STI Media Day
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 by Ryan
Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
We skated with Mike Rusczyk and a few locals until the sun went down and then made our way to our accommodations in Newport Beach. This was definitely one of the best places we’ve ever stayed. Instead of a hotel room, we had a modern-ass loft that we shared with others from the skateboarding Industry. The place had a view of the bay, the ocean, was stocked with booze, and the balcony of our room was right on Newport Blvd., which was perfect for heckling.
The evening was a wrap after a fine Italian meal and we awoke to a beautifully sunny day in Newport. Rob took off to post the story from Portland and I hung out with our new Euro friends for a few hours. We met up a bit later and went on a long skate, from Newport Pier all the way to what they call The Wedge. There were no waves to view, but it was still rad. We were out of town and were enjoying the hell out of our Sunday…that doesn’t happen too often.
Back at the lofts the rest of the skateboarding media arrived. There were representatives from all of the big mags, a few mags from Europe, and a few prominent websites. We were a part of a damn fun group of guys that were particularly good at heckling from the balcony. As the sun set we all piled onto Pierre Andre’s boat, but I would say that it was more of a yacht, and went for a ride around the bay.
Pierre is a very interesting man. He’s the owner of all of Sole Tech and is down-to-earth, very friendly, and extremely generous. I got to chat with him for a bit and it was cool that he knew what was up with Skatepark of Tampa and the events that we do. He’s come a long, long way for a guy that came to America and slept in his car. Hats off.
The rowdy bunch exited the boat/yacht after damn near finishing all of the booze on board and headed to dinner, where head marketing dude at Sole Tech, Don Brown, started a food fight and got us kicked out of The Blue Beet. I was particularly enjoying that place because there was a guy playing guitar and we were throwing requests from Dylan to Ozzy to Metallica to Springsteen and he was on point with all of them.
Next stop was jock-fest, so I bailed and headed back to the room in anticipation of checking out the Institute.
They had breakfast waiting for us in the lab. Oh yeah, I mean lab, but the formal name is Sole Technology Institute. This was like a full-on science class from junior high, except this time around I didn’t want to fall asleep. And the blatant fact that everything they do at Sole Tech is skateboarding-related shines through at all times.
The word of the day was “quantify.” And since I didn’t want to be the lone dumbass that didn’t know the meaning, I waited until later to ask someone. Bottom line is that they “quantify” the results of the tests by using the information that they receive to draw conclusions. Here is the definition from dictionary.com:
1. to determine, indicate, or express the quantity of.
Where does this all tie in? Well, there are machines that cut, pull, push, smash, and bend the shoes that you wear. They even have one that simulates the action of a kickflip. These dudes test everything and anything concerning skateboarding shoes, even shoes that they didn’t manufacture. Word on the street is that they took those other brands off the shelves before we arrived.
So this all boils down to keeping the quality up and developing better products to keep you jumping down the 10-flat-11 that much longer. Of all the crazy machines, the cameras and computers that they have hooked to the eight-stair was seriously tech. They had this kid Nick in a spandex outfit with sensors attached to him jumping down and landing on the “force plate” on command. From there they could tell the force that is applied to your feet when you jump down stairs, which can be anywhere from 10 – 17 times your body weight! And that’s why they developed the G2 System insole.
If you’ve read this far you are a complete skate nerd, but I’m right there with you. I stayed in the lab and talked to the assistant manager and ripping skateboarder Scotty Cox and got info that I can’t post on the site.
Next stop was the building across the street, where I had lunch with my DTE LOC boy, Bobby Worrest. Bobby wasn’t the only pro there though, because during the next presentation of new product, it was announced that Mikey Taylor, along with Sean Malto, are etnies’ newest hired assassins. I knew about Malto, but the confirmation of Mikey was sick…I’m a big fan of that dude and he was there in person. Of all the traveling I’ve done, that was only the second time in real life that I’ve seen Mikey Taylor.
Sole Tech was kind enough to give us some gift certificates so we could shop in the Employee Store and line our feet with some proper Sole Tech product. Then we had a helmet-less session in the etnies Skate Park, which apparently is tough to come by. Finally, we were corralled back into the van for yet another meal. How much do we really need to eat? Of course the fine-dining at Javier’s turned into yet another Sole Tech food fight, with a pitcher of margaritas being dumped over Don Brown’s head. Apparently food fights are very commonplace with that crew.
I bailed early of course, but the rest of the derelicts went go-cart racing. The next morning came early, but our fearless host Ashton was up before the sun and ready to take us to the airport. Thanks to Ashton and our friends at Sole Tech for the education and relaxation. Can this be a yearly trip?
Ryan
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
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Day 1 & Day 2 – Serious Chillin’
The flight from Portland to Orange County wasn’t that bad at all, and straight off the plane we were greeted by Ashton. He does Public Relations for etnies under the Sole Technology umbrella. Yep, skateboarding brands have PR guys now. Ashton was kind enough to spend his Saturday afternoon with Rob and I and drove us to Mark Waters’ house, another Sole Tech guy that does their events. Mark lives in suburbia, but instead of a white picket fence, he’s got a cement bowl poured in the backyard.
