Oh, I don’t think mountain biking is expensive at all…
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That’s BUDGET flying!
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Compared to my instructors Pitts, sure 
I liked Levy a lot, UFOs and Sasquatch stories included. He’s the reason I ride a Down Country bike and not a Light Trail bike or Super XC bike, or whatever less-fun name they would’ve called my 120/120 Scalpel 
He also mentioned in this last episode that he didn’t actually come up with the name “Down Country”; I forget who he said it was cos I listened to the episode when it came out, but he did start using it far and wide, and the term owes its popularity to him. And this is another clear example of Stigler’s Law of Eponymy 
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The guy who runs BCBR coined the term, from memory?
He stopped playing a big role at PB right when all that stuff went down with Cycling Tips. I 100% think Outside played a role in him leaving.
It’s likely that even if it wasn’t directly Outside’s fault it could be indirectly.
I’ve worked at places where the management I reported to changed even though my daily work mostly did not. In one case it had a very large impact on my job satisfaction. It wasn’t even that management was bad, they just were so uninvolved and unavailable that there was no team anymore.
Something like that can take away enough positives that you acutely feel the negatives. Plus time and life changes really do make some things no longer a good fit. Just because someone is good at something doesn’t mean they enjoy doing it forever. Look at Jordan retiring (and coming back) twice before he really was done.
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Even though in the podcast he said it wasn’t Outside?
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You mean on the podcast that is funded, created, and produced by Outside and its employees (who are likely scared for their own jobs)?
Probably more a calculated decision. What does he have to gain by publicly airing out some dirty laundry and burning that bridge?
Like it or not, 99% of people don’t switch careers when they are so good at what they do.
#1 cause of job burnout is a diminishing of your prospects and ability to see a path to your career goals, whatever they might be.
Maybe it was unintentional and he was on on a fast track to his dream job and that went away with the acquisition, but something changed.
I don’t ever want to be an Outside defender or apologist. I don’t like what what they have done to some of the media outlets I like(d). But Mike Levy said on the podcast that it wasn’t Outside’s influence. And this was after he left Outside. And after following him and reading his stuff for years, I don’t see him as the type to blow smoke. So I am going to take his word for it sitting on this side of the microphone and not make up my own narrative.
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Same here. And being a relative latecomer to PB I hadn’t realised just how long he’d been doing it!
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I’m good at what I do, but there is no future to it. At some point you have to decide if doing the same meaningless task is going to be fulfilling enough to continue doing for 40+ years.
Being good at talking about bicycles might not be fulfilling for 40+ years of his life.
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Stupid question, but what dream job? My impression was that his job was his dream job for a long while, and sometimes there is no next step on the career path.
I think it is fair to want to change after being in the churn for so long. It is telling that he hasn’t resurfaced at the Escape Collective.
You should’ve included my whole post, it’s explained directly above. 
Not sure why that’s relevant? Escape went from 0 to 20+ employees overnight, and have publicly said they don’t have enough subscriptions to make payroll for the next 12 months, I’m not sure they’re in the position to add employees.
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I read it, but I didn’t think it was relevant: my impression is that he wants a change of scenery, so I don’t think pissing off people in the cycling-related publishing industry was ever a consideration. In the podcast he seemed a bit burnt out and bored from the churn. For someone who hates flying and prefers to be on his own at times, launches and conventions must take a lot out of him. Of course, I don’t know him personally nor am I plugged into the drama (if there is any).
Plus, if that was his concern, if I were him, i wouldn’t have done any podcast and just shut up.
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I’ll miss him for the simple fact that I felt the XC side of things still got some needed attentions….now it’s all high pivot and high travel.
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