Milwaukee Bike Polo Club

So the ride/race started off at Nomad World Pub on Brady St. We had a few PBR’s and enjoyed the people watching. Due to people being bums only about 7 people actually raced. But Dang did they have fun doing it!

We got to Kern Park and began to get everything set up. Get the grill going. Tap the Keg of Lakefront Fixed Gear. Set out all the Raffle Prizes. Started chillin the copious amounts of PBR and mixing drinks with the Great Lakes Distillery products.

Started selling raffle tickets for all the cool prizes! We had gift certificates to Anaba Tea Room, The Irish Pub, Sabbatic, Classic Slice Pizza, Brocach, Riverhorse Bar, The Swingin Door Exchange, Hotel Foster, and Roman Coin.

Here are some folks who won awesome prizes!

The mini-bike races was seriously a ton of fun to watch and to ride. If you missed it you will eventually get another chance to participate in them because we for sure are doing this again. BUT you can never say you were at the first race series Kern Park 2011!

Start building your own 16″ wheeled mini kids bike to ride because I know I am! Zack Rueter took some awesome shots of the races go to his Flickr to see all of them but here a couple of my faves and one of Billie with her prizes as overall winner! She got a gift card to Salon Thor and The Irish Pub. But honestly thanks to everyone who came out and had a good time. We have some awesome supporters and we love you all! Thanks to Meg for driving all the beer and crap around to the park, thanks to Burge for setting up the race, thanks to Milwaukee Courier Company and Tom Guenther for picking up the Keg! Also extra awesomeness to TOM for winning the 2011 MKE bike polo official jersey in the raffle! dude wanted to win it so bad and he put tons of tickets into that cup to win. SO STOKED!

Well the Beaver Boys II Men did it again. They are looking pretty unstoppable heading into the break before North American’s in Calgary, Alberta.

Fur Trappers (Guthrie, Jake, Zack) and Cycle Killers (Matt, Birdie, Jake Boston) also broke the top 10 tied for 9th place.

3 teams in the top 10 again proves Mke Bike polo is a club to be reckoned with.

Fur Trappers photo by demoncats.com

Really so many great things happened and there are lots of people to thank. Philly proved it can be an awesome city and it’s Brotherly love was extended to us the whole trip.

HUGE THANKS TO CHANDEL for her awesome and hard work to make this thing go off without a hitch!

It was great to play in the shade created by the  freeway overpass and they really know what colors look good together

demoncats.com

Saturday saw the Beavers lose to Chombo and force them to be seeded 5th in the PM brackets, while Fur Trappers were able to score a 2 seed in the AM bracket and Cycle Killers snuck into Sunday with a 10th place finish in the PM bracket as well.

Saturday night was a bit calmer since people were prepping for a big day Sunday but Guthrie and Zack were able to master the Bongo Board. Also We met Paule Revere or was it Benjamin Franklin?

Sunday ran smooth as well and in their Sunday fashion Beavers went undeafeated to take the win over the Guinea Pigeons (Paul NYC, Ian RVA, Nick RVA).

Fur Trappers dropped a tough loss to get knocked out by Slaughterhouse polo who had an amazing comeback and buzzer beater and OT goal to knock us out.  Cycle Killers also got knocked out by an OT goal the same round. So some tough losses that if had gone the other way would have put our 3 teams in the top 8.

But really thats the boring part I mean we all know MKE is pretty good at polo but what about the parties!

I heard that Marco said he had lost many girlfriends to the “Special” that Bob and Barbara’s Bar has on Sunday Karaoke. I don’t doubt it. $3 PBR and shot of whiskey. It did make for some awesome drunken singing until the whole bar full of polo players sang Bohemian Rhapsody until we got way to rowdy and the DJ cut it off right before the crescendo. The special also caused Birdie and Zack to miss their early Monday flights. Jake And Guthrie were able to muster up the energy to get to PHL Intn’l on time.

