Friends of the Flock: Campfire Cycling

We wouldn't be the Black Sheep without our flock! We're honored and stoked to share this interview with Tobias Smith, shop manager of Campfire Cycling. We think y'all will make fast friends.

Tucson, AZ | Est. 2019

Campfire Cycling believes connecting with the great outdoors is essential to our humanity. They are cyclists who love the outdoors and are striving to build a business to support others to do the same. They see a common kinship among all bicycle travelers—whether you are traveling on pavement, gravel roads or trails, traveling by bike is an experience with common threads. They seek to provide a venue to share these experiences and collectively improve our capabilities as bicycle travelers.

Tell us a brief history of your bike shop—your origin story.

Campfire Cycling was the reimagining of BikeShopHub.com which had been an e-commerce shop focused on bike bags and bike trailers, founded in 2006. After BikeShopHub.com nearly burned to the ground, Campfire Cycling was resurrected from the smoldering remains in 2019. This new direction honed our focus in on bike camping and added in a full service, community-focused bike shop.

What niche do you fill in your community? What's your jam?

Working with a community who camps by bike is our specialty, whether it be bikepacking, bike touring, gravelpacking, hut-to-hut, sub24 or whatever. We just want to get out and ride bikes and connect with other people who bike camp or want to! We have lots of great gear and love chatting with people on how we can help fill their needs or give advice on how to get there. We host 7 trips a year and love collaborating with other folks as well. Our other specialty is Breakfast By Bike—it's like a coffee outside, but hosted with pancakes and coffee made for you. 

Have a fun trail story to share—something funny/amazing/unbelievable that’s happened while out riding your bike or bikepacking?

I feel like something funny always happens, otherwise it wouldn't be a great trip! But I do have a soft spot for wild trail repairs...When we did the Rollin' and Tumblin' bikepacking trip last fall, I was talking to someone and looking away while bombing down a hill and passed over a cow grate. There was a triangle shaped hole in the front of the grate and somehow my rear wheel fit into this hole that was just perfectly big enough for my 29x2.6" tires. I bounced in and out of it and thought "Wow, that was lucky and could have ended bad!" At that moment someone else yelled that something flew by their face and right as I went to start pedaling again I realized nothing was happening. My derailleur had smashed on the metal grate and split my pulley wheel into two pieces that flew down the road. Luckily we found the pieces and super glued them into place and I was able to finish the ride. I forgot about it and rode my bike for 6 months with the superglued pulley wheel and it still worked totally fine! There's also the time I was surf/bike touring the California coast and raccoons ripped open a neighbor's tent and stole his Joe Joe's and were tossing them out of the tree to other raccoons...haha.

What’s your favorite trail to ride on your home turf?

It's a really tough call... my go-to is Tucson Mountain Park—the trails are windy, up and down and really bounce you around. Those trails are a lot of bang for your buck with the upside that I can ride out of the shop to the trailhead in less than 15 minutes. No matter how long you spend on these trails, you feel satisfied. My next favorite is 50 Year Trail with the epic "chutes" which is just so amazing and so much fun and definitely a "to do" when in Tucson. 

What’s a bikepacking route or trail you have on your bucket list?

Complete the whole AZT in one run for the SKT (slowest known time).

What’s your current favorite bike to rip and why?

Currently I'm jamming a Soma Juice. It's a super fun ride and I love the versatility because it's comfortable enough for long bikepacking trips and then I can pull everything off of it and have a blast on the trails!

What bike do you *wish* you could get your hands on to rip and why?

Currently I'm really pining for a Stanton Switchback; I have a major soft spot for really shreddy hardtails and something about those really does it for me. Every time I ride one of these something just clicks and it really puts a smile on my face, and that's what riding is really about.