Mike Levy's Last Podcast
The podcast will continue with Henry, Kaz, Sarah, and the rest of the PB editorial crew. Levy will drop in from time to time, but we'll have to finally change the cover art. Art by Taj Mihelich
I was hoping we wouldn't ever have to do this podcast, but as of a few weeks ago, Mike Levy has officially left the Pinkbike team. Kazimer and I sat down with Levy in my cold, cramped garage to reflect on his time at Pinkbike and read a bunch of Levy stories from coworkers and industry friends—including a chat with the venerable Richard Cunningham. There's a short detour about aliens, Bigfoot, and sim racing, before we talk about Levy's plans for the future and end the podcast to avoid getting emotional and weird. Apologies in advance for the strong language, this one is a bit raw.
Featuring a rotating cast of the editorial team and other guests, the Pinkbike podcast is a weekly update on all the latest stories from around the world of mountain biking, as well as some frank discussion about tech, racing, and everything in between.
Subscribe to the podcast via your preferred service (Apple, Spotify, RSS, Megaphone, etc.), or visit the Pinkbike Podcast tag page for the complete list of episodes.
RC had some great stories about Levy at the Trek launch in Copper Canyon circa 2007.
Freeride Levy in ~2008.
The infamous post-crash photo from BC Bike Race. Photo: Margus Riga.
Levy's unpaid intern has had to hand feed occasionally him over the years.
Radek made pinkmartian.com in Levy's honour.
Strong opinions about gearboxes.
Levy will be forever immortalized in the Grim Donut Game.
Proving that eccentric hubbed side by side bikes are the future.
Scooters with Crisp and Levy in Taiwan.
Skids are serious business.
Mike Levy's been a huge part of the Pinkbike team for many years, and has had a massive impact on the sport. We're gutted to see him go, but he'll still pop in from time to time as part of the extended Pinkbike family forever.
We joke about it in the podcast but, despite him being totally against the idea, I honestly believe he belongs in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.
Thanks for everything, Mike.
Author Info:
Member since Dec 29, 2010
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
I’ve heard bike industry folk talk shit about the PB comment section many times over the years. I would always think about how boring it must be to not have a load of people instantly telling you where you f*cked up, pointing out your (many) spelling mistakes and, if you managed not to bumble it up too badly, maybe even give you some praise. And so many laughs. Never change, Pinkers.
The comment section has made this Pinkbike journey about a thousand times more entertaining than it would have been otherwise, so thank you!
I could never have imagined where this whole thing would end up, that I’d ever be able to do this as a job, and that I’d be part of such an amazing community.
See you in the next life.
And Specialized thanks you as well when you made me buy a 21’ stumpy after reading your review
Any tribute poster planned !!??
Questionable performance claims, unreasonable pricing, cringey marketing spiel, elephants in the room that the brand is ignoring - Pinkbike comment section will tell you all about it. Rewards the brands that are doing it right and punishes the brands doing it wrong.
There may be some exceptions where brands get an unjustified beasting (Orange Bikes get a tough wrap) but most of the time the beastings are fully justified and often times there's very genuine praise on here. Long live Pinkbike comment section!
13. Jason M, USA -- Pendle Bike Rack W2 and Mike Levy's mini
I'm sure I can get Jason to cough it up!
~~~
Thanks for years of great content and I hope where ever you land you bring the same engagement and passion to what ever that is.
Gonna drink a Back Country Lochness in your honor Sir!
I was worried that maybe you were 'institutionalized' often, hence your recurring sabbaticals (if true, sorry for outing you, mental health is a thing society needs to recognize and talk openly about more)!
Anyway, thanks for your contribution @mikelevy, it was a pleasure meeting you at Sea Otter last year. You're a special human with a gift for distilling and diseminating stories quickly, concisely and with a high entertainment factor.
Also thank you for "stankshuns".
Except the one person who downvoted his comment. Who does that?
When people ask “why are you such an a-hole with your comments?”, I’ll say because Mikey likes it.
Thanks for everything. You are legend, and you defined the pod for me & my buds, got us thru the pandemic with hope & smiles-for-miles, and its been amazing.
Heres to hoping you get abducted by aliens, solve all the conspiracies, shred all the gnar and enjoy a daily cup of steaming Monster Energy Drink on your favorite overpass while staring at streetlights thinking They Have Arrived.
Hard to imagine PB w/o your pod-hosting, articles & humor but the fans will survive, and we will have been better educated and humored to the tilt. Thank you so much my man!
All the best with what is ahead...
As my high school English teacher always said: "When sliding down the bannister of life... may the splinters lie the other way..."
You are one entertaining dude. Thanks for your contribution and Im sure the next chapter is great. All the best.
