Alley Cat after the games Saturday night! Hosted by www.southfloridafixed.com

BFF Tournament Re-Cap

BFF Bike Polo Tournament - Paris

The morning of the tournament, the main thing I noticed: Marc pacing around like a madman. A sure sign that this was going to be a great tournament. 

The tournament started off with familiar faces from cities all over over Europe hugging, sharing coffee, and going over the rules. 

6 groups of 6 teams played all day between two courts. The main court in a school yard was perfect. The second court a few streets away was a little shady (slippery & those annoying barriers!) but people still seemed to have fun on it anyway. At the end of the day, 2 teams from each group were eliminated. 

All the games on the second day were great. The bracketing moved along pretty quickly and soon enough, we were down to the last few teams. The final game in the shadows of the night ,was L'equipe (Geneva) against Apologies Accepted. The atmosphere of the crowd was amazing as everyone cheered, boo'ed, heckled, and did the wave (that's right) while L'equipe won!

1. L'equipe (Manuel the Magician, Mario, and Lucas) from Geneva, Switzerland

2. Apologies Accepted (Marc, Luis, and Adam) Paris, France (& Manchester)

3. Poloholics Toros (Pablo, Eddy, and Andreas) Munich, Germany

4. Malice (Matt, Iain, and Andy) London, England

5. Dans Ta Gueule, Puceau (Hugo, Pierre and Kevin) Paris, France & 'Metz, Schindel and Söhne (Thomas, Max, and Holger) Karlsruhe, Germany. 

It was so amazing to meet up with everyone from all the communities we've visited. I'm really going to miss everyone!

Thank you Marc, Luis, Stephan, and everyone else that made this tournament happen. 

No brake, no life!

My photos from the tournament. 

3 More Days....

Get excited!! This tournament is going to rule. 

Ta-Ta

Karlsruhe, Germany

Europeans ask, "Why the hell did you go to Karlsruhe?" and Americans ask, "Where the hell is Karlsruhe?" 

Karlsruhe is in South West Germany. Birthplace of Karl Drais, who invented the precursor of the bicycle! This city is designed much like a wheel, the center holds a beautiful castle and the streets are like spokes extending from the center.

We had no idea where to go, but the bike polo gods were on our side, and we ran into Hannes from the Candy Colored Clowns, and he gave us all the info. These guys are a group of about 12-15, and have a few different courts to play on. 

Their first court has no lights so they move down to this unique, warm, and really fun court when the sun goes down. It's 2 stories underground in parking garage and really, could be made into several courts!

All the people in the bike polo community are really amazing people, and players. They told us about all the unique spots to visit, good places to eat (Kaesespaetzle!), and amazing 6-hour polo sessions. 

FIXIE Inc.

Another thing Karlsruhe is a home to is FIXIE Inc!

So all you cool kids on your urban fixed gear bike, let it be known, FIXIE Inc was the first!

These two awesome dudes, Holger and Recep, were really refreshing to meet and get to know. "Innovative" doesn't even do justice to what these guys are up to! The wheels are always turning with these guys and the outcome is looking up.

Both of these guys play polo, and really contributing to the polo world with their knowledge and resource. Jared and I have been testing their mallets the past few weeks, and we are more than happy with them. Coming to a US tournament near you soon...

Thank you Hannes, Recep, Holger, Steffan, Thomas, Max, Alex, and everyone in Karlsruhe who made this our favorite spot in Europe!

Karlsruhe Bike Polo

More photos from Karlsruhe here!