303Cycling spent last Sunday afternoon with Boulder Bike Polo on the grass. We’ve had a great time watching (and playing!) so here is some info you’ll want to know to get involved. We asked a cross section of players about how they got involved, their polo rides and what you should know to start. Here are their answers:

[303Cycling] How did you get involved with Boulder bike polo and how long have you been playing?
[Doug] A cycling buddy of mine played back in highschool/college and had gone on for years about how much fun bike polo was and that we should play in Boulder. We never could generate much enthusiasm for it. I cannot remember what pushed him over the edge, but he convinced Sports Garage to front something close to $175 bucks for a bike polo “starter kit” he ordered online, and we were off. That was in October 2000. I was unemployed at the time, so I took over organizing the games and making sure the equipment showed up and so forth. I became the defacto ring leader and have been ever since.
[Sam] My Fiance's boss invited me out to play after he found out I loved anything to do with bikes.
[Keri] I was taking advantage of the great weather in January this year and noticed some bikers milling around on the grass. I knew they had to be playing polo. Recently replanted in Boulder from Gainesville Florida I was thrilled to see some of my people! Of course they let me join in and immediately I felt at home. Turf polo will kick your ass and allow you a great time!
[Sean] I moved to CO in 2000 & coincidently my realtor played in in Louisville with thin wiffle bats & I honed the skillz with them. That group fell apart & I joined Boulder group in 2003. They played with mallets? WTF? I've been chasing Doug & co ever since.

This relatively new ride in Castle Rock area will have a few Colorado cycling Celebrities riding in it like Dale Stetina, Bob Shaver, Ron Kiefel, Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter. Recently Susie Wargin of 9News interviewed Bob Shaver on Ritter's recovery (he is a huge fan of this ride) and talked about the ride

9News Video

9News Story

We ran the story on ACA Mega Racers but what about the average racer? The results below show the number of races completed, followed by the number of ACA ACA licensed racers. For example: 315 racers completed one race.

• 1 race: 315
• 2-5 races: 728
• 6-10 races: 624
• 11-20 races: 555
• 21-30 races: 198
• 31-40 races: 58
• 41- or more races: 21

To us, this information is very interesting. In 2009 there were approximately 3000 ACA licensed racers. With some simple calculations, the data shows that approximately 10% of licensed racers do only 1 race and about 50% do less than 10 races.

So, what were the most popular races that these single racers completed? The top five races that were completed by a 1 time finisher are listed below. (example: 19, 1 time finishers completed Mt Evans Hill Climb etc)

1. 19 Bob Cook Memorial - Mt Evans HC - Colorado Hill Climb Championships
2. 19 Frostbite Time Trial
   

Here at 303Cycling we wanted to find out what kind of racers really love to race based on how often they race.  With no preconceived ideas about what we would find, the numbers were pretty eye opening.  While the average number of races for an active ACA member might be lower than you’d expect, there are some young guns out there that really love it and double up almost every weekend. Hopefully this translates to fast masters in the years to come. 

We decided to come up with an award for both men and women racers with the most finishes in 2009. Here are the podiums and the number of races completed:

Racers with the most number of races in 2009

MENS

1. Gage Hecht - 66 races
2. Dean Haas - 55 races
3. Drew Christopher - 51 races

WOMENS

1. Laurel Rathbun - 44 races
2. Darcy Tiglas - 43 races
3. Jessica Way - 43 races