Hundreds-of-Thousands-of Skateboarders Expected to Participate on June 21, 2008

With less than 5 days to go, skateboarders from around the world are getting ready to take it to the streets for the 5th Annual International Go Skateboarding Day (GSD). Events are popping up all around the United States, from free griptape giveaways to contests and demos at some of the biggest skate parks in America featuring appearances by some of the most well known names in skateboarding.

Where are the pros?

Rob Dyrdek will be appearing at his DC/Alien Workshop Skate Plaza at Indian Riffle Park in Kettering, OH along with Steve Berra, Josh Kalis, Arto Saari and others (http://www.ci.kettering.oh.us). Willy Santos will be hosting Willy’s Workshop at the Mira Mesa Epicenter in San Diego, Calif. (www.willysantos.com) Rodney Mullen, Mark Appleyard, Chris Haslam, Chet Thomas and others will be in attendance at the Dwindle/Transworld event in Venice, Calif. (www.almostawebsite.com)

What to do:

Here are some events across the U.S. that you can attend to support GSD:

• Fairfax Surf Shop and the City of Fairfax are hosting “SkateFest Fairfax” on June 20-21 at the Van Dyck Skatepark in Fairfax, VA. Proceeds will benefit the National Children’s Hospital Foundation. (www.skatefestfairfax.com)

• Vans is hosting “Big Riggin 2008” at Viera Regional Park in Viera, FL. The event will include a $3,500 best trick contest, live music and tons of giveaways. (www.vierarideshop.com)

• Woodland Park will play host to “Cosmic Invasion 2008” in Lexington, KY. Quiksilver team riders Danny Garcia, Alex Olson, Reese Forbes, Tim O’Connor and David Clark will be on hand. (http://www.cosmicrocks.com)

• Over 10,000 people are expected to go “Wild in the Streets” of New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and Las Vegas with the Emerica skateboarding team. (http://emericaskate.com/team/wildinthestreets/)

• There will be a 1.2 mile street skate session from Ramona Middle School to Utility Board Supply in La Verne, Calif. *Utility Board Supply is also offering a limited edition Go Skateboarding Day deck with $7 of each deck sale going to the Go Skateboarding Day Foundation. (www.utilityboardsupply.com)

• Hangout at your local Active Ride Shop and get free Red Bull, prizes from Active and Boosted headphones. Each store is planning something different. (www.activerideshop.com)

For more information on GSD events in your area and to see how you can get involved, visit www.goskateboardingday.org or check with your local skateboard retailer.

We thought it as time to give the Devoted an opportunity to promote themselves and win some FREE stuff at the same time. So we launched a monthly video contest on our Sponsorhouse.com page. Its simple make a video of you riding your bike, skateboard, surfboard, wakeboard or moto and well choose a winner at the end of each month. This month winners will receive our 2 newest tee shirts and be a featured athlete on our web page and Sponsorhouse.com for the entire month following.

So get out and ride and get that film rollin….

A huge congratulations to Division Clothing Pro rider Rich Houseman who rode hard this past weekend at Angel Fire and stood atop the podium when the dust settled. Way to go Rich you deserve it!

Read the full story here at Velo News

A class 5 Bro-Nado rolled through the Santa Barbara Bowl this weekend, and Gnar-Cal was out in force with headliners Pennywise and The Offspring. There was no shortage of Dickies shorts and sleeve tattoos.

I unfortunately (or fortunately) didn’t stay around for the main bands and mayhem. A combination of an 8 pm set time, long Sunday night ride home and a late Saturday night on State St. didn’t bode well for me. Oh, did I mention it was 100 degrees!!!

I was actually more stoked to see the Flobots. The new, break out groove-funk-hip hop-jazz band with the hit “Handlebars.” If you listen to any rock station in the LA area you’ll know who they are. They’re tight rhymed emcees, live drum beats and classically trained violinist and jazz trumpet player make for a unique and original sound, with a progressive message. Check em out.

Team Ripper John Brasko and devout short handlebar enthusiast.

