Quiet Giants: Lost in the Woods is ‘in the business of building community’ through biking & beers

DELAWARE — One might say the owners behind Lost in the Woods built a business around J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous line, “Not all those who wander are lost.”

The mountain biking, cycling-focused business, that also features a tavern, is located at 5175 Cheshire Road in Galena. It aims to bring people together in the great outdoors, sprinkling in the spirits.

But before owners Todd Sill and James Phillips opened their shop in 2024, which borders the Alum Creek Phase 2 mountain biking trail, a non-profit organization actually came first.

“In 2021, we started a non-profit organization called Lost in the Woods MTB,” Phillips said. “It’s a youth development for mountain biking. We have 120 student-athletes and 60 adult, volunteer coaches in the current season.

“It’s a combination of competition but also development for the kids who don’t even want to race. But about 80% of the team does race in the Ohio Mountain Bike series,” he said. “The other 20% are just out there for development and fun.”

The nonprofit organization started with 21 students and grew quickly. Combining with two other bike shops in the area closing their doors, Phillips said cyclists were pushing for Lost in the Woods (LITW) to open a shop.

“We opened out of this little house [in 2024] and we’ve doubled revenue the first two years just out of this little house,” Phillips said.

It started as we don’t want to get lost and then it turned into, yeah we do. We want to go get lost in the woods away from everything.

Lost in the Woods co-owner James Phillips

Even though he admitted starting a nonprofit first and a for-profit storefront second is backwards business, it worked.

“We created the mountain biking community with the nonprofit, and then we opened up the shop and supported that community,” he said.

“I mentioned the athletes and the coaches, but then there’s other family members who ride. There was probably 250-plus riders that were forming just from that non-profit organization.”

A thought turned into a name, then a business

Phillips and Sill became friends after their wives met first in the mid-2000s.

Phillips said Sill’s wife came to him for advice on a road bike to get Sill as a surprise Father’s Day gift. After that, the two men started riding all across the country together.

“The full story goes all the way back to around 2004. James and I have been riding together forever,” Sill said. “I swore I would never race and he finally talked me into it. We went through the Leadville Series and raced all over the country.

“But during our races together, we’d always talk about how at some point we’d like to open a bike shop. I retired at the end 2024, sold a business out of Delaware called Inno-Pack to a private equity firm, and that point I called James.”

As the two men sat together in Cheshire Market in 2024, a friend of theirs walked over to the then-Cheshire Road residence and convinced the owners to sell the home.

But Phillips said the Lost in the Woods name actually came long before the nonprofit and storefront.

“In 2013, that’s when we started to get really serious with racing, started winning races and we decided to do a 12-hour relay race with the two of us and one of our other friends,” Phillips said.

“When you go to these 12- or 24-hour races, they want you to have a team name and this race was in southern Indiana. As we’re driving to the race, we kept asking ourselves ‘What are we going to do? What are we going to do?’ and it was our first time using lights because it was at night.

“One of us just said ‘Hopefully, we don’t get lost.’ And then Lost in the Woods just came out.

“It started as we don’t want to get lost and then it turned into, yeah we do. We want to go get lost in the woods away from everything.”

Team Lost in the Woods won that race in southern Indiana.

A place for the community

Lost in the Woods is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays during the warmer months.

The shop-plus-tavern is closed on Mondays year round, and Sundays during the winter months.

What makes the business unique from other bike shops is not just the favorable hours and the fact they serve beer, wine and seltzers — it’s the location.

“We want this place to be a community home,” Sill said. “We really wanted a property that backed up to a trail.

“If you look at the vision of this, to have a bike shop, have a tavern and then have a trail where people can come hang out, have a drink and just spend some time — it’s nice.”

While the Alum Creek trail system is the one that riders can access from LITW’s backyard, both owners mentioned that Berlin Township trustees have kicked around the idea of building a path that goes right past the business and connects to the Ohio to Erie Trail.

Although that would be a boon to their business, the owners said that trail connection is years from reality.

Regardless, Phillips said LITW is rider-led, rider-focused and not solely profit-driven.

We’re not in it for the money, we’re in it to build the community.

lost in the woods co-owner james phillips

For the 12 part-time workers, three full-time employees and numerous volunteers who help service bikes, coach riders, lead weekly rides, give private lessons, guide youth camps, look out for each other on rides, sell bikes, offer rental bikes, serve drinks, etc., the mission is simple — get out there.

No matter what type of bike someone rides or what their skill level is, LITW has something and someone for everyone.

“We’re in the business of building community, and at Lost in the Woods people get the opportunity to do something that’s healthy physically and mentally,” Phillips said.

LITW house isn’t a forever home

When community support is strong, growth follows suit — which is also true for LITW.

In partnership with the Central Ohio Mountain Biking Organization (COMBO) and the Gators youth mountain biking team, the group raised over $20,000 during an event for Pelotonia.

LITW hosted a band called Gators Underground for the event, consisting of dads who have kids that are part of Gators, and had no idea what they were in for.

“We built a stage for them and they played in our backyard, but we had probably 150 people show up,” Phillips said. “We thought maybe 30 or 40 people would come, but we were packed. You couldn’t move.”

Before this event, the plan for a new LITW building was already in motion — but the Pelotonia event put into perspective how much the business needed a bigger space.

Fortunately, the LITW community won’t have to go far as the business’ new building will be about 15 to 20 steps from their current porch in the neighboring lot.

“The target for the new building was actually to dig around Oct. 1, it’s now not going to happen until the first week of December,” Sill said.

“The hope was that it was going to be June 1, but now my guess is sometime mid-summer the new building will be up and ready to roll.”

It will feature a full basement that will house the rental-bike part of the business, the main floor will include the bike shop/service center and retail areas, and a part of the tavern with new taps will also be on the main floor.

“The tavern will be part inside and have a whole covered deck outside with outdoor seating,” Sill said. “And then up top inside, there will be a training room, two bathrooms with showers and an office.”

The front of the new building will also feature a large front porch where riders can park their bikes and sit after coming off the trail.

“It’s really important that people realize the entire time [construction is going on], we’re going to be open,” Sill said. “This [house] is going to stay open until we are completely into the other building.

“Once we are fully moved into the new building, [the house] will come down completely and it’ll be parking.”

Next summer will be a big one for Lost in the Woods.

“We’re also planning to host a youth camp every week of the summer, because those sold out quickly and the kids had a blast,” Phillips said.

“Between the rentals, camps and clinics those are easy ways for people to come get engaged without spending thousands of dollars on a bike.

“Those are all things that are a big part of building the community and that we’re really excited about and are expecting to blow up.”