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In 2017 an outdated ecommerce platform had lead to an inability to adapt to the changing ecommerce and bicycle markets.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.
Tout-Terrain Product Training – February. 10, 2025
Yesterday morning the Campfire team gathered for a presentation by our friend Wade Greene who manages Tout Terrain Bicycles US distribution. Wade gave us a full run through of the Tout-Terrain bicycle lineup. These bicycles have many rare or unique features oriented at world bicycle travelers and bikepackers. The most notable feature of many of their models is the Pinon drive, which is included on the models that Wade brought by for the training, the Outback Xplore || 29 and the Scrambler Xplore GT II Select 3.1. Other stand out feature are their bicycle frames with integrated racks and their highly durable carbon forks.
We began selling these bikes last year, but found it incredibly helpful to do this deep dive with Wade. This meeting with Wade was the first of what we plan on making a monthly practice of meeting with our key brand partners. Before the pandemic, rep visits, demo days and gathering at trade shows was much more common. To keep up with the evolving times, we’ve decided to find ways to bring the show to us in digestable, bite-sized ways. Thanks to Wade and Tout Terrain for helping us kick off this new direction in increasing our team’s product knowledge!
B-by-B atop A-Mountain – February. 03, 2025
For our first breakfast-by-bike of 2025 we were a little more ambitious then usual as Toby and Dan pulled their breakfast laden trailers up the climb to the top of A-Mountain. Standing in the warm sun overlooking the city made for an interesting change in perspective on our first Thursday morning of the month tradition, as encapsulated by this highly contrasted photo.
Tucson Bikeways Maps are Back! – January. 27, 2025
Toby shouted out for joy when a two box load of maps arrived at the shop earlier this week. Come by the shop if you need one. There is also an online version available.
Happy New Bike Day Mando! – January. 20, 2025
We were excited and relieved last week to finally deliver Mando his Bombtrack Beyond Adventure+. It had been nearly a year since he had decided this was the bike for him and it took us that long to get ahold of one. Mando’s patience was unwavering and he was rewarded with this unique and capable adventure bike.
Thank you Mando and also thank you so much for setting up the trail and treat cache on our November Ironwood bikepacking trip. Enjoy the ride!
MTB ride with Joe Cruz – January. 13, 2025
I had the great pleasure of getting out on a ride with Joe while he is in town for a few weeks escaping the Vermont winter. I am always inspired by Joe’s adventuring. He’s invariably brewing up something cool with plans this month to ride the Fool’s Loop and then the Monumental Loop and some epic summer plans for riding through Macedonia.
Beyond what you may know of Joe Cruz as a prolific bikepacker, Bikepacking.com editor and speaker, Joe is a philosophy professor at Williams College in Vermont. Our conversation naturally centered around bikes and bike adventures but then took an interesting turn as we discussed Joe’s upcoming course on the ethics of AI, a topic that I find very compelling these days.
After a free preview to Joe’s new course, our conversation looped back around to bikes. We talked bike racks (see Joe’s favorite new rack adapter below) and made curious by Joe’s 2024 gear review I inquired for more details of his recently developed used-clothing shopping habit. It’s always great to catch up with Joe, and it’s about time that we start planning ahead for another one of his inspiring talks here at Campfire.
Into the New Year! – January. 6, 2025
This photo is by our friend and photo editor of High Country News, Bear Guerra. We had the pleasure of riding with Bear on our inaugeral ride of Colassal Cave last year. I looked it up to represent the spring bikepacking rides that we just launched this week. But something about the pensive beauty of the photo got me reflecting about the year ahead.
As I start another year of this labor of love, I am gazing at the road ahead. We’ve been making slow and steady progress on a variety of fronts and are starting to see some fruits. Most notably, our internal processes are getting refined and upgraded, little-by-little. We have a long journey in our aspirations for growing our community engagement, but we keep moving forward. And on a smaller scale, I am about ready to launch into a more active social media presence. I also have ambitions to start capturing video on our bikepacking adventures. Look for me fumbling around with my GoPro and publishing some okayish video.
Now That’s A Festivus Pole! – December. 30, 2024
To close out this Festivus Season, I bring you the tallest and shortest Festivus poles I encountered this holiday season. While the tall one is not an official Festivus Pole, it caught our attention as we were out hiking on New Year’s day. The short one on the other hand is a certified Festivus Pole. I’ve been asking Melanie for this for many years now and my wish finally came true.
Happy Festivus and A Happy New Year!