The Flobots

Brer Rabit / Jonny 5 / Andy  Guerrero / Mackenzie Roberts / Kenny O / Joe Ferrone / Jesse Walker

The venue – Santa Barbara Bowl  & The pit before the forearm shivers and head butts started flying

I did get a second hand report from a few brave souls who stayed around…  it went something like this… “Dude, this chick got knocked the FU@K OUT in the pit.” Nuff said.

You couldn’t have scripted a better scenario when two of our top pro riders Aaron Gwin and Rich Houseman met up in the finals this past weekend at the Mountain States Cup dual slalom race in Colorado. It was like the Karate Kid battling his mentor and teacher Mr Miyagi in an epic battle that was decided by a wounded knee and pure determination.

For a full race report from Aarons point of view click here

Division 26 Team rider Kevin Aiello won the Plattekill Jr. Worlds Qualification Race this past weekend that earns him a spot to represent the U.S.A. at the Worlds race later this year. Kevin has been absolutely laying it down this year and his hard work is paying off in spades.

For Photos and a complete race report

So we were fortunate enough to get backstage passes to this years Coachella music & art festival in Indio, CA this past weekend (Thanks Kevan and Goldenvoice). We had an amazing time watching one of the most diverse music lineups you’ll find anywhere. Everyone from Scars on Broadway (ex members of System of a Down), Cold War Kids, Flogging Molly, Death Cab For Cutie, Portishead to Prince of all people.

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE ROCKIN THE MAIN STAGE 

The people watching doesn’t get any better than Coachella as you can tell from this picture I snapped of the tripping clowns to the super butch girl with a fur loin cloth and I almost got trampled by a really drunk and haggered looking David Hassellhof.

Tripping Clowns!!! 

Fur is in and yes this is a girl…..

More pictures of some amazing music from trip hop icons Portishead and Cafe Tacvba.

Some truck art 

We just got back from Sea Otter and had a sandblast! No rain this year but lots of wind and swirling dust. Division 26 had a great presence both on and off the mountain. You could see our clothes everywhere including the new sleeveless basketball Jerseys and many of the beanies, fitted caps and hoodies we had sold out of by the end of the weekend. Bob and D26 also got a little love from none other than Rachel Atherton don’t be jealous boy’s…….

As always Eric carter and Rich Houseman find themselves in the mix, after qualifying EC slipped a pedal and ended up going out in the first round to Steve Peat claiming 25th, but Rich Houseman hung tough and snagged 12th in Pro Dual Slalom. EC redeemed himself in Pro DH with 12th and Rich threw down 13th against some of the world’s fastest racers. New Team Riders Aaron Gwin & Kevin Aiello shined! Aaron took 10th in Men’s Pro DH ahead of EC and Houseman while Kevin Aiello finished the weekend strong taking first place in both JR Expert Dual Slalom and Downhill. Both of these guys are killing it this year and we expect big things in the future. Justin Wyche also pedaled hard and placed 16th in JR Expert DH.

On a truly sad note from Sea Otter; I didn’t know Mark Reynolds founder of Wicked Racin personally who tragically passed away on Saturday while racing DH, I did want to mention our sincere condolences to his family and friends. It of course put a damper on smiles and the day just didn’t feel the same after news of a fellow biker passing while doing what he loved best. It’s a reminder that our sport is not for the faint of heart.

So after a ton of hard work and sleepless nights we let the fury of Division 26 loose on the world with an official press release today. We are working hard, but there is only so much time in the day so keep checking back as we add more products and content. We are currently working on more technical gear and will be adding short sleeve and long sleeve casual riding jerseys to the mix by mid May with riding shorts to follow by Interbike if not sooner. We will also be working hard on making our site content rich with videos and interactive material including art, music and all things 26 inch.

Ride On!

D26

So we hooked up with about 25 riders including Rich Houseman, Chris Van Dine, Yeti Grassroots team, 1 great photographer Maxine Irving and BNC production’s crew to blaze virgin trails in the soon to be VAILocity bike park at Vail Lake resort in Temecula, CA being designed and built by none other than Division 26’s own Eric Carter.

We ripped brand new downhill lines that got better with each and every run, while enjoying the wide-open spaces that is Vail Lake resort. Within time this will be a much-needed So-Cal hot spot for Mountain Biking without barriers.

The horses that would carry us up…

A few of the D26 Devoted.