Australian celebrity athlete Damien Rider seeks to skateboard the 2,300 miles of Route 66 to raise money for his Rider Foundation that combats child abuse and post-traumatic stress syndrome.
He began his journey with a skateboarding partner June 27 in Chicago and likely will be in Oklahoma soon.
A survivor of child abuse and PTSD himself, Rider set up a GoFundMe page that seeks to raise $2 million by the end of his trip.
Damien’s goal is reaching a global audience for The Rider Foundation in order to raise awareness against child abuse. He wants to give a voice to other victims and let them know that there are people out there to help them.
To facilitate this Damien is going to open Rider Foundation training facilities and houses globally to give kids the best opportunity of a full life surrounded by great role models.
This years challenge to Skateboard the entire length of Route 66 will work as a major stepping stone in that direction. The Rider Foundation hopes to raise funds during this event that will go towards the first major facility in the USA.
Another physical (and mental) challenge undertaken by Rider became the subject of a documentary film last year.
Rider brought along a television crew during his Route 66 trek for a National Geographic special that will air worldwide.
In an email Thursday night, Rider said he was determined to skateboard Route 66’s length, and he has help to do so.
We have an RV support and camera crew that drives ahead to the end of our next leg and we skateboard all day or as long as it takes to get to them.
We are planning to do it in 66 days total being 60km a day average. We are pretty much on track being day 11 and we at Rolla.
We carry our daily supplies and are self sufficient through out the day to get the miles done. We skate through rain, hale or shine.
The Rider Foundation posted this video from he and his buddy’s first week of the Route 66 trip, from Chicago to Litchfield, Illinois:
You also can see photos from the pair’s journey on Route 66 via the foundation’s Facebook page.
The big challenges will come when Rider gets to higher elevations, unavoidable interstate, and more-deteriorated sections of Route 66.
(Image of Damien Rider cruising on a skateboard along Route 66 in central Illinois, via Facebook)
Very well-produced video. What a trip they’re having!
It is interesting reading about the current skateboard on 66. Here is an article from 2010 in Seligman, Arizona with a little different twist.
Skating Along 66 (2010)
Shane Reilly skateboarded by our store the other day. That is right… he “skated” by on a skateboard while pulling a miniature teardrop trailer behind him. Traversing Route 66, Shane is promoting his SK8-66 project. Ten interactive sculptures of teardrop trailers have been placed on Route 66. One of the ten has been placed at the Historic Seligman Sundries. Each one of these sculptures is bar coded. From your IPhone or Droid, using a free Sticky Bits application, you can scan the bar code and then post your own Route 66 experience to that sculpture. Follow Shane on https://sk8-66.blogspot.com/
My wife and I are also travelling the route 66 and are at tulsa tonight we are from qld and travelling in a 1969 mustang propably see you somewhere along the journey but bhopefully the maroons win again origin 111 safe travelling Bill and Julie
Nice video ! What a trip by him, he skateboard the 2,300 miles of Route 66 to raise money for his Rider Foundation for help the poor child, appreciate you man. https://www.frontsider.com/skateboard/