Bike Polo is a fast growing hit among the leisure sports in Whistler these days. It’s simple. All you need is a shitty old bike (or a nice one if you don’t mind losing a few spokes from), a bunch of friends, a parking lot or an open area, a hockey ball, and a handful of old ski poles.
First things first, you need to construct your mallets. You’ll need some old ski poles, and some ABS tubing. Cut the tubing to about 4 inches in length, and then bolt the suckers to the end of the ski pole. Pretty damn simple.
Next, what you’ll need to do is find an open flat area to play. We’ve chosen the deserted pay parking lots in Whistler, because no one has been parking there under a refusal to pay the outstanding $13.50/day fee, which makes it an ideal spot for us. Not to mention, parking lot 3 sits in eyeshot of the Municipal office, so it’s in perfect vantage point for a polite ‘f*ck you, we won’t pay’. For the nets, we use two rocks spaced a bike length apart, but feel free to use whatever you want (small cones, tree stumps, whatever)
Combine six friends in a 3 on 3 match, with two nets spaced about 200 feet apart, and you’re set.
The rules in which we’ve played, is that you have to score with the butt end of the mallet, otherwise it’s considered a ‘push’ goal and therefore doesn’t count. The other rule is that if you put your foot down, you have to cycle to the back corner of your defending end and touch a landmark before you can return to play. You can play first to five, or however many goals you want.
It’s simple, inexpensive, easy, and most importantly fun as hell. Get out there and give it a go.
