Track season/ polo season

With the evenings lengthening and the weather trying to warm up, fair weather cyclists are once again brushing off the cobwebs and lubing their bits for the season ahead... what that entails is that the call has gone out from the Track Federation and the Irish National Bike Polo Squad of Death.

They are both commencing their two wheeled festivities soon and would like the messengers of Dublin to get off their collective lazy asses and boost the numbers. Both activities are great, I highly reccommend trying them, proper track racing is hardcore and will show you up for the weakling you are, while grass bike polo with the pros will have you spinning your legs at a frantic pace and getting knocked around a field by large men with sticks.

Seriously though, they are both great pursuits and a welcome change from slogging around the city all day. Both groups of people, while having very different cycling habits, are friendly, enthusiastic, and are two of the only groups of people in Dublin that actually respect us! Chapeau!

Here be the details for the track:
From Hugh Byrne:
"This years Track Season opens with a training day for accredited riders on Saturday 3rd May. Sign on /bike hire etc from 10.30 but session starts at 11am sharp. Our Track League then starts on the following Wednesday evening and this is open to accredited track riders only. Sign on & bike hire/set up from 1830 but racing starts at 7pm. No accreditations on Wednesdays and Full Racing or Restricted Competition (Track) Licence is required for racing."
Full details can be found here.

As for the polo, Evan, who organises the affair, has in formed me that they will be meeting Thursday evenings. They also play on Sunday mornings, but we've never been good at that have we? They generally play from around 7 until the sun goes down. All you need to bring is yourself. They have proper grass polo bikes, wich are a lot of fun to ride, and they supply mallets as well. These guys often travel to international competitions and all are encoursged to join them. Remember bike polo was started in Ireland many moons ago, and has been played on the horsey polo grounds in Phoenix Park for a long time. Give me a shout if any of you fancy going up next week after work. We can grab something to eat and cruise on up as a group.
Bray seafront, 1908