Ellie has recently joined our team as our part-time bike mechanic, to help us with our extra repairs and bike builds, especially during the busy season. Ellie grew up in Tucson where she began working with community bike projects in the early 2000’s. After spending many formative years in the Pacific Northwest working as a mechanic and in bicycle youth programming, she returned full time to Tucson in 2017. Since returning, Ellie has been an instrumental part of teaching and co-managing the amazing organization that is BICAS. Ellie remains involved at BICAS as well as working with after school youth bike clubs.
Ellie loves to get out on bikepacking and climbing trips with her buds all over the Southwest and beyond. We’re so excited to have Ellie sharing her depth of bicycle mechanic prowess and Tucson bike community knowledge here at Campfire Cycling.
Raising the Bar (and the Bikes) – August. 28, 2025
I’ve got to pause and share just how grateful I am for our new electric power lift shop stand. In the era of e-bikes, this thing is a total back saver. Last weekend Jake and I were able to service two e-bikes side by side—no heavy lifting, no sore muscles, just smooth work all around. Huge thanks to Campfire for making this upgrade happen!
JoJo’s New Treadquaters – August. 22, 2025
I know we all were disappointed that our shop cat didn’t stick around long. But as many of you know we are blessed by our regular visitor JoJo the dog, who is basically also kind of a cat. So it was about time we built him a cat tree and offered him some new perspective on the shop. He really likes cave-like protected spaces, I think our tire tree served this need. Jojo you are truly the best.
Back to the Basics: WFR Recert– August. 16, 2025
I recently spent a weekend up in Flagstaff for a wilderness first responder recertification course. I’ve made sure to re-certify every 2 to 3 years since I was initially sponsored some 12 years ago to get my WFR while leading youth on bike tours across the Pacific Northwest.
I highly recommend these courses for anyone who spends a good chunk of time in the outdoors. The weekend was packed with studying and scenarios but I did squeeze in some birding and a nice ride along the rim of Walnut Canyon. Forested single track is such a treat for me coming from the desert. I am already making plans to get back up there with my bike as soon as I can.
Donuts and Games at Breakfast by Bike – August. 10, 2025
Jake and LB found a fun new bike game at last week’s “breakfast by bike”. With our end destination at the splash pad in my neighborhood I had the honor of picking up three dozen doughnuts for the group. Which really just meant I got to roll in to applause. Thank you La Estrella for the best doughnuts around and to everyone who made it out to the monthly ride and breakfast.
Bringing the Bounce Back – August. 04, 2025
When was the last time you showed your suspension fork some love? I took on a fun mid-week project servicing an old Fox fork—swapped out the seals, refreshed the fluid, and brought it back to life. It’s always satisfying to keep the older rigs running smooth. Don’t let those vintage mountain bikes collect dust—give them a little care and they’ll keep shredding for years.
Airplane parts for Jim – July. 28, 2025
I took a spin around Seattle through some of my favorite places to ride. Years back I took a ride with a friend who had just moved to Seattle and is a huge nerd for all things transportation. When we rode bikes past the train yard where airplane parts were being transported they freaked out with excitement. Caught the same sight on our ride. This shot is for Jim.
Recapping My Sea to Sky Adventure – July. 21, 2025
It was a great escape from the heat to take a week off up in Squamish BC for some rock climbing and a 2 night bikepacking trip following the Sea to Sky trail up to Pemberton. I reached my goal of jumping in at least three bodies of water daily and sampled all my favorite July berries.
Even got to watch someone bungee jump from a bridge the route cuts over. This photo features a particular section I loved that hugs the rock wall on a single track while giving a stunning view of the river valley and train tracks dropping below you. And it’s an out and back so I got to do it all over again noticing things from a new perspective.
If you’re curious about exploring this incredible route yourself, check out the full Sea to Sky Trail guide here: bikepacking.com/routes/bikepacking-sea-to-sky-trail.
Biking British Columbia – July. 14, 2025
I’m off this week biking the Sea to Sky trail in BC. Stay tuned for some follow up stories next week!
Master Wrapper Jake – July. 07, 2025
For those who didn’t know, Jacob is a master wrapper. Always a treat to see what new colorful highlight Cayce wants to add to his bike.