Lactic Acid Alert for Hiking Cyclists! – December. 16, 2024
A few weekends ago I got to go on an epic hike with my son, his two friends and their dad. We ascended up the imposing side of Mt. Lemon on the Finger Rock Trail. While we didn’t make it to the summit as we had hoped, we did make it a little over 3 miles up to a very great overlook of Tucson.
This hike reminded me, as I now and then get reminded, that just because I am in good shape for long bike rides, my muscles aren’t ready for steep hikes. Over the 3 miles, we ascended nearly 3000 ft on a trail as steep as the steepest in the Grand Canyon. I managed the hike itself fine, but for the next 3 days the lactic acid build up had me stiffer and sorer then I think I’ve ever been. I’m gonna need to build myself up to any more of these types of epic hiking adventures…
Let there be Ramp! – December. 9, 2024
We finally have ramp access into Campfire Cycling! Our neighbors recently installed this amazing ramp, the only problem was a fence between our entryways. The fence being on our side, we were able to have the fence transformed into a gate by our clever and capable buddy Pat.
Come by the shop and enjoy a much easier approach then the narrow stairs we were previously limited to. We are stoked for now being able to get heavy loaded bikes, cargo bike, e-bikes and really any and all bikes into the shop now with much more ease. Its also been great for rolling pallets directly into the shop and our delivery drivers are loving it! And last but definitely not least, we are elated to finally have ADA access into our space.
5 Years and Counting – December. 2, 2024
As I was struggling to come up with a good idea for my tidbit today, it occured to me that this would be a good opportunity to take a little walk down memory lane. Campfire Cycling is just a little over 5 years old having launched on November 15, 2019 with Lael and Rue presenting their screening of I Just Want to Ride at our old location. Its been an epic 5 years since and I am grateful for our amazing team that’s come together to make Campfire Cycling happen for our wonderful Tucson community and our broader community of bicycle travelling customers around the world. Thank you for being a part of it!
Three Coyotes at Three Tunnels – November. 25, 2024
With the return of the cool weather here in Tucson, I’ve been making a habit of hitting up Three Tunnels formerly known as Two Tunnels formerly know as Urban Assault. Actually it is still known as Two Tunnels however it now actually has three tunnels so… I’ve been doing this a few times a week after dropping my kids off at school which happens to be down the street from the trail head. Anyways, its been a fun way to get some trail miles in. Earlier this week, I came across three coyotes in the wash (though I only captured one in my photo after the other two had run off).
Ahhh…. Bikepacking – November. 18, 2024
I like to snap a photo of my bikepacking setup when out on a trip. It is such a perfect little reminder of the tremendously refreshing getaway that any sort of bikepacking getaway can be. With everything you need ready to go on your bicycle you can travel near or far!
Zippy Tires – November. 11, 2024
This I’ve been trying to get out on some longer version of my bike commute lately. As part of that effort, I decided to lighten up my commuter/gravel bike, my Bombtrack Beyond 1. The most notable change was installing the Rene Herse Snoqaulmie Pass 700c x 44mm tires. I’m really loving how zippy they’ve been making my bike feel.
Stronghold Divide – November. 04, 2024
Last weekend I went on a family camping trip to the East Cochise Stronghold. Having camped here twice before during Campfire’s ride of the Tombstone Hustle, I knew the area fairly well. When we decided to do this ride, which starts in Tombstone, we decided to reverse the route in large part due to the alignment of the climb over the Stronghold Divide. The way we’ve been doing it, we go over the divide in the afternoon of the first day before getting to camp. Doing it this way, the Hike-A-Bike is 1.75 miles with a 3 mile descent. As one of our intermediate rides, this ride can be some of our riders first bikepacking trip on singletrack. This 4.75 mile section is quite rugged for an intermediate trip, so we hope to make it as approachable as possible. Anyways, I was curious what it was like to go at this tough section of the ride from the other direction. I can report that the three mile ascent was a big challenge even unloaded and I’m glad we do the Tombstone Hustle the way we do.
BOB-o’-lantern – October. 28, 2024
Having gotten my start in the bike biz many year ago now with a contraption for a BOB Trailer, I’m always a sucker for fun and creative uses of BOBs. Last weekend’s Cyclovia always brings out Tucson’s finest weird and wacky bicycle setups and costumes.
A Horse in the Street! – October. 21, 2024
Last weekend I got the family to join on at least the start of Henley’s chill ride (the first one of the fall). We only made it for the first five miles or so of the ride, but before peeling off we got to experience one of the highlights, a horse and rider trotting down the street, not as common of a site as you might expect here in the Old Pueblo!
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!