It was great to see all of the girls again, most of whom I haven’t seen since last season. Everyone had huge grins and were sincerely happy to see one another, which is uncommon amongst females. It was great to see the Shred Betties girls, and we were happily greeted by our amazing team manager Diana, and the newest member of the gang, her baby boy Tosh. Thanks for making it out you guys!

Most of the competitors had been up at Mt. Hood for the summer, and their riding definitely displayed that. Unfortunately I was not able to make it up there this year, so I was a little behind on my skills on the rails, and these girls came ready to throw down.

The first heat consisted of a lot of good riders, the girls really stepped it up from last year in their twenty minute heat. After some redesigning of the course, it seemed to me that everyone was a lot more comfortable trying stuff since there were no stairs underneath the rails. With the anticipation building I was ready for our heat to start.

The second heat seemed like it was more “stacked” to me. Wishing I had some more practice under my belt, I dropped in and tried to get motivated by watching girls like Laurie, Gabby, Megan, Desiree, and Colleen just destroy this setup. Twenty minutes flew by, and I wasn’t feeling very confident about my performance. Mostly due to the fact I haven’t snowboarded in 3-4 months, and I have never ridden my current board on rails.

After the finalists were announced, myself not included, I hung around to watch the rest of the event. Finals were crazy! I was ecstatic to see how much every single girl was pushing themselves and truly trying new things. In the end I saw lots of stylish frontboards, some great 180’s on and off the rail, and some other amazing tricks. In the end it was Danyalle Patterson who took first, Desiree Melancon in second, and Laurie Currier in third.

I can definitely say that every single girl had a great time, and was truly inspired by girl power. We are all supergirls at this competition and the good vibes were high. Can’t wait to throw down next year at the S3 Supergirl Jam. Special thanks to Courtney Dornstein for putting this all together and keeping all of the competitors informed, as well as ASA entertainment, Fuel Tv, and Fox news, without you guys this competition would not get the coverage that it deserves!

My Trip out to L. A. for the Super Girl Jam 2010 began as I left South Lake Tahoe at 6:30 A.M on Friday the 20th and began my adventure to HWY 395. I love my GPS; it took me the most scenic route possible. It took me 9 hours to make it to Laguna Beach where I met up with fellow Shred Betties and Akinz team rider, Erika Vikander. She was very hospitable for the 4 nights I stayed with her! While i was there we did a photo shoot with her mother on the beach during the sunset. The photo shoot was a lot of fun and the sunset was unforgettable.

Sunday the 22nd Erika and I left Laguna Beach early in the morning to drive out to LA for the Super Girl Jam. The competition was held at Venice Beach on the boardwalk. Venice beach has a lot of creative people. I have never been so dumbfounded and amused in one place all at the same time! The competition brought together some of the top female riders in the industry. It was 80 degrees out, but the girls and I still threw the snow pants and sweaters on to protect from snow rash. Most of the girls had spent time at Mt. Hood for the summer, and although i have gone a few times this summer, I felt a could have used a little more practice before the competition.

I ended up not placing in the event, however I had a great time and I got a few really good interviews! As a result of the competition I was able to see some of the Shred Betties riders that I have not seen in a while. I was also able to meet some other great riders such as Gabrielle Maiden and Tammie Varner. All the girls that came to the Super Girl Jam were very nice and they all brought good vibes to the event which made the competition fun and enjoyable.

When I left Laguna Beach on Tuesday the 24th I realized even though I did not leave with a 1st place I left with great memories, new friends and the experience to travel Laguna Beach and LA. I hope to have a successful next year at the Super Girl Jam 2011!

If you’re in the Cali area, head out to the Supergirl Rail Jam on August 22nd at Venice Beach. Akinz team riders Erika Vikander and Claire Hewitt-Demeyer will be competing and if you’re lucky enough to be a contestant, expect a little extra something in your swag bag from Akinz!

Snowboarding in the middle of the summer, is there anything better? Boreal brought a smile to every local rider in California this weekend! They opened one lift, with a run including two jumps and eight jib features. Boreal was charging only $20 to shred from ten till two! every rider/skier came to the resort with great vibes, it was another amazing day in Cali! I to want give a big thanks out to Nathan Vetter for posting up and taking some great shots! Boreal will be opening in October for some early pre season riding. Hope everyone out there is going for a never summer like myself!

