In 2001, Josh begin his career as a bicycle entrepreneur with the development of the CELLO bicycle case, a system for converting a BOB Trailer into a bicycle shipping case. This project evolved into BikeTrailerShop.com in 2006 which was an instant hit and lead to BikeBagShop.com and BikeKidShop.com which were eventually all consolidated into BikeShopHub.com. In 2013 Josh moved this thriving business to Tucson.
In 2017 an outdated ecommerce platform had lead to an inability to adapt to the changing ecommerce and bicycle markets. Over the course of 2018 and 2019 Josh worked to correct this by pivoting the business into Campfire Cycling.
Josh grew up in Flagstaff, AZ getting into cycling at an early age, racing mountain bikes. Cycling has been a big part of his life ever since, driving ideas for business and bicycle advocacy. Now with two young kids, Josh doesn’t get out on as many bicycling adventures as he’d like. That said, Josh recently managed to get his whole family out on our first bicycle camping adventure.
Ellie’s Bear Rope to the Rescue – October. 14, 2024
After we spotted a bear on our bikepacking trip through the White Mountains last month, Ellie wisely got out her bear rope and after dinner everyone organized their food and cooking gear into stuff bags. Ellie’s rope had multiple lashing points and handled the supplies of all 9 of us on the ride. Here she is sending our food up the tree with Nate tugging on the rope. Bear sitings aren’t all that common here in Arizona, but after encountering this one, I think everyone on that trip is planning on carrying a bear rope more regularly.
Radiohead Monster Bear Pancake – October. 7, 2024
Now that we’re back in pancake making season, the pancake art will be popping up in these here tidbits. Burger made me this extra special pancake, after learning that I was a longtime RadioHead fan. The funny thing is I didn’t even recognize what it was… I guess I am not as much of a Radiohead as I thought. But I really appreciated the gesture and I won’t forget Radiohead’s logo now. Come out to our next Breakfast by Bike and you might just get a personalize pancake too!
Root Canal & Bear – September. 30, 2024
After arriving back from our fun long weekend riding El Lobo Lupus, I was struck by some deep, disturbing tooth pain. Turns out I had an abscess that proceeded to rupture before I got it treated with a root canal last Thursday. As I was going through that pain cycle, I kept thinking back to when I spotted a bear in the woods as I was setting up my tent during our 2nd night in the White Mountains. I only caught a quick glance of the bear coming towards our camp before it veered off into the wood. John also saw the bear ramble by and captured this shot of it. As I went through my pain cave last week, I couldn’t help but imagine that the bear had somehow stirred up the deep decay in my tooth’s root. I’m relieved that I’ve moved on from both the abscess and the bear.
Breakfast By Bike from Above – September. 16, 2024
I wanted to share this great shot that our friend Dan of Loball Bikes captured at last week’s Breakfast By Bike. Toby picked out a perfect new spot to try at the Architecture building on the UofA campus. A cool, shaded spot with plenty of sitting and greenery made for excellent mingling, not to mention a great turnout that easily chomped through the 3 dozen donuts we brought along.
First Leather Saddle – September. 9, 2024
Having spent lotsa time riding bikes for 42 of my 47 years, I’ve never been one to think about my saddle too much. The only time I’ve dealt with any bum soreness is when I’ve done an out-of-the-blue long ride without gradually ramping up my mileage beforehand. Perhaps that’s why I never had a pressing reason to get to know leather saddles.
I finally found a reason as I am working on doing a deeper dive into presenting some of the brands we work with here at Campfire. I decided to start with Selle Anatomica saddles. So far, I am definitely thinking about this saddle and I haven’t yet found my comfort zone with it as I realize getting the exact right position is important. Time will tell if I find my peace with this saddle, but whether or not I do I’m loving how it looks!
Triumph Over the Tyranny of Coleman Canisters – September. 2, 2024
I kept getting bummed out by all of the empty Coleman fuel canisters we were “burning” through on family car camping trips. We started really burning through them with all the pancakes Toby has been cooking up on our Break by Bike rides. I knew there had to be a better way.