Some other highlights include Kremin banging the ESPI trophy on every streetpole He could and Dillman’s buddy Jordan singing in response “BEST IN THE WORLD”. Ate a few cheese steaks at Jim’s and Pat’s. Both were really good I don’t think I could choose a best cheese steak in Philly they all have been great. I want to go to Philly Way on 2nd st in MKE though this week to compare while it’s fresh in my mind.

photos by www.demoncat.com

So some other thanks go out to Kevin, the irish pipefitter, and Alice, our Hostess who both got us drunk and shared some special local flavor with us at Ray’s bar in South Philly. Jordan and Coop who put up the Beaver boys and partied hard with us. Chandel, Marco, and all of the Philly Bike polo crew who helped make this thing possible. Shane from DC who passed out then continued to party and dumped his cooler full of water onto Kremin ala gatorade bath style. Nicole LaBrie for picking Guth and I up at the airport in Mke upon our return.

THANKS PHILLY, HOPE TO SEE YA SOON!

Seriously one of the best biking events of the summer! These movies are free and open to the public. Invite your friends and lovers to watch a movie and socially gather! 2nd Fridays through October.

Find Milwaukee Bike in Movie Series on Facebook.

that Great Lakes Distillery bottle went quick boys....

“We do this all the time!” rang true yet again. The favored Beaver Boys II Men won the Midwest Championships, and the Jenny Cup, for the second year in a row knocking off Chicago’s Machine Politics 5-2 in the final match. The Wardens (myself, Matt Hewitt, Zack Rueter) placed 7th to qualify for the North American Hardcourt Bike Polo Championships. In a ever growing competitive Midwest field only the top 8 of 48 would qualify to compete in the NAHBPC being held in Calgary, AB, Canada this coming August….BUT that’s not all that happened on our super awesome fun weekend in lovely, yet very hilly, Bloomington, Indiana.

Started off with Wardens arriving around 3am EST in Bloomington to a house party that raged until 6am. Some locals informed us they’d be going to Lake Monroe the next day for some swimming and cliff jumping. Well how could we pass that up! We woke up around noon ate at Wee Willy’s on Walnut St. and looked at the map to the lake. It was about 8.77 miles according to  my phone’s map. We had full bags and mallets on board so we were a bit hesitant to ride that far but it was in the 80s and beautiful, which we have not head in Milwaukee since last year. So we decided to take the polo bikes for the ride and just enjoy it. Well the map only counted to the entrance of the park and we rode past that a few miles. Hills were epic, we tucked and coasted down them and the polo ratio isn’t that bad for climbing either. A tough hot ride but well worth it when we got to the lake!

the best hill was leading down to this causeway. i swear we hit 40mph.

15-20ft straight down! SPLASH!

Wardens: photo by Bruce Carver

Beavers and the rest of MKE crew arrived later Friday and we all hungout at the registration party and caught up with polo friends had a few drinks and eventually retired for the night. Wardens had the AM bracket so we were up bright and early but had to make a stop off at the house Kelly was staying at to pick up the new 2011 jerseys that arrived in Milwaukee a bit to late for us to get but Kelly saved us on this one. THANKS KELLY!

Swiss rounds started basically on time and went very smoothly thanks to Vince Foley’s Podium software. Wardens lost one match in OT and one on a  last second shot to finish the the swiss rounds a disappointing 3-2. For future reference ALWAYS HAVE A COURTSIDE CLOCK WITH SECONDS. AND REFS SHOUT OUT A COUNTDOWN PLEASE!

Beavers and the other teams with MKE players were in PM brackets.  Nothing new but Beavers went 5-0 and secured the first seed for Sundays 24 team double elimination.

Saturday night featured a show at a bar with a mainly female doo-wop band. The  band was really talented and great, but Wardens decided to call it an early night after a few songs to rest up and prepare for Sunday.  2/3 of the Beavers partied further into the night.

On Sunday stuff started on time and ran smooth. A few really heavy thunderstorms quickly passed through and we were able to delay games until they passed so I don’t think anyone had to play in  the sporadic downpours. As the number of teams began to whittle down Wardens had to fight out of the losers bracket to stay alive, knocking off some friends on the way. Played a close game with Pittsburgh (and yes they followed through on the super bowl bet) and won. After getting knocked out by the STL/COMO team Ball Slapping Booty Clapping in a tough overtime loss the Wardens had qualified for NAHBPC and went back to watching the Beavers handle the rest of the field and drink a few beers.