Make it Mine: Surly Karate Monkey Edition – July. 30, 2025
Another fun “Make-it-Mine” color customization for this customer’s new Surly Karate Monkey. Nice pick!
Mastering the Master Cylinder – June. 23, 2025
Sometime you gotta go deep to identify the problem… and why the master cylinder piston is sticking. This one was a success story and a fun project with Jake.
Sundown Bat Watching– June. 16, 2025
It’s bat time again! Which is a perfect destination for a sundown group ride to watch thousands of Mexican Free-Tailed bats taking flight from one of Tucson’s bat bridges. We didn’t see thousands this time. Were we late or are they just arriving? We’ll be back later this summer to see how many we can count.
Nailed It – June. 09, 2025
I attended a wedding last week outside of New Orleans and thanks to the sweetest of hosts we arrived to a set of bikes fixed up to help us get around town. All set up as single speeds, which was plenty to roll through the flat terrain, I was stoked on some of the creative fixes on these bikes.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a close up shot but when I went to raise my seat a nail fell to the ground. In re-securing the quick release I realized that the nail was being used as a shim for an undersized seatpost. I put it back in and it held like a charm. Use what you got and keep your bike rolling!
Fresh Wheels, Fresher Gears – June. 02, 2025
Good luck to Tommy and Laura as they head out on their next big tour with a fresh set of wheels and gear range to tackle the steepest of hills.
Adventure Storytelling Series – May. 26, 2025
For all our locals I hope you caught this week’s 6th iteration of the Adventure Storytelling Series, an ongoing storytelling event cohosted by Campfire and Roadrunner Bicycles, benefitting a slew of great local non profits.
This time with the theme of “Trails” we heard stories of life changing experiences on the trails of Arizona, with connecting threads of celebrating accomplishments, building friendships, and caring for the land and people we keep company with. I laughed, I cried, I left inspired. And hopefully a good amount of donations were raised to support the participating groups in all the great work they do. Shout out to Asha and the crew from BICAS for bringing their story to life with costumes, props, humor, and words to live by.
Saguaros in Bloom – May. 19, 2025
The days are getting longer and longer, morning rides are happening earlier and earlier, and our saguaros are really popping off with more blooms than I’ve seen in a while. If you’ve never seen a saguaro in bloom you’re missing out! These desert giants appear to be wearing flower crowns or holding out a bouquet from an arm.
Send it!!! – May. 12, 2025
This week we finally unboxed the board game that I had won from a Campfire’s white elephant gift exchange last winter…. Send it! I’m sorry Jake that I stole it from you but it was worth it. I love the hilarious rules and how often we all had to shout “send it!”
Not on the Forecast – May. 5, 2025
I never expected to get caught in a freezing rain on a ride in early May, but who knows what can happen these days. I had a great morning with my friend Hannah riding the owl head loop- The saguaro cactus were blooming, the desert smelled great, a sweet gift before the summer heat really sets in.
No Bike Stand Needed! – April. 28, 2025
I’ve been holding onto this one since our bikepacking trip to Colossal Cave. We all made it out to the campground with very few mechanical issues, and even those that arose were taken care of swiftly by very prepared riders. It wasn’t until we got to camp that we found a few more slow leaks and had a fun group session swapping repair tips, sharing tools, and congratulating ourselves for finding nature’s bike stand, as pictured.
Moving Week! – April. 21, 2025
It’s moving week! Thank you Campfire for providing me with this snail shell and plenty more cardboard boxes to facilitate the move. And don’t worry. I’m only moving three blocks further away from the shop.
Riding the Prescott Circle Trail– April. 14, 2025
I finally got to achieve a goal of mine, riding the Prescott Circle Trail. This incredible single track loop takes you around the entire Prescott basin with beautiful views, lots of fast smooth riding, a ton of elevation change, but very rideable. And a great escape from the heat.
Parker Canyon Overnighter with friends – April. 07, 2025
Last week I had the opportunity to take a couple visiting friends on their first overnight bikepacking trip. We were lucky to have so many incredible routes to pick from nearby.
We did an overnighter from Patagonia to Parker Canyon, caught one of the last cool weekends, saw a ton of birds, and a new route variant I wanted to try took us down a beautiful canyon full of Sycamore trees. It’s heating up now but I’ll be dreaming about more trips for next winter.