Bicycle polo. It’s the latest sensation that’s sweeping the nation. After an account of bicycle polo played with Hungarian counts in 1934 from Patrick Leigh Fermour’s classic Between the Woods and the Water, we travel to De Beauvoir Town to find out how the game is being played in 2009. The European Hard Court Bicycle Polo Championships will be held in London this August. For more on where to play, there are lots of listings here.
No Bike Week – what happens to a cyclist when he or she can’t ride for a week? Let’s find out. More details soon. It’s likely that No Bike Week will take place at some point between now and Easter 2009. Expresssions of interest to bikeshow@resonancefm.com
Picture credit: Roxy Erickson.
Play on links below. Other file formats (e.g. Ogg Vorbis) over here.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Sveden // Feb 24, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Why were so many of the bike polo people interviewed not Brits? Where did they come from?
2 Dingbat // Feb 24, 2009 at 5:19 pm
No Bike Week would be rough.
But very very much, for your listeners, in the spirit of Lent.
3 Jack // Feb 24, 2009 at 5:49 pm
@Sveden: I think it has as much to do with comparative willingness to talk to a radio reporter holding a microphone as to do with who is playing bike polo.
There were certainly a lot of North American accents on court that day but London is, after all, a global city. Perhaps one of the London bike polo cognoscenti can explain.
4 Mike // Feb 24, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Yea, the London bike polo community is about 1/2 English, 3/8 North American, 1/8 other. Just like London itself.
Only 2 or 3 of the English will step up to talk to a reporter… Bill does it repetitively though.
5 Jack // Feb 25, 2009 at 1:23 am
Mike, if London is 3/8th North American, that’s news to me. Maybe Notting Hill, but… And how about all those polo-playing Scots and Welsh?
6 Timo // Feb 25, 2009 at 6:35 am
Interesting show about bike polo. It’s played also here in Helsinki, but I’ve never tried.
No bike week….I have to think about that.
Timo
7 Mike // Feb 25, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Sorry Jack, I should have been more clear. Seems to me London is roughly half British, half everything else.
8 Jack // Feb 25, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Mike, I was just ribbing you….
9 Salty Blog » Spring! // Mar 5, 2009 at 1:36 pm
[...] come out and play. Turned out to be an amazing day. Here’s a quick shot (from Roxy) and a link to a radio show which did a piece on it. Give it a listen, you can here the moment Adrienne gets a goal and the crowed cheers! [...]
10 -=[ ten yen ]=- // Mar 23, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Managed to catch most of this season live on resonance but missed this episode and the finale. Should I not hold out for the Ogg version and brave the evil of mp3? I wouldn’t give up my bike, but try to avoid proprietary audio formats.
11 Jack // Mar 23, 2009 at 10:16 pm
@Tenyen – When I get a spare moment I’ll upload the rest of the season’s shows to archive.org and thus other file formats will be available. But it’s not currently a high priority since they are only ever accessed a few dozen times.
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