Editor's note: When the opportunity arose to host a copy of this tremendous video I asked Bob Chapin to give me his thoughts on the origins of the video and a bit about the process involved in making it. He came through with the following:

I shot and edited the traveling rings video in the summer of 2005 over a period of several months using Adobe Premiere and a regular hi-8 camera. I knew I wanted to shoot a music video, so my first consideration was finding a catchy contemporary song that was recognizable and fit the theme. I considered dozens of songs before choosing "Alive" by POD. The message was clear enough and it reflected what most of us feel when we're at Muscle Beach, "Every day is a new day...I'm thankful for every breath I take...I feel so alive...I think I can fly." It was perfect.

I was planning to shoot the video in a single weekend, but the biggest difficulty was getting everyone in one place at the same time. I didn't want to leave anyone out, which meant there were about 40-50 regulars to shoot, and I didn't want to miss out on any of the cool tricks that we were developing at the time. It took about two months to shoot all the footage and I ended up with about 5 hours of video which I had to trim down to just over 5 minutes. Thankfully, I've had some training as an action director which helped a lot in the shooting and editing, which took another 4-5 weeks.

So why the traveling rings? I've been coming down to Santa Monica Muscle Beach and the traveling rings since 1987 and I've seen the community grow over the years - thanks in part to the internet and folks like Dorlene Kaplan -

swingaring.com and Chris Filkins - ringflyers.com who donated their time and energy to create a web presence for the traveling rings and community forums where friends could connect. And there are so many others who give of their time and energy at the beach to raise money for causes, or just teach someone a new trick.

I wanted to give something back to this wonderful community and put this new extreme sport on the map like "Dogtown and Z-Boys". I realized if it weren't for photographers like Craig Stecyk, the world of Stacy Peralta and skateboarding may never have been discovered. I also wanted to pay respect to the legacy that is Muscle beach and all the amazing athletes that have come before us. We should be humbled by its past and honored to be a small part of its history.