While it is possible to refill Coleman propane canisters, they are not built to be refilled and there can be some dangerous problems that arise from doing so. In the comments of some forum somewhere talking about this, I came across a great solution, the Flame King Eco Friendly 1lb Refillable Reusable Propane Cylinder + Refill Kit. This comes with a holder for a your 20 pound propane tank. And it comes with an adapter and one 1-pound tank. I bought a 2nd 1-pound tank as well. It worked like a charm and I am now free of the tyranny of Coleman canisters.
Campfire Library – August. 26, 2024
Our slowly growing library of bicycle community and bikepacking oriented magazines and books got a big upgrade this summer when we made use of the book shelf left behind by our moving out neighbor. It got even better when Toby thought of rotating it on its side, in the process making room for a surface for pamphlets and a bulletin board above it. What’s your favorite bicycling book or magazine that you would suggest we add to our collection?
Back o’ the Building – August. 19, 2024
When we first moved into our downtown Tucson location, 3 and a half years ago, we got a temporary banner to serve as our sign before we could get something more official. Once we had our permanent sign painted on the front, I thought that we could get some use out of the old banner by hanging it on the back of the building which is visible from the new Maclovio Barraza Parkway. I was back there a couple of days ago and realized how tattered and decrepit the sign is now looking after years of wind and sun. Its time for a fresh look. I’m not sure if I can convince the building owner of it, but it might even be worthy of a bikepacking mural. Any suggestions?
Tout Terrain Mule – August. 12, 2024
I needed to pick up a pizza on the way home the other day and since I didn’t have a Pizza Rack installed, I decided to pop on a Tout Terrain Mule trailer to get the job done. Sure, it was a little bit bigger than I needed for the job, but it gave me my first chance to try out this cool trailer. With the BOB Trailer phased out and only limited replacement parts available now available, we’ve been looking to carry another touring worthy trailer. The Mule is certainly that and more. And it will soon be making regular appearances as our Breakfast by Bike buggy, carrying pancake ingredients to fun destinations.
Campfire Album Cover – August. 5, 2024
I caught these fine folks sizing up the back of the shop project. Its exciting to see this project come together while the shop is slower mid-summer. It should be all dialed in for the fall! And though this is missing a few band members, I couldn’t help but think we have an album cover now…
A Break from the Action – July. 26, 2024
I was lucky enough to take a break from the action and got to head out for a week to visit Vancouver and Victoria, BC for our first time. We even got a little bike ride in, renting bikes and cruising around Stanley Park in Vancouver. I’ll be back into the thick of it in a few days….
Motivating the Kids – July. 19, 2024
I can’t claim great success yet in the realm of inspiring my own kids to get excited about cycling. I put effort in when I can, but the stars have just not aligned very well yet for them to become big fans of cycling at 9 and 12 years old. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few required family weekend rides and we get out on the occasional kid-friendly overnighter, but lots of motivation is required.
I figured I it was time to level up my motivation game and I’ve introduced a reward system. The kids are now working towards a trip to Disneyland. A one hour bike ride earns them 1 point each, 200 points collectively earns them the trip. This photo was taken a few weeks ago where the kids chose to go on a ride despite the hot summer temps and earn some points (the ride did not end well with some hot, angry kids by the finish). They’re approaching 20 points after 6 weeks or so of this plan even as we make our way through the summer heat. We’ll see where this takes us and I am hopeful they’ll be excited and inspired for some cooler fall rides in a few months…
Split-Tube Tourniquet – July. 12, 2024
I was lucky enough to escape the high heat in Tucson for the 4th of July weekend and get up to Flagstaff to visit family and get in some riding. We took the kiddos up to Snow Bowl for some outdoor play time and then my brother-in-law Kyle and I started out on a ride on the AZT back to town. About 2/3rd the way down the mountain I hit a rock with my rear wheel, bending the rim and breaking my tubeless seal. Kyle was not behind me like I thought. After about 5 minutes or so Kyle rolled up, with a nearly identical bend in his rim, loosing air. We added Stans but it wouldn’t hold for either of us. We each had a spare tube so we installed them. About a mile later though, my tube lost its air. Upon inspection, I discovered my tube was splitting perpendicularly to the seam. The split was wide and patches wouldn’t hold it. Kyle suggested we tie it off. I pulled my hair tie off and we wrapped it up. We were able to get it on the rim and the tire back in place. It would hold air for about 5 miles (we got on the road to get back to town) before we had to fill up again. We made it into Cosmic Cycles where I grabbed a few tubes. Sometimes those adventures where you limp your way home are the most memorable…
A Nice Monday Pile – July. 5, 2024
For my tidbit this week, I just have a good looking stack of boxes from a busy Monday of bike building, packing and shipping. When the shop slows down during the hot time of year here in Tucson, our online business keeps up going strong. Thank you for your orders and the support!
