Nick, Blake and Justin from the Basic Crew took a day to film and edit a new video featuring a SECRET hill in the Oakland/San Leandro area. The results were as expected: Another sick video! After driving up Skyline Blvd and following Redwood Road east of the bay, they came across an unsuspecting bomber. Just remember this if you want to find the hill. Go past Pinehearst Road, then ask yourself… Want to camp? CHECK! Want to shoot guns? CHECK! Don’t hit your wheels by going up the wrong side of the entrance gate or you’ll pop your car tires. Once you see the BUTTER pavement, your there! After taking a few bombs, talking to some chill park rangers and narrowly dodging local authorities, The Basic Crew decided they needed a little extra something for the vid. So, while heading back to the East Bay they made a stop at Sheppard Canyon! This intense hill was the early foundation for Basic Crew’s crazy speed habit. It’s a buttery hill, 30 - 40 MPH, (45 if your a Basic Crew member ) with a nice uphill run out. So now we leave you all with this final reminder. Get out and skate. Be safe. Have fun. Respect your park rangers, and bounce before the Po Po comes. Enjoy the video everyone!
The Oakland Hills and East Bay has hosted some of the greatest and most progressive skateboarding known. The Oakland Hills were synonamous with pool skating through out the nineties and has some of the most off the hook street spots today… But well before epic times past (((check my bro Ben Galland’s film Skating Through the Ashes to learn more))) and present (((check Jim Lalonde’s Focus Group))) the likes of Cliff Coleman, Jim Kluggish, and Norm (the mad bombing roller skater) forged a totally new style of skateboarding and introduced a small subset of the skateboarding world to controlled hill bombing. Cliff Coleman and his namesake slide ((the coleman slide) were the roots for the early Powell slider videos shot in the hills and now that longboarding is representing upwards of 10% of the skateboarding world, it is not out of line to pay homage to Cliff and crew as ahead of their time and wickedly influential.
In 2001 I met JM Duran and Patrick Rizzo and hooked them up with their first speed boards. They were new to hill skating but under the direct tutelage of Cliff, Jim, and Norm, these bros quickly excelled and were ripping on a new level. Shortly there after, Noah Sakamoto joined the party and it was on - the rebirth of a downhill style that defines anything above sea level in the East Bay. (((of course there are tons of good bros that I am not mentioning here but you all know who you are and the fun is still continuing)))
Now, I am stoked to introduce the next generation adding to the fun in the Oaktown hills and newest members of the Comet team:
THE BASIC CREW
Blake Smith
Nick Lee
Justin Bryant
I have been hearing great things from the afforemented legends and good friends about the BASIC bros and saw them in the hills when they were just cruising OLD Tunnel Road for the first time. I was stoked to see the new blood then and especially now to see how the BASIC crew is running it…
I have huge respect for the style and energy that Justin, Blake, and Nick are bringing to skateboarding right now. They truly know how to keep it real and have a lot of fun.
Expect to see a lot from this posse in the future. Over the summer we are collaborating on a video together that will feature the most contemporary hill bombing and street skating going on right now.
AND check back weekly for updates from the BASIC crew. Their posts will chronicle what is good in the life these 3 rippers!
Last Wednesday e2e Materials and Comet Skateboards were invited to meet with Senator Clinton to describe what we do and help her understand the opportunities in central ny for green job creation… Hillary is back full on at her post as a NY state senator and its good to have a person with her knowledge and will working for the people. She is supporting businesses like Comet to achieve our goals in ushering in the next paradigm of design and manufacture. The U.S. is at a true turning point. We can either try to apply old methods to a vastly new world or we can move forward with excitement - like trying a new trick or bombing a hill at 50 mph for the first time. It takes real courage, work, focus, dedication, and an open mind but the pay off is enlightenment and stoke. Pura Vida!
Because the 70s saw it coming….We are seeing no stop in the 80s revival. Dayglo Wayfarers and all…
Well I aint gonna try and analyze it or nothing my friends. Just check this and know your roots. DeVo. History repeats itself and the stone age did not end because we ran out of stones.
It was nice cool breezy 98 degrees in NYC last weekend for the 10th annual Central Park Skateboard Race. There were 124 people on skateboards weaving in and out of pedestrians, dogs, horses, rollers, bikers, and buggies. Big thanks to Ian and the Earthwing crew for putting this race on. The sliding events were rad too.
We checked in with Bill McKibben after his great talk at the BALLE conference in Boston this past weekend. We’ll be partnering with him to bring you a 350 skateboard. A percentage will go toward the 350.org efforts. More on that soon! For now, feast your eyes on this great video…
