Bombing Hills.

Often when people think of longboarding, they think of some guy they might’ve seen on a college campus, cruising through the ‘quad’ on the way to class.  Flat land travel, although relaxing and entertaining to do in groups, was the least of my interests.

That was up until last summer, when I had unfortunate circumstances that left me without a car for slightly over two months.  In the city this wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but in the suburbs — where things are further apart — I travelled longer distances than I had ever considered doing before.  While I was sweating my ass off during a traditionally humid mid-August in Chicagoland, I started to grow attached to my board.  While I was travelling lengthy distances during the day, hunting for hills ever larger and faster became an every-other-nightly endeavor amongst friends.  It got to the point where the speed going downhill was often so great that the wind would cause tears to streak horizontally from the corners of my eyes, and back into my hair.  Having the concious thought that, “I couldn’t possibly run this fast if I needed to jump off/bail right now,” was fairly common and the possibility for disaster was high.  That being said, safety gear and some slide gloves are definitely in order for next season.

Regardless, here are a couple videos of inspiration and to help me get through the winter.  They’re both shot very well and feature a different take on the downhill/hill bombing aspect of the sport.  Not to mention that they are probably my two favorite videos I’ve come across on longboarding, perhaps you too will enjoy them.

These first two guys are potentially insane; the first time I saw this video my verbal reaction was, literally, “And I thought I was a bad ass.”  The speed at which they are traveling at is truly astonishing, let alone the way they film the excursion:

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

The following is a group of sponsored longboarders doing a few canyon runs together; lots of style in the way these guys move that make them stand out from the rest:

I almost feel like I should include a “don’t try this at home” type message.  So just don’t, or feel free, but be sure to take the time to practice first,

-Nick