Bailout Logistics – June. 28, 2024
Hosting the Swift Campout has made for some interesting logistics. Coming up with a route that was fun, welcoming and most importantly not too hot is a challenge here in the desert at the Summer Solstice. Our route sort of makes that work.
Also to make that work, Toby and I drove ahead to camp, to claim a spot and stash water and drinks for when we arrived. I dug a hole and buried ice and drinks. Henley did this for us last year, but he also thought of putting the beers in a garbage bag. Without the bag, the beers got rather muddy as you can see here.
And with our bailout on the ride, Toby and I had to make another trip to retrieve our camp provision. As Ellie, Burger and Ellie have already elaborated on, it was still a great adventure. And now we have plenty of leftover Dragoon Beers for our fall events!
Resupply Intel: Parker Canyon Lake – June. 21, 2024
Last weekend I found myself in the little lake front convenience store at Parker Canyon Lake after enjoying some paddle-boarding with my family. The question of what this little store is actually stocked with has come up a multiple times in the past few years. The thing is that this store is about a mile descent off of the AZT. The descent is just long and steep enough that it is only worth it if you really need a resupply. But its in an area that it is the only resupply option. It also falls along other routes including Joe Cruz’s Madrean Rugged Ramble.
Anyways, here are the shelves… I hope it helps someone make up their mind if the little off-trail trek down to that store is worth it.
Delux Donuts at Last Week’s Breakfast by Bike – June. 14, 2024
For 8 out of 10 breakfast by bikes our pancake artist, Toby works hard to crank out artfully delicious pancakes. But for our summertime runnings of this event, Toby gets to take a break as I go pick up 2 dozen donuts. Here is our friend Elliot, owner of Roadrunner Bicycles, enjoying a deluxe donut topped with Dan’s, owner of Loball Bikes, scrambled eggs. It was another fun gathering. We’re always surprised by the remarkable turnout of our June Breakfast By Bikes. Turns out there are plenty of folks in town looking for something cool to do early in the morning before it heats up.
Mining Developments in Patagonia, AZ – June. 7, 2024
An insightful and disturbing piece came out this week in The Radavist. Patagonia resident Loren Mason-Gere writes about an all but inevitable manganese mine currently under development in the Santa Ritas. It is heartbreaking to consider the destructive mining that is probably about to get fully underway in this beautiful place that we ride and bikepack. Please read this important article, share it and consider supporting local watchdog group Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (PARA).
Congratulations to Austin Killips’ AZT FKT!!! – May. 31, 2024
All of us at the shop were blown away to learn about Austin Killips’ remarkable AZT FKT earlier this week. Albeit already a successful bicycle racer, this was Austin’s first bikepacking race! And not only that, she did it under the warm desert conditions of a late May start.
I didn’t have any photos of Austin, but I happened across an old photo on my phone of a little art piece that captures the mood of an epic bikepacking trip across Arizona.
Desert Tortoise Encounter – May. 24, 2024
Ellie’s post from last week reminded me that I had a photo of a desert tortoise that we came across while returning home from a family overnighter to Catalina State Park. And this encounter with wildlife while on a family bikepacking trip reminds me of the family trip down in Patagonia, AZ where just at the end of it we came across around a dozen Coatimundi crossing the road. Both times, nature was doing its best to impress the kiddos!
