Bomb First

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

I recently stumbled upon this video, on a fixed gear website of all places. It's worth a watch, especially in HD, so I recommend clicking on the link.

When I was a senior in high school, my friends and I took a trip out to the Berkeley Hills to do some group riding. We actually skated that exact Claremont run with Patrick, one of the guys in the video, and other up-and-comers and former pros. At the time, I think Patrick was an 8th grader or something but the kid killed it, as you can probably imagine after watching the vid.

One of the best parts about the ride was getting to skate with really, really good downhillers. It was the first time my friends and I had skated with people that were better than us and it was amazing. Just riding with those guys (on some of the craziest hills we had ever bombed too), took our skills to the next level. I probably improved more that day that in the two or three months leading up to that.

The ride was organized by Cliff Coleman, a downhill legend (and yo-yo champ). I think Cliff was in his 50s back then but he was still going strong. Apparently, he still is too. Here's a video he did with some college students earlier this year.