Colorado’s Maxx Chance may have been the first to hop the Belgian stairs at the Valmont park in Boulder, Colorado, but when Cyclocross Magazine’s video camera caught Cody Kaiser hopping the Valmont stairs at the 2014 Cyclocross National Championships, the Internet briefly caught on fire, with our Facebook video reaching 1.1 million people, the Youtube version watched over 400,000 times, and the Instagram version still remaining our most-commented ‘gram. Even Belgian cyclocross pros were impressed. Have a watch again:
With so many people watching “The Kid” Kaiser hop the stairs, it should be no surprise that he inspired a few racers to learn the skill and later attempt similar feats.
Colorado Junior cyclocross racer Will Doherty was one such inspired racer. The young junior watched Kaiser hop the 12 Belgian stairs at Valmont, and has been working on the skill himself in hopes of one day using it in a race (and perhaps becoming Internet famous like Kaiser).
At Colorado’s Primalpalooza cyclocross race, a set of 20 stairs awaited him in the Junior 15-16 race. Take a look at Doherty’s attempt at the 20 stairs below:
[Update: Original post video and subsequent embedded Youtube video removed, to appease Youtube account owner’s complaint that embedding was done without her permission. Video replaced with Doherty hopping the stairs of Valmont:]
Cody Kaiser should be flattered he’s inspired a new generation of hoppers. He also might want to watch his back next time he’s hopping up a flight of stairs in a race. Doherty hopes to one day surpass Kaiser as the cyclocross’ most famous stair hopper. He looks like he’s already well on his way.