Heavy Bikes in the Work Stand – May. 17, 2024
I noticed these two big Ebikes in the stands the other day. Front and back, that stand was really loaded down. The steel beam in the middle is doing its job, but we’ve been talking about getting a bike stand with a hydraulic-powered lift that can help us deal with these heavy cargo bikes that come our way.
What can you carry on your bike? – May. 10, 2024
The other day Toby had to pick up a drip coffee maker that his buddy Nate had left at the bar for him (long story). Anyways, I was curious how Toby was planning on getting it home. Sure enough the plan was to strap it on the rack.
I often think about the connection between bicycle commuting and bicycle travel, how one is a gateway to another. When I launched Campfire Cycling, with our commitment to becoming very focused on bikepacking and bicycle touring gear, I was a bit reticent to be leaving behind BikeShopHub.com’s great selection of bicycle commuting gear. Perusing out bag, trailer and accessory archive gives a sense of it. But, I also recognized how the commuting and bicycle travel are deeply connected. And we see it play out all the time. Someone is first inspired by the adventure of getting out bikepacking, but after the buzz of the first adventures are over, they realize all this travel gear is also great for getting themselves around town with everything they need.
So this begs the question, whether on a trip or commuting, what are some interesting things you’ve carried on your bike?
Wack Pack Insights! – May. 3, 2024
We love carrying Oveja Negra bags! They’ve got so much style and color especially the Wack Pack ones. And the thing about the Wack Pack bags is every bag is unique. Every now and then we get a customer who wants to see the Wack Pack options before they buy. So, while we aren’t crazy about having to do a photo session every time this comes up, I’ll let you in on a little secret, we are willing to do it. The catch is you have to buy a Campfire Gift Card for at least $20, which you can then apply to your Wack Pack bag or any other Campfire purchase if we don’t have the Wack Pack bag for you.
Adventure Series Talk featuring FUGA – Apr. 26, 2024
On Tuesday night we gathered for our 4th Adventure Series Talk. We’ve been organizing these talks every 6 months with RoadRunner Bicycles. This one took place at American Eat Co. in partnership with FUGA – Familias Unidas Ganando Accesibilidad and LSA – Living Streets Alliance. This photo of us arriving after a ride organized by LSA. The talks were all by Fugistas. FUGA has been doing amazing things in leading rides based out of South Tucson. All of the speakers expressed so much enthusiasm and gratitude for FUGA being there for them. The power of community was a constant theme through all five talks.
Bike Friday Rack – Apr. 19, 2024
We were lucky enough to get a sample of a Bike Friday All-Packa bike into the shop. Bike Friday was looking for feedback from bikepackers on their design design. Our impression so far is that bikepackers who want a folding bike are not a big group, definitely a subset of a subset. But those that want this as their bike travel solution, love this bike. Just see Joe Cruz’s review.
We had this bike in the shop for only a few weeks and one of our customers snatched it up. He wanted a rack installed and drawing from our broad selection of bike racks, came up with this Tubus Disco with Salsa Bent Struts as our best option. It even can stay on when folded and sort of acts like the Brompton fold when the wheel is flipped back.
Tout Terrain USA in Tucson – Apr. 12, 2024
Last week I had a chance to drop by the new US Distribution for Tout Terrain bicycles. It was great to see Wade’s operation and a bit more bicycle industry happening here in Tucson. And who knows, we may even be offering Tout Terrain bikepacking bikes and trailers here at Campfire one of these days. Any Tout Terrain fans out there?
Tombstone Hustle Coming Up – Apr. 5, 2024
A little throwback to our fist circumnavigation of the Tombstone Hustle two years ago. We came across these two very friendly dogs along the route. As they followed us and really seemed to need our help, someone had the insight that we should check their tags and call their owners. Their annoyed owners showed up 20 minutes later. We got the impression that these dogs had done this before, after the owner shouted at them to get in their truck and took off with barely a nod.
For adventures like these… join us for our upcoming Tombstone Hustle April 20-21. This one will be lead by Toby and Ellie!