Just want to point out a missed opportunity of headline. "Mike officially Levy-ing"
Articles from RC, photos from Mike Ferrentino, and stories from Levy. Whether or not you want it, you're a legend.
Thanks for always reminding me that bikes are supposed to be fun!
Curious when you'll be on as a guest in future times
Keep it up! Enjoy what ever you are doing! Wild life and a good start into a new year!
Thanks for the great work, for the love for biking and the entertainment.
You should come back to the podcast cover these points. Maybe weekly.
@brianpark employ the man already!
They haven’t listened to the riders or fans yet—why would they start now?
Go back and look at what Chris Ball said they were going to do. He’s 1-for-63. They made the race tape a little cleaner.
Hey, by the way, Chris Ball, where you at?—we still have some questions…or have you been absorbed into the very bullshit machine you were so excited to protect us from lol
@PACNW-MTB: Because I always do while you are burnt toast like the semis. It was in Whiteleys interview, but only for careful listeners so don't bother.
@owl-x: Warner Bros doesn't control race organization, Chris Ball does.
The whole thing perfectly corresponds to human flight - which speaking of... imagine yr a hunter gatherer or simple agrarian people when the 1st balloon zeppelin then planes and later space-craft were tested then ripped across the sky in vast "uncivilized" areas for decades. The people who lived there would have literally had "alien" or "ufo" experiences but with the aircraft actual other people on their planet - and would have no way whatsoever to distinguish airforce jets or spacecraft from "aliens"...which is another issue because it entirey discredit their actual experiences here with our modern flight tech. Hell, if any of these people had even seen cars or mountain bikes (and us in our helmets & gear) they'd say we were not from the planet.
Point: were the aliens on out own planet & the alien / ufo fascination is just creaming ourselves that someone has built a slightly better rocketship. Who knows less about their very own planet right now than humans? No other form of life is as alien here than we are so the whole alien / ufo thing is a sad jjoke of who we've become here at home.
If there were aliens and they could put out the effort to get here they would either introduce themselves to us as friends or take our resources, they wouldn't just fly around and secretly watch us for decades. The whole UFO conspiracy simply lacks the most very basic logic. Only a simple minded dupe would believe that shit.
You might have the better point tho: aliens secretly whipping around here for generations now: absurd. Especially with the resource they'd obviously need for anything: food, repairs, fuel. Technology is massively costly - even our "simple" bikes - massive teams of millions of people for resource extraction, founding/smelting/converting, transport, advanced assembly skills... people are not thinking through whatsoever what "aliens" would require to be here and it would be massively obvious.
To me the universe is teeming with life - possibliities for it in by the billions just in our solar system, not just on on Earth. But I'm also talking life, not just humanity (which is just a tiny blip of it) so I don't see anything wild at all thinking there's other forms of life anywhere. We know for a fact that fungal spores can pass in & out of the atmosphere & float around in space too so - there's your basic compound for life, probably scattered by the unthinking bajillions around the universe of billinon x billions of years. The "aliens" are in fact - not. Its just biological life, and (hey, I'm a scientist / biologist) - its a lot more intersting than the modern fantasy of humanoid aliens...that's just another projection of the parasites we've become (in my view).
PS - Im an opinionated a*shole btw.
We are stuck here on this planet we've likely destroyed with nobody to help us and no escape. If aliens were hanging around to watch it go down without offering assistance that's not very humane and makes us better than them. Not happening in that advanced of a culture if they can travel through deep space. Are they gonna wait till the last minute to save us? Exponentially doubtful.
I wasted 15 minutes researching UFO's today, which is way too much to justify. But this is the most convincing article I found on it and actually very heartfelt, broad thinking, and realist.
www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/08/11/stop-ufo-mania-no-evidence-of-aliens
All that being said - I f*cking love my bikes.
All of the logic & factlessness makes it impossible to listen to alien-worshippers seriously. It's just more grasping for something "out there" when in fact, everything humans need is right here (tho we're choking the shit out of that daily, self included - I'm a resource gobbling orc too). Humans are the aliens here, in my view.
No other form among million on this planet is as out of place, stupid, smart but unable to change or stop itself, or unfocused on the point of even being here: living a good life, then giving it up and not trying to immortalize ones-self.
From what I recall he says "we are alone" but that the liklihood of life universally (and even parallel) is very high. There's just not pure data whatsoever to show anyone else exists (or has a fancier intersteller downhill bike than we've built) yet. Ultimately the alien fasciantion is all about 1) how cool is the rig they came in on 2) what are the clearly-humanoid drivers like and 3) will they kill or save us and 4) "you're a sucker man...you've been lied to". Basically a weaker version of religion that religion already is.