We skated with Mike Rusczyk and a few locals until the sun went down and then made our way to our accommodations in Newport Beach. This was definitely one of the best places we’ve ever stayed. Instead of a hotel room, we had a modern-ass loft that we shared with others from the skateboarding Industry. The place had a view of the bay, the ocean, was stocked with booze, and the balcony of our room was right on Newport Blvd., which was perfect for heckling.
The evening was a wrap after a fine Italian meal and we awoke to a beautifully sunny day in Newport. Rob took off to post the story from Portland and I hung out with our new Euro friends for a few hours. We met up a bit later and went on a long skate, from Newport Pier all the way to what they call The Wedge. There were no waves to view, but it was still rad. We were out of town and were enjoying the hell out of our Sunday…that doesn’t happen too often.
Back at the lofts the rest of the skateboarding media arrived. There were representatives from all of the big mags, a few mags from Europe, and a few prominent websites. We were a part of a damn fun group of guys that were particularly good at heckling from the balcony. As the sun set we all piled onto Pierre Andre’s boat, but I would say that it was more of a yacht, and went for a ride around the bay.
Pierre is a very interesting man. He’s the owner of all of Sole Tech and is down-to-earth, very friendly, and extremely generous. I got to chat with him for a bit and it was cool that he knew what was up with Skatepark of Tampa and the events that we do. He’s come a long, long way for a guy that came to America and slept in his car. Hats off.
The rowdy bunch exited the boat/yacht after damn near finishing all of the booze on board and headed to dinner, where head marketing dude at Sole Tech, Don Brown, started a food fight and got us kicked out of The Blue Beet. I was particularly enjoying that place because there was a guy playing guitar and we were throwing requests from Dylan to Ozzy to Metallica to Springsteen and he was on point with all of them.
Next stop was jock-fest, so I bailed and headed back to the room in anticipation of checking out the Institute.
Day 2 – STI Media Day
Riding in a 15-passenger van with the editors of the skate mags was pretty entertaining. You want to talk about haters? Some of the commentary was hilarious during the trip from Newport Beach to Lake Forest, the home of Sole Technology.
They had breakfast waiting for us in the lab. Oh yeah, I mean lab, but the formal name is Sole Technology Institute. This was like a full-on science class from junior high, except this time around I didn’t want to fall asleep. And the blatant fact that everything they do at Sole Tech is skateboarding-related shines through at all times.
The word of the day was “quantify.” And since I didn’t want to be the lone dumbass that didn’t know the meaning, I waited until later to ask someone. Bottom line is that they “quantify” the results of the tests by using the information that they receive to draw conclusions. Here is the definition from dictionary.com:
1. to determine, indicate, or express the quantity of.
Where does this all tie in? Well, there are machines that cut, pull, push, smash, and bend the shoes that you wear. They even have one that simulates the action of a kickflip. These dudes test everything and anything concerning skateboarding shoes, even shoes that they didn’t manufacture. Word on the street is that they took those other brands off the shelves before we arrived.
So this all boils down to keeping the quality up and developing better products to keep you jumping down the 10-flat-11 that much longer. Of all the crazy machines, the cameras and computers that they have hooked to the eight-stair was seriously tech. They had this kid Nick in a spandex outfit with sensors attached to him jumping down and landing on the “force plate” on command. From there they could tell the force that is applied to your feet when you jump down stairs, which can be anywhere from 10 – 17 times your body weight! And that’s why they developed the G2 System insole.
If you’ve read this far you are a complete skate nerd, but I’m right there with you. I stayed in the lab and talked to the assistant manager and ripping skateboarder Scotty Cox and got info that I can’t post on the site.
Next stop was the building across the street, where I had lunch with my DTE LOC boy, Bobby Worrest. Bobby wasn’t the only pro there though, because during the next presentation of new product, it was announced that Mikey Taylor, along with Sean Malto, are etnies’ newest hired assassins. I knew about Malto, but the confirmation of Mikey was sick…I’m a big fan of that dude and he was there in person. Of all the traveling I’ve done, that was only the second time in real life that I’ve seen Mikey Taylor.
Sole Tech was kind enough to give us some gift certificates so we could shop in the Employee Store and line our feet with some proper Sole Tech product. Then we had a helmet-less session in the etnies Skate Park, which apparently is tough to come by. Finally, we were corralled back into the van for yet another meal. How much do we really need to eat? Of course the fine-dining at Javier’s turned into yet another Sole Tech food fight, with a pitcher of margaritas being dumped over Don Brown’s head. Apparently food fights are very commonplace with that crew.
I bailed early of course, but the rest of the derelicts went go-cart racing. The next morning came early, but our fearless host Ashton was up before the sun and ready to take us to the airport. Thanks to Ashton and our friends at Sole Tech for the education and relaxation. Can this be a yearly trip?
Ryan
Here's a minute of our weekend: Active Erica tries to kickflip, Ashton shoots champagne corks into traffic, Pierre almost breaks
his foot on the sofa board, and Adam Sullivan 360 flips it.
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