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Bike Shop Life

Bike Shop Life

Written by: Ethan Johnson
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About this listen

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. These stories and interviews are from his perspective and those he brings into the Bike Shop Life stratosphere. Join Ethan as he searches for the secret to what brings people like himself to choose this line of work as a career. Bike shops are a great example of the classic American small business model, one that is more and more scarce by the day as technology and convenience slowly take over. Independent bike shops continue to fight for survival and relevancy as they evolve or dissolve with the times. Why won't we give up? Tune in as we find out why... Support Bike Shop Life by: 1. Subscribing on your favorite player!2. Giving us a [positive] review on your favorite platform!3. Give me a follow on Instagram at @bikeshoplifepod 4. Donate to @CampusEthan on Venmo (mention Bike Shop Life!) or Donate to the Campus Cycling Collective, Inc. at www.campuscyclingcollective.com

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Episodes
  • Episode 22: Ethan Goes to College

    Episode 22: Ethan Goes to College
    Mar 4 2026

    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...

    Thanks for listening!

    Intro/Outro: Little acoustic ditty I've been working on for way too long. Like maybe 2009? Some day it'll be a song. For now its still a work in progress.

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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Episode 21: Catch up: September 2021 to December 2023 a Summary...

    Episode 21: Catch up: September 2021 to December 2023 a Summary...
    Dec 20 2023

    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 are. Going to give it a go once again and make you-all some content!

    Thanks for tuning in!

    Intro/Outro: Little acoustic ditty I've been working on for way too long. Like maybe 2009? Some day it'll be a song. For now its still a work in progress. 
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    2 hrs and 12 mins
  • Episode 20: Cross in the Park 2021

    Episode 20: Cross in the Park 2021
    Sep 16 2021

    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 cow bell to get people off the side lines and onto the starting line. Cyclocross is the best discipline of cycling to begin at, and it's pretty great to be ok at... Come join me.

    Thanks for tuning in!

    Intro/Outro: DIRT WAR "C.P.S." off of their album Loss. DIRT WAR was a Buffalo band consisting of one former and one current co-worker. 3/4 members are cyclists. Seemed only fitting I include them on this episode as they have helped make this race happen in the past. Check them out at https://dirtwar716.bandcamp.com/album/loss
    Commercial Audio by Jack Toft off an original Campus Commercial from 2012.
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    1 hr and 6 mins
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