God is in the details -- and in the Merino

We've been singing the praises of wool for years now, while at the same time bitching about bike polo and never getting friended by BikeCommuters.com.

So we're especially conflicted about this post: Here's one of the more garish and gorgeous wool cycling jerseys we've seen this side of 1975.



This thing would look pretty styling at the bowling alley, too, methinks.

Taking a new position on bike polo

We'd been trying not to mention bike polo -- in the hopes that it would go away. (With gambling and Chess, the only vices we've managed to avoid. So far.) But we realized this morning, after reading a story in the New Haven Register, that it could be a long, long wait.

As a proper sport, bike polo has been around since 1891, when it was given an official format in Ireland. It's now played around the world, and since 1994 there's even been a Bicycle Polo Association of America.

Teams consist of six or seven players, with four players on the field at any given time. A regulation game goes for 30 minutes, divided into four periods of 7½ minutes each, called chukkars.

Needless to say, we doubt whether your local pick-up game is "regulation." And we pledge to give it a try again before the end of summer.

Photo (cc) by BikePortland.org