Mallet Militia: Utah Bike Polo

atop asphalt. Heaton is on top of the game, and facilitates the intrigue of the polo players around him by being a bike polo resource. 

Gage Jacobson, the longest-standing OBPC member, also scrimmages with BBPC, and uses one of Heaton’s mallets. He and “two Mikes (Delwurth and Phillips) and two Tylers (Bird and Larson),” compatriots of the Bingham Cyclery in Ogden, had discovered bike polo via YouTube videos. On New Year’s Day of 2008, they prepared for their bike polo foray: “We really didn’t have any instruction or anything like that—somebody just loosely knew the rules, and a group of us set out to make our first polo mallets, and that’s pretty much it,” says Jacobson, also noting that his first mallet was made out of an extruded aluminum broomstick. Settled in the parking garage at 2030 Lincoln Ave. in Ogden, OBPC played steadily once a week on Thursdays for about a year, and eventually added Sundays to their weekly routine. After playing on and off for a few years, OBPC has played regularly for the last year at least once a week. At first, they faced adversity from cops, as their location is about a quarter of a mile away from a police station. Jacobson says, “They’d drive up to the top of the parking terrace and do paperwork or whatever for, like, a half an hour, and if they were so inclined, they’d come and break our balls over something stupid.” The police haven’t been much of a nuisance over the past two years, though sometimes some interesting interactions ensue: “Sometimes they just sit there and watch you for 15 minutes … three police cars with six cops all sitting on the hoods just sitting there, watching you play,” Jacobson says.

Although there are fewer players in OBPC, their interest in polo bubbles just as much as those in BBPC. Jacobson says, “I work with five out of the seven regular players in Ogden, so it’s kind of that connection. Everybody’s really got this common interest: We all work in the cycling industry.” Recently, two new players have shown up to supplement the eight players in Ogden, which evinces the growth that their regular scrimmaging has fostered. Jacobson mentions that the playing dynamic in Ogden is a bit different, as their parking garage contains pillars around which the polo players navigate upon their bikes. The main difference between OBPC and BBPC (Beehive being Ogden’s main point of reference), is that OBPC is “a lot more lax as far as rules and general behavior are concerned,” says Jacobson. “You’re rarely going to see somebody show up to see Ogden Bike Polo kitted up in spandex with knee and elbow guards and a face mask,” a common sight in Salt Lake.

One thing that surprised me after watching couriers play polo on the Internet, tech-wise, was that most Utah polo players in either club rock 26-inch mountain bikes instead of fixies. Following the lead from most of the polo vets in Salt Lake, Jacobson recently switched to a mountain bike because of their general durability, maneuverability and brake functionality. Jacobson says, “The biggest advantage is, honestly, handling and braking for the 26-inch mountain bike because when you’re not set up fixed, you can drop the pedal on the opposite side and you can really lean into a turn.” Additionally, in such cases such as Heaton’s, bike polo in Utah grew out of the mountain biking scene, as opposed to urban cycling. “And honestly, I like doing wheelies a lot,” Jacobson says, “and it’s hard to do wheelies on a fixed gear.” Their bikes can get pretty polo-nerdy—Heaton’s setup consists of a frame that’s one size too small, with a splitter brake on his riding (left)-hand side, which connects to both his disc rear brake and his front V brake, whose derailleur is set to be a “poor man’s single speed.” Seth Mueller concocted a setup with two rear chain rings at the front and back, which he made especially for polo.

Jacobson contends that, to be a good polo player, a cyclist must know how to stay on their bike, first and foremost, develop ball-handling skills, learn how to trackstand, and then other ancillary skills will come, like “scooping the ball and flinging it halfway across the court in the middle of the air, up and over opponents that are in front of you,” he says. Heaton’s ideology is more cerebral: “A good bike polo player never gives up,” he says. He does, however, cite mountain biking and criterium cycling as conducive to good handling, and a heightened sense of speed versus proximity to other players, respectively, and credits former soccer players like Josted who are used to “muscling up against guys.” All of these skill sets were certainly at play when Heaton  organized BBPC’s first tournament, which he posted on leagueofbikepolo.com, which contains many forums on which polo players in various cities can advertise events. Besides BBPC and OBPC, the only other team that showed up was a team out of Las Vegas. Amid some questionable play, Jacobson also remembers the Las Vegans pulling “wheelie 360s out of corners while making shots,” but BBPC’s finest were able to best them in the final round. Heaton is also organizing a tournament that he plans to host at the Bonneville Salt Flats come late summer.

As an older commuter cyclist cut through the court and apologized for crashing a game I watched, Heaton responded, saying, “You don’t crash it—you join it.” BBPC’s welcoming attitude is also present in Ogden, as Jacobson contends that the only restriction that the club has is “no jerks.” Though people fall down and things can sometimes get heated, the ultimate result is fun competition.

Search for Beehive Bike Polo Club and Ogden Bike Polo Club on Facebook, and feel free to join a game. Beehive play Tuesday nights at 8:45 p.m., and Ogden play Sundays at 7 p.m. and Thursdays at 9 p.m.