@Mtn-Goat-13: It's almost as ridiculous as the people who actually believe there will be a zombie apocalypse someday. I'll pay attention when we're either attacked or if we see them come out of their spaceship. Humans are definitely the 'take over and destroy everthing' aliens on this planet.
This is another great article that is extremely interesting, funny, and frustrating to read at the same time. UFO belief is just a cultural phenomenon that builds upon itself with the sensationalist feedback loop it creates, which is fueled by the conspiracy media which profits from it and the stupid people who believe in it. It ALL started in 47 and took off for awhile and died but then was recycled by stoner Vietnam protesters who didn't trust the government. That's what created the idea of the 'deep state', which has led to so much distrust of the government and media. The article also explains how Trump's stupid election lies and the Jan 6 insurrection wouldn't have happened without all this UFO belief nonsense. UFO believers deserve much worse than just being laughed at.
www.npr.org/transcripts/1215372533
Conmen love it when you announce you're a mark...religious, conspiracy nut, any of that. Easy money (well, easier money than trying to get it from a non-believer)...it's not helpful to push any sort of BS, no matter how inconsequential it seems...all the little things add up and we end up with...what we have now...
the spiritual-to-fascist route seems to be the one I'm seeing most lately.
Snap out of it Levy!
Curious what your next adventures will be... new host of Ancient Aliens?
: levy : with no spaces if you want to use it yourself
denial. - Levy is just taking leave - he’ll be back
anger. - f*ck off and leave Levy alone he’s taking time off
bargaining. - trying to lure Levy and his alien overlords back to Squamish with Tim Hortons and monster
depression. - will pinkbike ever be the same? Who will argue with people now?
acceptance. Oh right - Henry he doing a fabulous job having good strong (incorrect) opinions and running a great podcast.
We’ll miss you Levy xx
Mike is good people
In all seriousness, this is bittersweet. Everyone should be able to move around and be flexible in their pursuit of what brings them joy and fulfillment, so for that, I am happy for Mike. Hope he (or you, if you read this) is able to find a new, "home."
But selfishly, for the PB crowd, darn this is bummer news. We'll miss you even more than we already did this year.
I dm'ed Brian when he posted on his IG story that you were in his garage something about how that was going to break the internet, and he replied, if memory serves me correctly, "lol."
Little did I know.
Happy trails, internet friend. I'll follow your journey wherever you end up next, and I'll be watching ADSBexchange at work to see if any bike manufacturers fly into Area 51...
I’m not asking them to change their laugh - it’s just one of the things I think about when I should be sleeping at night.
I kind of love it makes me think Brian is (mostly) silently creeping around in the background of episodes.
(?!?!?)
FYI: I was also there from 2000 to 2008 with Radek, Tyler and Russ way before there was even a payroll. Mike, I'm pretty sure you came in around 2008 because you started attending all the media camps I used to attend. ha ha
Cool photo of us at Interbike 2003 I believe.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/125606
I'm well...biking is still the one thing that keeps me happy and sane - those other material things is just hobbies I enjoy (like you and 3d printing). Some days I dream of an "old school" PB reunion, although I did run into Tyler a few times when he worked at WeAreOne - that was nice! Love that human.
Keep up the good work - still enjoy reading daily content here.
Yeah RideMonkey and do you also remember HCOR? and Dropmachine? ha ha those were fun days.
Thanks for bringing back great memories my friend - appreciate it.
I would ask if this means there's an opening, but with new recent hires, maybe not...
Hope you're well buddy...I still have dreams or riding the Chilcotins with you, but the advent of more grizzly bears make me nervous about it. ha ha
These things happen, I guess. We’re bummed. But thanks for all the great work over the years (Grim Donut, Downcountry, all of it!), and best of luck out there!
Even though these jobs seem to us on the outside like the best jobs in the world, they are still jobs and alot of work for those who do them. People can get burned out doing even what seem like the most fun jobs in the world.
The writing's been on the wall for some time. But I'm honestly bummed that you're leaving @mikelevy, but I'm sure all of us here, wish you the best of luck ☺️
Im confused
Im scared
Im energized
3 if my favs:
(1) Levy and Gee Atherton riding the Whistler bike park. Great show case of Gee's skill and Levy's unique riding style at the end.
youtu.be/nCxBeoE8EXY?si=QWC4cq8PhwgqBknM
(2) The Grim Donut vid with Yoann Barelli. Was always hoping to see Levy and Yoann do another vid.
youtu.be/-5cVPy2NbL4?si=JQiAB5cx8LUdW0MF
(3) Nino Schurter makes a tiny pile of rocks to sabotage Levy's climb, and it works beautifully.
youtu.be/IP90fFtO94c?si=SS01GRs2RjmZjZq4
Good luck in your next endeavours Mike.
