NAHBPC 2014

On July 11, bike polo players from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico met in Minneapolis to participate in the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship (NAHBPC). The championship, operated by North American Hardcourt and local organizers, featured three days of competition between 48 teams who earned their place in regional tournaments throughout the year. These teams of three competed in less-than-ideal conditions for the majority of the tournament, suffering through rain delays and courts slick with water.

Bike polo is for all purposes in its infancy, and as such the tournament was played despite the weather. Were this an older, more veteran game, one may expect outrage at having one set of players earn their way to the finals bracket while others struggle to earn the same reward on a surface littered with pools of rain. The players, however, do not feel nearly so entitled, and as such grumbled and went about playing the sport regardless.

The competition is broken into three parts: Friday consists of seeding, with the top teams from the morning and afternoon bracket securing a place on Sunday. No matter how they perform on Saturday, they will advance to the final competition. The other teams must again compete on Saturday in an attempt to avoid elimination. Sunday is the main event, wherein teams can only suffer one loss and advance—with two losses comes elimination, and more spectators to cheer or jeer the remaining teams.

The likely podium finishers: the Beavers from San Francisco, the Guardians from Seattle and Portland United all once again proved why they are the most challenging and able teams in North American bike polo. Despite outstanding performances by the Assassins, The Ringers, Cucumbers and the like, the faces were very much the same in the final few games. The Beavers took home first (even after requiring a substitution due to injury), with Portland United taking second and the Guardians taking third.

Despite the repetition of podium finishers, the NAHBPC maintains a light, if not jovial, atmosphere. What is missing is a seriousness that comes with high levels of competition—but not in such a way that it reduces the competitiveness of the sport itself. At this tournament most people know each other, and are just as willing to battle as they are to joke around and congratulate good plays. It’s this attitude that divides this championship from other sports’—the camaraderie of players to switch from opponent to supporter as soon as a match is over.

It caps a year of increasingly professional and responsible tournaments by hosting clubs and NAH, further solidifying the growth and foundations of the sport. –Matt Kabik, Lancaster Polo

Amtrak Announces Roll-On Service

In big news for bicycle travelers Amtrak has announced that they are adding baggage cars with bicycle cargo capability to all 15 long distance train routes that they serve. By the end of the year riders should have roll-on bicycle service, expanding the horizons of where you can take your bike, or where you can ride to and find an affordable way home. Look for 55 new cars capable of carrying bicycles by the end of 2014. –Brad Quartuccio

Wolfpack Hustle Civic Center Criterium

On rare occasion, number two actually is better than number one. This was the case with the second Civic Center Criterium hosted by Wolfpack Hustle in Los Angeles. The course stayed the same, but the competition had undoubtedly leveled up.

While a few heavy hitters had dropped in to see what all the fuss was about in 2013, this year the fields for every race were stacked. Coming off the heels of high-intensity events such as the Cycle Messenger World Championships, Junior National Road Championships, and the formidable 11-day Tour of America’s Dairylands, the Civic Center Crit rallied some of the toughest men and women on bikes to the heart of Downtown L.A.

An event for cyclists of all breeds, men and women from professional and street-level backgrounds put their skills to the test in road and track category races, 24 laps around City Hall; a few hit the course twice, doubling their efforts to rack up more title points. In between the qualifiers and finals, the Angelopes and other local freak bikers had their own freaky crit race.

With Aventon, TRAFIK, LAPD support officer Gordon Helper, and other local supporters stepping in with cash awards of $100 for multiple mid-race prime laps—10, 12, 13, 15—there was hardly a moment for any racer on the course to do anything but push harder. As the sun moved from east to west and dropped from the sky, competing cyclists came to know the course’s left, right and hairpin turns—two of each—its down and up grades, and where to make their game-changing moves.

Those that mastered the game edged their way to victory, and for the first time in Wolfpack Hustle history, the Dog Tags have left the country. Brian “Safa” Wagner is the lucky devil who will take his first set of tags across borders, but since he only has to go as far as Mexico, it’s highly likely he’ll be back for more. Wagner, riding for Leader Bikes, was joined on the men’s track podium by men who actually traveled much farther—third place finisher Christopher Rabadi, from D.C.; and second place Francesco Martucci, who crossed the world to race thousands of miles from his native streets of Italy. The men’s track podium stood doubly proud as Rabadi and Wagner bonded over their status as working messengers; the Mexico City courier also took pride in seeing two of his fellow teammates, Lucas Binder and Steven “Neu York” Mergenthlar, in the top five of the men’s track finishers.

It was Wolfpack’s own who took their places on the women’s track podium, with Jo Celso taking top honors and Erin Gunn taking second. Beatriz Rodriguez, SoCal contender Kelli Samuelson and Italian powerhouse Stefania Baldi (another working messenger) rounded out the top five in a race where a strong lead from Celso made the rest of the field fight for second.

The geared races were just as intense, where Binder eked his way ahead for a slim lead in the men’s race, putting returning 2013 champion McElroy in second. The women’s race was dominated by ladies from the She Wolf Attack Team (S.W.A.T.), many of whom were racing for the first time. With a solid field of Southern California bike babes, Jen Whalen made sure to secure the win—thanks to Whalen, one set of Civic Center Crit Dog Tags gets to stay in L.A. –Krista Carlson