Ruta Goes Deep – Mar. 29, 2024
Ruta Del Jefe was dreamt up by Sarah Swallow as a celebration of cycling in the Borderlands of Arizona. More than just another bike event, Ruta is a robust celebration that goes deep.
With Ruta moving to a new location in Mexico, the celebration did not disappoint. This Ruta brought together cycling communities from both sides of the border. And just as the first 3 Rutas focused on the social and environmental issues in Southern Arizona, this 4th running of Ruta focused on Cuenco Los Ojos and the surrounding areas in Sonora, Mexico.
The landscapes were stunning, the food was amazing and the cyclists were the most delightful. Thank you to Karla, Danny, Sarah, the ranch hosts, the volunteers, and everyone else who made this beautiful vision into a reality!
Paracord Bike Handle – Mar. 22, 2024
On our recent beginner campout, I noticed this cool little handle on Todd’s Salsa Cutthroat. Asking Todd about it, it turns out it was a little knotted handle that he wove together out of paracord. Todd often has to hoist his bag into his apartment, and with the framebag blocking the normal grabbing point, this does the trick and ads a bit of style. Checkout this video if you wanna learn how to make a Paracord Bike Handle for yourself. Sometimes its those simple little touches that really bring an impressive rig like this together.
Inaugural Colossal Cave Trip – Mar. 15, 2024
Last weekend Jake and I lead Campfire’s inaugural trip to Colossal Cave. The trip came together beautifully with great weather and a great group of folks. Planning out this new route presented an interesting set of challenges, the biggest one being finding the safest most enjoyable route from Downtown Tucson into the mountains. Deciding on a midway point and some rest stops adds to the route planning fun as well. But its one thing to plan and another to do. The length of the route, the final 5 mile climb and the unexpected creek crossings at the end made it a bit more challenging then was ideal for a beginner’s trip. But we made it through and overall had a marvelous time.
With the first trip under our belt, we can now really start refining. Next year, we’ll improve upon it in multiple ways, calling the midway point the start of the beginner ride and the downtown the start of the intermediate version. We’re also thinking about adding a third mountain biking variant.
Be Like Jake – Salsa T-Shirts – Mar. 8, 2024
We stocked the floor with the Salsa T-Shirts that Jake kept wearing to work, figuring if he was already modeling them we might as well try selling them. Here is Jake wrenching away with this sharp looking Adventure by Bike T.
Riding Rez Gravel – Mar. 1, 2024
Last weekend Toby and I got to join our friend Elisha who was leading the inaugural Rez Gravel ride. Elisha had joined us on several Campfire bikepacking trips, and we’d been very excited to here about his plans to lead rides on O’odham land near Casa Grande. The ride was a wonderful gathering of folks with 13-mile, 26-mile and 66-mile options. The rides were group rides rather than races. Isn’t party pace what group rides should be all about? The night before there was camping, dinner and campfire talks in the beautiful North Mountain Park. And before the ride kicked off Elisha raffled of a bike from the events main sponsor, State Bicycles as well as several prints. Congratulations to Elisha for bringing this amazing ride together and we can’t wait to see what’s next.
Bicycle Sculpture Relocation – Feb. 23, 2024
Earlier this week, the stars finally aligned for getting Jake, Toby and David to help me remove our old bike rack/sculpture from the former location of Campfire Cycling and BikeShopHub.com. I hadn’t been able to find a good spot for it at our new downtown location. But the owner of the old building let me know we needed to move it, forcing my hand to relocate it to my backyard.
This bike rack was made for the us in our Flagstaff days by our former bike trailer fabricator Stuart Henderson. Checkout what Stuart is up to now with Fortissimo Collective. Beyond being quite the eye catching sculpture, it has an infamous past. The day we arrived to Tucson, moving the business from Flagstaff, it was grabbed from the side of the building. Mike McKisson shared the story and the local TV news picked it up which fortunately lead to its return.
