I may be late to my own party, but its better to be slightly late and with a decent gift than on time with shit. So, with the Japanese Alps updates taking precedence, it took me a little while to reflect on what turning one meant.

Obviously to start with, it has meant the completion of a year unplugged from the Corporate matrix… Yes, I have plugged back in a little, but I haven’t fully returned to the tank at this stage. I always said it was a ‘year out‘, so really this milestone brings about a bit of a cross roads in reality. Lets just call that a work in progress shall we!

I also had to think of a theme… Or what information to reflect on. I could go with KM’s travelled, or time and distance on the bike… Or the cost of it all (probably wouldn’t get DN CFO approval for disclosure). But, they’re all quite boring stat that don’t really paint the picture.

The first post was 1 July 2013, freaky action, looking back on it now it was tentative and nervous to be honest, “what the FUCK was I doing this for?” I think being the thought process… Since then its been 8 different countries (some multiple times) so far, with a few more awesome adventures to come. Whilst I wouldn’t claim to be a whole lot wiser in that time, I did think about a few one liners that I think are worth passing on from a year of living Dirty:

  • Always have an eye mask with you
  • Always pack a Torque wrench
  • Taking pedals off is always cunty
  • Never buy things before you actually have the money
  • Only use or take what you REALLY need
  • You can get by on a lot less than what you think you need
  • It always feels harder traveling West to East for Jetlag
  • Always run a bigger front tire
  • Always make sure your transfers are nailed on any trip
  • Reliability is better than fanciness – In bikes and Humans
  • There is no logic with check-in desk staff and weight going onto the plane
  • Never travel without music
  • There is no limit to places you can go and ride your bike in
  • Savour these trips and the people you do them with – It may not always be smooth, but that’s part of it and one day you’ll look back on it as an awesome memory and time.

In the end, reflecting on turning one, I decided to fall back on a few sets of Mosaics to tell the story for me from start to present day in the first year of rolling Dirty…

There has been a lot of riding – 14,271km’s to be exact:

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Whistler… to the Desert…

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A doomed break away to the top of Coronet Peak…

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Shredding qTown to the Japanese alps…

There has also been a lot of crazy scenery, particularly mountains:

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Good time to play name that summit…

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Its fair to say I’m more of a mountains person…

Yes… that’s all well and good… But ultimately what has made this first year of the Dirty Nomad what is was is (predictably you may think), well, YOU.

Yes – Above all, there has been some awesome people to roll with:

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From a lonely start with bears to spending some time with the Teacher staring at the Iranian coast line…

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From the Rivet boys to some boys who put me on the Rivet…

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A shit load of time with this lot…

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To all the other characters in between… Ok, Scar Jo a slight push, but fuck, we all know that if she had been in town she would have so come out for a Dirty spin

Yes, a massive Dirty thank you to everyone who has supported, starred in, read, designed, organised funding for or encouraged the Dirty Nomad action. There are too many people to name to flesh that out, but I know you know who you are assuming you have read down this far! This would include all the 19,838 visitors we’ve had from 108 countries… And yes, some of those are a little out there, some of our more obscure fans:

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Good to know we have the Tax havens covered off

Our most popular post of all time? Well, that would be the Cannondale Evo review, which appears to have been actually useful for people, even if it was dangerously biased (recently updated to include long term loathing of PF30 BB’s).

And finally, a plug for WordPress, for not only sending us a Birthday card, but also providing an A Grade platform and vehicle for getting the Dirty ravings out there to the world… And for never shutting us down for saying cunt a lot, chur WP:

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Good? Think you mean RAD cunts

So, with the 1st birthday down, its time to become a toddler if I am not mistaken, so stay tuned for upcoming missions & adventures!

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5 Responses

  1. Diana

    Happy birthday DN and you too JP! You’ve always been one for a double identity….Sid!

    Reply
  2. Matt

    Happy birthday DN, looking forward to playing in the dirt together soon.

    Reply

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