Levy thank you. You thoroughly entertained me for years. Every video or podcast you were in was a must watch/listen. Not saying every one was perfect (F1 ughh), but you helped make them worth my investment (time). Best wishes on your future and you wake up daily looking forward to the day…. and selfishly I hope that future somehow incorporates you entertaining the masses again.
PB. This was the first episode in months I have listened to from start to finish. I hope you can get there again.
100% should be in the hall of fame ……
We float through life, steering with rudders
Hope your vessel navigates its way through the sea like a porpoise
You’re a good guy that will excel with purpose
Take care - good luck on your journey
Follow your truth, otherwise you’ll end up on a gurney
Listen to the thoughts that arise from inside
Follow these rules and the Dude will abide
Thanks for your contribution, you’re a funny , quirky dude that made me laugh and made my life more interesting. I appreciate that.
I also loved the opinion piece where he argued that the Ripley OG (69* HA & 406 reach) is better than the Ripley LS (67.5* HA & 428 reach) because the LS is too long to be fun. www.pinkbike.com/news/ibis-ripley-vs-ibis-ripley-ls-opinion-2016.html
Long live Levy!
Poof, the vision is gone….and so are you. But hopefully not forever. Please check in from time to time.
Hall of Fame - f*ck yeah!
THIS podcast = one of the best ever, made me feel like one of the crew. Just like old times.
You were too young to party so whilst Karl, Radek, Tyler and myself went out, you snd Jordan stayed in.
I think the room got robbed by hookers, wallets and cash.
Those were the days dude! Enjoy and if you’re in the UK, we have a little party going on in August, the Malverns Classic, come and have fun dude!
Will miss all the good times. Thanks for the lessons, stories, and laughs 3
Thank you for your unvaluable contribuition to our sport,@mikelevy. You'll be missed.
[Reply]
AND thank you for your HUGE contribution to the sport!!!!!
New Ventures: Start a podcast with RC- Richard Cunningham. We will all listen no matter the topic!
End of an era. You have been the most entertaining person on the inter-web since I started tuning in around 17’. Very sad to see you go. Good luck in the future.
The only thing missing from Mike's legacy is an interview with his buddy Wayne, who we are not sure exists…
It is loud and clear that Levy is just done with all of the ins and outs of online media so is there any chance Levy will guest-host the podcast here and there? A "five minutes of Mike" segment here & there... weekly Levy comment trolling maybe? Somehring?
i'm just being selfish – Levy defined PB and the podcast for me and a lot of people I know so it would just be cool to hear from him on the podcast every now and then but I realize thats peob not how things work...
I haven't heard in the pod yet where he's going after PB but best of luck to you @mikelevy - hopefully you can pop in on pot here and there with some funny shit, and thanks again for all of the years of laughs & input.
You have had an outsized influence on so many of us...
Man, I had already been missing him this year but from the start of his time away, it had always felt like this was coming.
We all wish you'd stay but that's just us being greedy. Enjoy your life man, you've earned it!
I am going to play "The Grim Donut" all day today in your honor sir.
Happy trails Mike, and good luck in whatever you decide to do next.
Glen D4ryl
What a guy!
And where do I Send my Poop pics, I had a DANDY this morn!
good luck whatever you do now Mike, hope you stay somehow in the business. raelly sad news. i have really enjoyed your stuff here! Nothing and no one was more authentic and will never be more authentic than you!
Enjoy your new career, I do look forward to hearing you and RC doing some guest appearances every once in awhile.
Pinkbike will definitely be different without you, but you are doing what you need to do, for you. And thats a good thing…
Cheers and farewell.
www.seti.org
www.rocketcenter.com/SpaceCamp/Adult/Academy
Thank you for giving us the closure. At least now Alicia won’t have to lecture everyone for asking questions.
OK, ok... Best wishes Mike. Thanks for all the content, and your unique perspective. Your absence will be felt!
That's it ?
What's the interest in PB now ?
Should I just stop riding and go back to school ?
He’ll be missed
Thank you for everything and all the best!
> I heard that Levy and Ferrentino are teaming up for a "young curmudgeon vs. old curmudgeon" website, featuring the two of them riding wildly inappropriate bikes in wildly inappropriate locales.
Shut up and take my money!!!
#racerunours lol
All the best levy in whatever and wherever you do
Best of luck to whatever you've got in the future.
I am sad, will miss you
Mike you come back and visit?
This isn’t a rare thing in the scheme if demanding careers (especially at bike industry + journalist wages)