How we started The Breakaway (Part 1 of 2)

How did this all start?

It was 2019 headed into 2020. COVID hadn’t hit but it was on the horizon. After almost 15 years in the Bay Area, my family took the risk and opportunity to move to Truckee, California. We went seeking the mountain air, winter, and a quieter way of life.

But The Breakaway started well before this. I grew up racing bikes in New Jersey. I did my first 100 miles at age 10, started racing at age 11 and moved to Colorado to test myself against the best in the world at age 20.

I was fortunate to learn quickly that I wouldn’t make a living racing a bike, but to also make lifelong friends, and race and train with the best in the world. I’m still honored to have toed the line with names we all know. One of the friends I made there was Christian Vande Velde, who was starting his career with US Postal at the time.

In the early 2000’s I moved to San Francisco, and across multiple startups, as well as a stint at Google, I wound up as an early tester, and employee, at Strava. Those were amazing days looking back, tryng to explain to people ‘what’ Strava was, and ‘why’ they should try it out.

So here we were in 2019/2020. A life of cycling, tech and Strava behind me, and I found myself in winter for the first time in over 2 decades. This was my first experience with Zwift and Peloton. What happened in that 2019/2020 time in my garage was the genesis for The Breakaway. Three things came together:

1. I got strong! I rode indoors for the first time in over 20 years and I got strong. Really strong. I hit spring 2020 hitting numbers I hadn’t seen in a long time!
2. I got frustrated! There were so many apps, so much data, and none of it was telling me what to do to improve. I was fortunate to be able to call people like Christian and other World Class coaches but why hadn’t someone solved this before.
3. I reached out! I talked to friends, former colleagues and more, to see what was here, not here, and who else felt this struggle.

So there I was, as COVID rolled in. I had an itch that needed scratching. I was convinced someone would solve this eventually. Maybe it should be me…