Bike Shop Life is a podcast about the life and times of an independent bike shop located in Buffalo, New York called Campus WheelWorks. Campus is a community-centric, urban, full service shop that puts on over 50 events a year! We cater to all kinds of cyclists and therefore have an interesting mix of clientele and staff. No two days at Campus are the same... The host, Ethan Johnson is a 30 year veteran of the bike industry. He is an active participant in cycling as well as the shop Co-owner.…
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Episode 22: Ethan Goes to College
Milo or Ethan, rather goes to college... That's right. On year 30 of his bike shop life Ethan is forced to search out another craft to hone. He finds GIS as his next passion and goes back to complete a long abandoned undergrad degree at UB. Come lend your ear while he walks you through the multi-year journey that has led to this transition. Will the Bike Shop Life continue, tune in to find out...…
Episode 21: Catch up: September 2021 to December 2023 a Summary...
So... It's been over 2 years since my last episode. I've been busy riding the roller coaster of the Bike Shop Life... Boom. Bust. We. Are. Still. Here. The show must go on. So much has happened. I run through some of it and get you-all caught up on what we've been up to. Expansion. Closing a store. It's been a wild ride. Most of which I did not want to re-live through podcasting, lol. But here we…
Cross in the Park is our (Campus WheelWorks/Campus Cycling Collective, Inc.) biggest event of the year. Cross in the Park 2021 is this coming Sunday September 19th. I had been fielding many questions regarding our race, cross races in general, and USA Cycling / Bikereg.com related questions. I decided to answer as many of them as I could in one place... here. This is also my annual ringing of the…
Episode 19: Buffalo vs The Catskill Bike Packing Route Part 3 (Ethan's Story)
Part three of this saga is the event solely from my perspective. This episode includes all the live audio I recorded while on the route. It captures a bit of the emotion and sounds of walking riding or flying down dirt roads, moments of clarity, moments of insanity. I hope you enjoy this third and final part from our adventures on the Catskill Bike Packing Route. From the New York State Adventure…
Episode 18: Buffalo vs The Catskill Bikepacking Route (The Aftermath)
We went, we saw, some of us conquered and some of us were conquered... Welcome to the aftermath interview of our attempt of the Catskill Bikepacking Route. Please enjoy our stories of triumph and tribulation. From their website: “This self supported bikepacking route is not a race. There is no entry fee, no starting gun, and no cheering finish line. The 250+ mile route circumnavigates the Catskill…
Episode 17: Buffalo vs The Catskill Bikepacking Route (Before)
5 guys from Buffalo are traveling to the Catskill Mountians this Friday (June 11th) to attempt the Catskill Bikepacking Route. I gathered them around a table and had a little before interview. I hope you enjoy it. We will be following up a week after the event for part 2 The Aftermath... From their website: “This self supported bikepacking route is not a race. There is no entry fee, no starting…
So you want to be a bike mechanic? Welcome to part three of my conversation with Patrick Meszler. It took an entire episode for Pat to tell us how he got into the bike industry. AN ENTIRE EPISODE. From walking into a barn-basement-bike-shop near Utica, NY at 15 to working at Campus, not once but thrice. Now we will move onto what his life has been like working in Campus and find out what makes him…
So you want to be a bike mechanic? Welcome to part two of my conversation with Patrick Meszler. Today we move onto the question of how Pat got into the bike industry. From walking into a barn-basement-bike-shop near Utica, NY at 15 to working at Campus, not once but thrice, he has followed a unique path. I hope you enjoy hearing about it. Thanks for tuning in! Intro/Outro: Original music by Art…
Welcome to the beginning of my conversation with Patrick Meszler. Pat has a deep bike racing history all the way back to starting out as a junior road racer. He has been in, out and about of the bike industry since around the same time. His relatively recent love has become bike touring and bike packing. Last year he completed the Great Diving Mountain Bike Route from Banff, Canada to (New)…
Part 2 of my second interview in a series of conversations with folks who embody adventure by bike. Ryan is a lifelong cyclist, adventurer, mountaineer, bike racer and now bikepacker. He recently completed the TATR a 585 mile self supported bikepacking race in the Adirondacks. We will cover that event in depth as well as touch on several other epic adventures he has completed, for your…