Milestones
Reaching a milestone, no matter what it is, is something to be proud of. What milestones have you reached lately?
The dictionary defines the word milestone as; a significant event or stage in the life, progress, development, or the like of a person, nation, company etc… Well if five years of Dirt Rider Downunder magazine isn’t a milestone in the New Zealand motorcycling world, I don’t know what is!
From the get-go, and even before my time, DRD magazine burst onto the scene in more ways than one. It became the sole ‘dirt-bike only’ NZ made magazine, and still is today, while also coming in a handy pocket filling A5 size that was easy to stow away, while also being easy to misplace! Sure, I guess five years doesn’t sound like much, but when you think about it, it’s a pretty good effort.
We were new, bold, and no one was really sure if we were going to make the distance or be a fly-by-night publication. Well, we sure proved those guys wrong and with 60 issues under our belt, you better believe we have well over 60 more to come.
Another reason I say this is a milestone is because of the interweb. It’s only really grandparents that wouldn’t be internet friendly, and for all you readers under 30, chances are your parents are running a Facebook page so watch out! The interweb is great for getting to-the-minute information out to the world in the blink of an eye. Great for the world, but hard on magazines with a monthly deadline. Often we are well behind the eight ball when it comes to current events in the motorcycling world, but that’s the situation we have to deal with in print media. We do our best via our website but it’s still hard to compete with web based only motorcycling sites. But we have and we do and thanks to our readers who still enjoy a good read when out and about, instead of attempting to go cross-eyed.
There are some things that you can beat the web on – like when we interview some of the best riders from around the world, including Coppins, Everts, DK etc. As each interviewer approaches it differently, it comes out in the story, and it’s something no amount of inter-webbing can replicate.
A highlight for me over the past three years I’ve been at DRD has only just happened recently. I flew to Sydney to test the new KTM 350 SX-F (you’ll find the full report in this issue) and got to hang out with Stefan Everts for three days. We stayed at the same hotel, went out to dinner together, rode together, and even had our own special time away from everyone else (stalker anyone!). I’ll definitely remember that for a long time and it will be hard to beat – but I’m ready for someone to throw that challenge my way. An interview with James Stewart or Kevin Windham might give it a run?
On top of the KTM350 launch in this issue, we also have a lot of other cool stuff too! We took the 2010 Husqvarna TC250 for a quick spin, talked to Greg Pratt from AMPS about his Finke Desert racing trip, and got the low down on adventure riding from John Nick and Haylee Ward. Not to mention all the goss from the two Kiwi lads kicking butt over in Europe – Levi and Birch – go you good things!
As you can see, we’ve perfect bound this anniversary issue and fired in a massive free A2 poster. Let us know if you like the change – maybe we’ll keep it?
So until next time, which is only a month away, enjoy our 60th issue of DRD. Also if you happen to have all 60 issues on hand somewhere, send us in a photo and you will be rewarded quite nicely.
Keep on keeping on the track.
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