#mwbpc8

6 times year one of our favorite publications comes out, Urban Velo. We really can't express how much we enjoy the magazine itself or how much respect we have for Jeff and Brad for putting it all together and how great they are to work with it. We've highlighted a number of items so far this year in it; from the Halo Reflective Rims, to our ability to custom build wheels to your exact specification and need, and last issue the Bottle Trap. In this installment, since Matt and a few others of the GR crew making it to the Midwest 8 tournament in Minneapolis and being on the verge of the North American Tournament in Madison here in July; we wanted to simply say thanks to everyone in MPLS for a stellar time and advocate a bit for more to join in on this growing subculture of cycling. Waaay back in June, we had the privilege to be part of another bicycle polo tournament down in Indiana. It was the first ever Indiana Invitational presented by the Bloomington Bike Polo crew, held in Bloomington, IN on the Indiana University campus. With a strong showing of around 60 players representing 7 states it's easy to say that it was a success. The tournament even garnered enough attention that the local paper did a write up on it. Check it out, in what I'll call great polo fashion the article seems to give a great snap shot of the growing polo culture. We contributed one of our handbuilt Chukker wheelsets to the tournament, which ended up being awarded to the MVP of the day, Ben from St. Louis Dignified Gentlemen. The Dignified Gents also went on to win the tournament by beating the Butt Suckers from Columbus, Ohio. A great day for the Lou', and from all accounts a great event and time for everyone involved. Next time hopefully it works out for us to get a team together and head down. For more pictures from the event, check out the comment section of their post or see a few here.

Sure the video isn't from either MWBPC, NAHBPC or any of the previous years but that never hurt anyone. Finally, this past month we were contacted by a new magazine down in Austin, The Dropout. Their latest issue was released yesterday and will eventually make it's way to view/read online. There's rumors of a Halo write up there, check it out and their previous issues.

It's been a full week since our last post. I had part of last week off and the Velocity train doesn't stop, so a few other things took precedence over blog posts. It is important to note that we do have some pretty amazing things up our sleeves for the coming months and I can't wait for the launch of them! This weekend I would say it's safe to say summer has hit here in west Michigan. Sure, June 21st is the official date for summer but with temperatures in the 80's and look to be that way for the coming week, it's hard to argue differently. Any excuse not to ride is now out the door. Yesterday, the wMMBA put on it's first Misery Loves Company free time trial race down on the gravel roads around Yankee Springs and on some the Barry Roubaix course. With the solid presence of the Founders Ale Racing team along with our very own, Ryan and Jacobi, and around 30 other riders from all accounts the event was a success. With the 80 degree temps and some humidity topped with an solid amount of sand, the race lived up to its name and provided enough misery a 12 mile time trial could. Jacobi decided to try out an interesting approach with his bike set-up for this race; with his Fisher Super Fly rocking a P35 front wheel partnered with a 700 x 40 tire and on the rear going with the B43, yes a B43, and a 700 x 32 tire. In traditional Jacobi logic this would provide a 'roller coaster' effect once up to speed, mirroring his success on his Iver Johnson in gravel races. Sure, it would fight you on hills but given Jacobi's size it would increase downhill speed and help cut through the wind. Needless to say, he admits the 'roller coaster' effect worked but having more float [which the P35 front and rear would have provided] is what he would have ideally needed for this course. Even with that, Jacobi still won the Men's 35 and under category and Ryan took home first in the Men's Single Speed. There is another Misery Loves Company time trial planned by the wMMBA for Saturday, August 28th at 2pm. For the second edition they are doubling the length to 25 miles of gravel/sand goodness. Check out the wMMBA site and their Facebook page for updates on all of the WMMBA/MMBA events. In other weekend news, our fearless GM, Matt headed to Minneapolis on Friday to participate in the the Midwest Bike Polo Championship 8. We don't know how the tournament went so far since Matt is traveling back today and I'll see if I can get him to do a little write up about it. From all that I can gather from the Twitter feeds, this was another great event with a solid turn out with lots of bike polo had by all. Remember, there is still a week left of Bike Month. Get out. Ride. Advocate.