When brands have heritage, it’s often due to the passion and dedication of the staff members that have had to build the respected reputations of those brands. Dirt is one brand that has a lot of heritage, and as a result, it has respect from the industry, audience and colleagues alike.

All photos: Mike Rose

Mike Rose has helped build Dirt over his 16 years as Editor, cementing it as one of the most prominent and well-respected voices of the mountain bike world. After years of hard work, following the world’s best riders tear down random picturesque mountainsides, to racking up the miles in the Dirt van documenting the evolution of the sport and chasing the likes of Steve Peat and Rob Warner round the pits for insightful quotes (or verbal nonsense), Mike Rose will be stepping down as Editor-in-Chief of Dirt Magazine and passing the reins, and troubles, over to Steve Jones.

In Mike’s own words:
“It has been an amazing journey and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the photographers, writers, designers, videographers, riders, companies, and colleagues (at both Factory Media and 4130 Publishing) that I have worked with whilst being Editor – Dirt would have been nothing without all of them. The last 16 years of working with such varied and talented individuals has been an incredible experience, and I’d like to think that together we have helped shape and influence mountain biking in some small way.

“A lot has changed in the media landscape since I became editor in 2001. It was all about print magazines back then, a time when websites and social media were almost the stuff of science fiction! The pace of change over the last decade has been rapid. It may be a bit of a cliché, but personally for me it was time for something new, time to move on, time for a different challenge. It’s not the end, just a new chapter.

If you need to contact me I’m on [email protected]”

Here is just a tiny selection of the legendary images Mike has contributed to the magazine in the past 16 years: