Tommy,
These 26mm RIDE tires often come back in stock here, I think they just went out of stock yesterday:
http://www.rcmart.com/ride-26mm-radi...6-p-35324.html
I'm pretty sure that Mark just started testing them a couple weeks ago locally and he's been equally as happy as I have been with the 24mm RIDE tires I've been testing.
I don't think the rules these USGT guys keep changing really matter to us locally. At the end of the day it's up to Chris and Tim to make the final call for our local club rules.