Dear Ace: Last week I drove by the McIntire Skate Park and saw grown men and women riding bikes in circles while whacking balls with mallets. What were they doing and should I be scared?—CiCi Ryder
CiCi: Congratulations. You have discovered an urban subculture new to Charlottesville: the exciting world of hard court bike polo. Because Ace chooses to exercise in more traditional ways (croquet, badminton, darts), he had to make a few phone calls to find out exactly what these McIntire athletes are up to every Sunday at 12:30pm when respectable people are at pancake houses.
First, some history. Bike polo is not exactly new. Some say it started over a hundred years ago when Britain sent a fleet of bicycles to an exalted Indian ruler. Having no use for the bicycles, the ruler gave them to his servants who recognized them as ideal substitutes for the expensive horses required by polo. A sport was born. City dwellers adapted the game to be played on hard surfaces in crowded, urban environments, and knees were skinned. Local bike polo enthusiast Barry Matthews decided to bring the game to Charlottesville, and history was made!
Mr. Matthews says Charlottesville’s bike polo club is modeled after other east coast clubs like those found in Richmond and D.C. The game can be rough and tumble, especially if you get a mallet caught in your bike spokes, but it’s always thrilling. All manner of cycles (fixed gear, single speed, uni-) and skill levels can participate, and there’s no such thing as a regulation mallet, so you can probably make your own at home with pipes, duct tape, and soda cans. It is a true gentleman’s sport, much like roller derby and female arm wrestling.
Winter is bike polo’s slowest season, but Mr. Matthews anticipates a fresh crop of players at McIntire in the spring. E-mail charlottesvillebikepolo@gmail.com for more information.
You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 20 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.