Then we were off to make our bike deliveries, as promised. Started the day super-focused and fast and then around the time we realized we only had 2 bike deliveries left to make, we got a little sad that it was coming to a close. We were having so much fun seeing sides of Fort Collins that we normally wouldn’t and enjoying the sunshine. That’s why we decided to KEEP BIKE DELIVERY! Woohoo! Yep, that’s right… we are going to continue offering bike delivery to the Fort Collins area as long as weather allows. Who knows, I may even get brave and deliver by bike in the wintry months. But, for now, it will be available until further notice and can be expected to be delivered one day a week, the day depending on the weather conditions.

But, the best part about the bike deliveries is this: Instead of continuing to offer free bike shipping, we will be charging standard shipping costs for bike delivery and donating the shipping money spent to a charity that you choose. Each month I will be asking you to submit your favorite local Fort Collins charity and let the local public vote on which one we donate the money to for a month.

So, of course, you have from now until the end of June to buy a commuter t-shirt for the $2 to go to the Fort Collins Bike Co-op and then we’ll start on the next charity on the 1st! Please submit your favorite local Fort Collins charity by commenting it on this blog post.

So, what would be fun to do on Bike to Work Day? Bike, of course! Starting now up until June 22nd at 9:00pm, if you order online and live in the Fort Collins area (which we’re defining as between Vine and Harmony and Taft Hill and Timberline) you can choose “By Bike” as your FREE BIKE SHIPPING method and an Akinz representative will deliver your purchase by bike on Bike to Work day. Check out the Bike Delivery Zone map to the right for visual clarification.

Then we got excited about the event and since we make t-shirts, we started wondering about a bike t-shirt for the day… so we’re making a special “Commuter Tee” for a Bike Month promotion. Now when you order $50 or more online during June, we’re throwing in one of these sweet t-shirts for free. Also, $2 of each Commuter Tee purchase is being donated to the Fort Collins Bike Co-op. We’ll even donate the $2 when you earn a free t-shirt by buying $50 or more of gear. The t-shirts are available in 2 colorways in both womens and mens fit and are for sale now online.




Stay tuned for more details as we will be setting up a breakfast station on Bike to Work Day as well. You will also be able to pick up the t-shirts at The Wright Life starting June 15th.

Akinz was invited to come out and sell our Akinz Shenanakinz sunglasses in the crowd, so we dressed up like cigarette girls with an 80′s dress code.

preparation for the mayhem

The party started at 9 and the early party-goers started up the dance floor by 9:30 and it didn’t stop bumping until the party ended at 2:00am. Team skiiers Josh Satterfield and Brandon Krentz, being the youngun’s they are, avoided the mayhem that was the bar and dance floor area and started up their own hacky sack game by the entrance… enticing others tipsy and sober alike to join in.

I don’t think Amante knew what was coming their way, considering they had to make 2 separate beer runs to the local liquor store and still ran out of beer before midnight. Of course, after the beer was gone, the liquor was soon to follow. By the time we decided to stop taking cover at the door around 11:45 , they had already run out of vodka, and were on to rum and whiskey. At the end of the night, they only had 2 bottles of white wine left.

Overall, there were plenty of shenanigans for stories the next day and everybody was of course wearing the new Akinz Shenanakinz sunglasses which was a lovely sight to behold. I’ve heard reports of them being spotted all over Steamboat for the past couple weeks and there were quite a few Akinz sunglasses spottings at the Copper closing weekend.

Shannon Johnson of Shayboarder.com

Josh Satterfield

Akinz owner Suzanne with team skiers Brandon Krentz and Josh Satterfield

Check out all the photos from the party in our Facebook album.

The setup was killer, with the first rail leading into a quarter pipe, which you had to come out of onto a box or rail on either side of the initial rail… made for some action for people watching from both sides of the event. The quarter pipe made for some excitement for the crowd and some great shots.

Final results from the Rail Rodeo:
Snowboard:
1st – Erik Van Assche
2nd – Pat Rafferty
3rd – Richie Eaton

Ski:
1st – Chappy Geer
2nd – Adrian Pougiales
3rd – Kevin Todd

Akinz team rider, Brandon Krentz was in a solid third place before finals, but just missed the podium after Round 2, taking home 5th.

The crowd was a lot of fun and there were lots of people running around in Akinz gear since we were one of the featured sponsors. Even though it was supposed to be part of the “Springalicious” event at Steamboat, the snow was dumping for most of the day, but it cleared up just in time for the rail rodeo to begin. Thanks Mother Nature.

The akinz booth in the base area

Brandon Krentz on the rail

To see more photos from the event, check out the article at Shayboarder