Threading the needle between traffic and people as well as Alex and I on the stairs, Anthony had very little room for error and he dialed in this steep feeble to snaggle-tooth grind fresh out of the house!

Our flat was up in El Carmel, a neighborhood resting in the hills just above the city center of Barcelona. Which made for great spot discovery and an exhilarating pedal downhill into the city everyday! Given the hills and steep sidewalks we were very fortunate to come across perfect rails like this one. The streets were busy, the sidewalks are full of very unforgiving pedestrians and frankly there is just barley enough room to fit on the stairs with Alex. We squeeze into position and did't wait long for Anthony to pull it right away, no problem!

Here is a little background on El Carmel: The neighborhood of El Carmel lies on the the slopes of one of the hills above Barcelona between Horta and Gracia and is one of the steepest in Barcelona. The name of both the hill and the neighborhood comes from the Santuari del Carmel, which dates from the mid-19th century and the first summer residences were built in the area from 1875 onwards. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first permanent residential neighborhood consisting of single family detached homes, such as Can Bacardí, Can Mans and Salt de les Bruixes, grew up and these houses were mainly occupied by bourgeois families from Gràcia and Horta.

The first wave of immigration from other parts of Spain came in 1929 when mainly Andalusian and Galician workers came to take jobs building the Barcelona Metro in the run up to the 1929 Barcelona Universal Exposition. However, El Carmel remained mainly two story houses until the mass immigration from Southern Spain came under Franco in the 1950s. The housing at this time was initially shacks and shanties built by the new arrivals until the were replaced by large faceless blocks of flats in the 1960s. In the last couple of decades some improvements have been made with the building of the Rambla del Carmel and Carrer Llobregós and the installation of metal escalators that help moving around this incredibly hilly neighborhood.

Alex Kennedy with a drop table into the bank below, this playground was the first fine of the day and we couldn't be more pleased! Originally printed in DIGBMX Magazine issue 99.9!

This photo was originally published and printed in our latest issue DIGBMX Magazine 99.9 as a full page spread. On this day we left the flat at noon with intentions of searching without any reference to locations  or spots. This is quite easy to do in Barcelona with a plethora of spots and warm days, it didn't take us but a few city blocks and one giant hill to find this hidden gem of a playground. We warmed up here with the sun shinning and snacks in hand, the guys all had a go at this spot but this photo of AK in particular is my favorite!

On this specific trip, Alex showed up to the party a bit later than the rest of us... After a longer than expected stay in Tallinn, Estonia after a long week at Simple Session 18, AK ended up coming to the flat for only a short week but his presence brought plenty of laughs, good tea and mischievous outings into the night!   

Alex Kennedy is hands down one of my favorite bike riders and people to spend time with, his approach to life is contagious, to most of us it's inspirational and somewhat of a mystery to the rest... Either way, if you know AK closely or only know from a distance you get a feeling of calmness from him and that feeling translates to his riding. For years Alex has wowed us with his unique and stylish street riding, gifting us with several video parts that are frequently playing in almost any BMX household.