New York  City sent a pretty good team to the MWBPC9 as well consisting of Zach, Ace, and Nate. Who I knew would be tough but did better than I expected placing 4th.

Guthrie played with Chombo and Ben Hunter and as a team who had never played in a tournament together they did pretty well. They qualified for the Wild Card tourney in Calgary  by placing 9th. Side note Chombo was also voted Mr. Polo by his peers! And we got him to his Chinatown bus in Indy at the last freaking second!

The day ended with the Beavers crushing the Second City once again in a 5-2 final game and everyone hanging around for awards and some pick up.

THANK YOUS GO OUT TO -

Zach and Travis and the B-Town polo crew for your hosting a great tournament that ran smooth. Really great job guys and gals! much love from mke crew for sure!

Rachel, Lauren, and wherever 2/3 of the Beavers stayed Saturday night, and those who housed the rest of our crew for putting us up in your homes and letting us stink it up.

Our boy Bruce Carver who takes great photos! see more of  his pics here

Those who stepped up to ref games , it is a thankless job and you have to get yelled at by me, but still thanks for being there.

Marty, Travis’ mom and Bruce, Zach’s dad who helped go to the grocery store, get ice, pick up food, basically whatever was asked of them. Zach’s dad left early but we want to honor him as a recipient as well and we owe you some booze. They received the “Crandall Award” for super awesome parents who help us play our silly little game! Marty took home a bottle of Milwaukee’s own Rehorst Vodka for her efforts. Enjoy!

Everyone who bought a Mke bike polo tshirt! thanks ! You helped us pay off our insurance for the club! Especially the Fort Wayne Crew. I think their whole club bought shirts!

Big ups go to Winnepeg and Austin crews for the long drives you put in. Glad to meet and see you again! Maybe we’ll swing by the ‘peg on our way to Calgary this summer!

If I forgot anyone else I’m sorry but really this was such a great time and I just want to thank everyone who helped out and everyone who showed up to play! Midwest is the freaking best!

-Captain

Well we didn’t do it maliciously. It was a great time to go and meet some new people and play in a  new place. Isn’t that what bike polo is all about anyway?

Well here’s some hi-lights from the trip anyway.

It started off with a visit to the new polo clubhouse aka Brain, Krem, and Hewitt’s new house, but not before we stopped by Great Lakes Distillery to pick up some supplies.

Joe and Jake both celebrated their birthday's!

Friday night we rolled in around midnight and met up with Lexington, IN crew and Lafayette crew down in West Lafayette which is where Purdue is located. Tons of college co-eds everywhere getting sloshed. Spent a few hours at a bar called Jake’s Roadhouse.

The next morning games started at 10:15 am. It was in the 50s and partly Sunny. I believe 18 teams actually showed up. Played through 3 Swiss rounds and a single Elim bracket. My favorite and  deceivingly most competitive games of the day were against the Lexington team of Pat, Jessie, and Tiffany. They held us to 2-0 through 8 minutes (in a 10 minute timed match) then we had to step up the onslaught to come away with the victory. The other was the semi-final game between us, Retard Strength, and The Electric Wizards, mixed Lexington and Bloomington squad. This game was super exciting, at least to the crowd. It went to 4-4  with Burge slamming one in for the GWG. Good game Wizards!

The Woodchucks (Brian, Krem, Matt) beat Joe, Guthrie, and I in the swiss rounds and in the final match and I’ve been trying to avoid them so as not to hear about it too much. At least we drove in separate cars as teams so we could have a peaceful ride home.

OK so it got dark then the real party started. Ended up at The Black Sparrow in the non-Purdue drenched part of town. Great bar with $2 tall boys of PBR

Here’s Hewitt with the owner…Here is the DJ’s banner with Kremin showing ya whats up. He was spinning some decent funk/dance/groove tunes and shouted out to MKE bike polo at one point in the night and I swear I didn’t even ask him too!

ok now the thank yous!

CALEB- lafayette bike polo awesome dude who put up the 6 of us MKE cats and 3 from Lexington both nights. Hope your roommate isn’t too pissed at you.