KofA Cocoon – Feb. 16, 2024
With rolling storms and changing forecasts, we finally landed on a plan to ride Kurt Refsneider’s KofA Bikepacking Route, though we changed the starting point and direction to better suite coming from Tucson. It was a remote and rugged ride, without resupply and filtering water as the only option throughout. While the climbing profile didn’t look that daunting, the ride had some other challenges in store for us. On Day 1, we got a late start having left Tucson early in the morning after our Thursday night panel discussion at the shop. We headed straight into the toughest section with lots of rollers and soft sand to slow us down. That night we got a good rain which fortunately stopped before the sun rose. On Day 2 the road surface improved, however we spent most of the day grinding away into a steady headwind. We also put in our longest day, making up for missing miles the first. That headwind got the best of me. I was ragged when I got to camp and once I set up my tent, some form of exhaustion overcame me and I was done for the evening. This photo is of the beautiful campfire Henley made that I didn’t enjoy as I recovered in my cocoon. By the next morning, Day 3, I felt back to normal and we all had an easy 30 mile day rolling back to the cars.
Wet Weather Bikepacking Prep – Feb. 9, 2024
We’ve been checking the weather incessantly for the last few days with our 3 Day Advanced Bikepacking trip coming up this weekend. First we rerouted changing from the Gila River Ramble to a route near Patagonia. With a cold and stormy Saturday on both those routes, we’ve decided to head west to ride the Kofa Wilderness Area, which promises drier weather and with its lower elevation, warmer temps. In anticipation, I decided to apply some waterproof spray to my 15 year old Shower’s Pass Rain Jacket and Pants. They still worked fairly well but with the potential weather I wanted them at there best.
The Team at Breakfast by Bike – Feb. 2, 2024
This week we got back into our monthly Breakfast by Bike routine. For 2024 Toby has been organizing Breakfast by Bikes to some interesting, new places. For this first one we coordinated with Trenton of the Drawing Studio to meetup in their garden area. We arrived to a nice little setup of tables chairs and a campfire, our first Breakfast by Bike with a Campfire (Thank you Trenton!) Toby and Trenton did some extra special pancake art with colored batter and sprinkles. And Ellie got in on the action at the end using the remains of the colored batter in this cosmic swirl pancake. I think this was our biggest BbyB yet with around 30 folks. Looking forward to the upcoming schedule!
Tuba Reminscing – Jan 26, 2024
Campfire’s trash can holder, AKA the Wandertec Tuba, was perched up doing a wheelie the other day and it got me reminiscing on this cargo trailer manufacturing project started 12 years ago now. Stuart Henderson and I worked together to design the Tuba in Flagstaff. And Stuart manufactured around 50 Tubas as well as 300 or so Wandertec Bongo Cargo Trailers. Limited sales and other business challenges lead to the eventual winding down of bike cargo trailer manufacturing for Campfire’s predecessor, BikeShopHub.com. But this remaining Tuba lives on as a helpful tool in bike shop life not only holding our trash cans, but utilized for all sorts of tasks around town, even transporting bikes to UPS before we had a regular pickup. I’ll leave you with this video about the Tuba.
AZT Overnighter – Jan 19, 2024
I had the chance to join a band of Bikepacking.com editors lead by Joe Cruz on a portion of their Southern Arizona bikepacking trip. While their trip started and ended in Tucson, I just had the time to break away for the weekend. I drove down to Patagonia, AZ and rode up to the AZT, riding about 10miles south on the AZT before finding the group at camp. The next day was more AZT riding, but a coming storm changed plans and rather than riding to Parker Canyon Lake and then to Lochiel, the group decided to cut a day off the trip and bee-lined back to Patagonia. It turned out to be the right move as they avoided the death mud and only had to endure one rainy night before getting back to Tucson. And we had a hoot in Patagonia, arriving for a fun Saturday evening performance at the Patagonia Lumber Company.
Roughest Part of our New Beginner Bikepacking Route to Colassal Cave – Jan 12, 2024
A couple of weekends ago, I went out for an early morning ride of our proposed route from Campfire Cycling to Colassal Cave Mountain Park for our beginner overnighter. Much of the route is along bike paths. This mile or so section along Kolb is just a wide shoulder along a busy road. There are some other sections without bikepaths, most notably the final stretch along Old Spanish Trail.