Tyler – for running the show and answering my emails and making sure shit ran smooth

Lexington Will, Nick, Chris, Tif, Jess, Pat you all rocked and are probably one of the only polo crews who can hang partywise with MKE, How often do you do it down there?

BIG UPS to Tif for making those burritos on Saturday night when no food places would answer their phones at 330 AM.

The dudes who showed us the roof of the Black Sparrow and its secret area, and the Black Sparrow bartenders for not kicking us out when that one guy (sorry I forgot your name) projectile vomited all over the bar after the beer chugging contest!

CASH MONEY!

Well love ‘em or hate ‘em they did it. The 2v2 combo of Joe Burge and Brian Dillman were the last ones standing after a day full of 2v2 action.

Taking away $100 each, a bottle of Rehorst Gin and Vodka from Great Lakes Distillery and some PBR tallboy coozies.

They had some tough competition though. The lefty combo of Zack Rueter and Joe Panizzo placed 2nd winning some Milwaukee Bike Co. gear.

The Guthrie and friends, mainly Kremin, secured 3rd place and walked way with some Pabst swag.

Much appreciated help and big thanks go out to my boy, Jonny Hunter, for  running the podium software from his iphone.

DFL went to Willie Lee and Bobbie Marie. Thanks for playing you two! Hope you had fun and were inspired to play more!

photo by kremin

Thanks to the rest of the Chicagoans and Madisonites for coming over on a cold day to play bike polo with us! We love you fools!

Thanks to Aaron the masseuse. You will be getting a call from me next week to set up an appointment.

That’s right if you weren’t there you missed the massages, 5 30-packs of PBR and  bottle of Roaring Dan’s Rum, and a damn good time!

P.S. -Tucker, I accidentally ganked your lighter, think of it as a birthday present ;)

Kick off the most rockingest weekend in Milwaukee since the Packers won the Super Bowl!

THIS FRIDAY!

Get all sauced up and hung over for the Milwaukee Messenger Invite 10 on Saturday then on Sunday come to the Breakaway Courier 2v2 Polo Tournament

Sunday really started on Saturday, With Lodi, Boom, Dillman, and myself shoveling off the last of some straggling snow off the court

saturday shoveling

Then the word spread across the midwest! COME TO MKE! Rev. Phil from PDX and of www.bikesmut.com fame was in town showing his Bike Porn: 4PLAY. He was lucky enough to celebrate his birthday with us as well!

Which if you get a chance go see! No bike polo porns this year but maybe next year if you all are lucky!

rev. phil is in the middle with the yellow glasses

But wait isn’t that some Chicago players too! yes! and Madison took a break from protesting to drive over as well! Lefty Joe got some shithawk haircut that he wanted to show off.

We were able to play until 7:07PM before the sun was too low and it got pretty cold quickly. And what better place to go warm up but the Vietnamese Soup house, Phan’s Garden.

Cheer up Birdie!

So basically thanks to Chicago and Madison players who came to us this time. Big ups to Rev. Phil and good luck on your travels good sir! Thanks for the polo-elbow exercises!

It was a great day and I slept like a damn baby that night!

Stay tuned for more details such as location. Hopefully it will be at the same spot it has been at, Pumping Station park in Riverwest. Start praying to those weather gods!

$20 a team

Cash prize!

swag and whatnot from our sponsors as well

10am start time!

P.S. This is two days before my birthday so bring a present!

info and registration contact jake@mkebikepolo.com

While we have all your ears MKE Bike Polo is happy to announce the newest addition to the 2011 Partner List!

GREAT LAKES DISTILLERY

Makers of fine products such as Rehorst Premium Vodka and Gin and Roaring Dan’s Rum.

I’ve enjoyed their fine liquor for a few years now and am happy to have them on board.

Come to Nomad World Pub Slayerfest June 18th-19th  for your chance to win a  bottle!

Also, if you are in Milwaukee this week, Thursday the 24th, stop by their Distillery located at 616 W Virginia St. for

METAL PEDAL

A MKE Sprints event to raise funds for The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.

7pm -11pm

Our other friends at COG magazine and MKE Bike Co. will be just a few of the groups supplying raffle and race prizes.