Everything is bigger in Texas: meet the group ride regularly attracting 800 cyclists

The anticipation builds all month. And when that Saturday approaches, and the Breakfast Club hosts their monthly supported group ride, Austin is awash with cyclists all headed to the same place. 

Hundreds gather for the free pre-ride coffee and nutrition while police escorts stand at the ready to safely guide the swarm of riders through a predesignated route. The ride is fast but friendly — a monthly opportunity to test your legs while catching up with all your bike friends and linger over post-ride food and beers for hours afterward. And then, next month, we do it all over again. 

Austin, Texas, has long been a cycling haven. With the gorgeous Hill Country to the west of town, sprawling open roads to the east and trails throughout, folks ride through the mild, sunny winters and the scorching summers.

But in early 2020, right before the cycling explosion of the COVID pandemic, Jake Ritter, Justin Siegal, Matt Randall and Grant Rogers unknowingly began something that would evolve into a movement that would forever change group rides in Austin—and even around the country. It began with four friends looking for a fun way to spend their Saturday morning, meeting every week for a two-hour hilly ride followed by breakfast at a local restaurant.

While the group paused their rides briefly when COVID first hit, they officially launched the Breakfast Club in August 2020 with an Instagram account that announced its weekly rides to the public. Because so many cycling newcomers had taken up cycling during the pandemic — and were ready to return to some semblance of social normality — interest was high. The rides started with 20 or so people but grew quickly. By the end of the year, attendance was so high that an A and B group were introduced, accommodating different skill levels with two route distances and ride paces. The Breakfast Club also began hosting a weekly Babes ride on Wednesday nights, for women to get together for a short hilly ride followed by dinner and drinks.

“There are tons of cycling groups in Austin, but many of them can be intimidating to newer riders due to pace or distance or size,” says Jordie Ammons, The Breakfast Club’s Chief Operating Officer (a.k.a., “Mom”). “The main focus of the Babes ride is to meet new women interested in cycling, learn something new, climb some hills, and finish it with a glass of wine (or two!).”

By 2022, the Saturday rides had reached well over 200 people, which were split into four groups of varying levels and lengths, including a no-drop social ride. They reduced their ride cadence from weekly to monthly—a change that gave them the bandwidth to truly reimagine what group rides could look like with the support of brand partners and support vehicles. The Breakfast Club started doing more pop-up events—including rides in other cities—and launched a Slack channel to encourage the community to organize their own rides outside all of the Breakfast Club offerings.

Nowadays, the Breakfast Club is bigger and better than ever. Their largest ride to date, one of their classic hilly routes, was held in August 2023 and attracted nearly 800 riders. They also take it out of Austin with special rides like their annual birthday trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico as well as rides out of the Meteor Cafes in Dallas, Texas and Bentonville, Arkansas.

People travel from out of town to experience the Saturday Breakfast Club in all its glory, including Justin Williams, Leader of L39ION Los Angeles (and more recently, founder of the Austin Outlaws), who came away impressed, stating:

“The Breakfast Club has to be one of the most unique mass rides in the country,” says Williams. “The vibe of the event just feels different; it comes off as more of a run club than a group ride.

“My experience was excellent, complete with coffee, and it felt like a trendy hangout rather than a cycling Fondo. Breakfast Club has masterfully curated events that are positive and inviting. It’s just what cycling needs. I can’t wait for my next one.”

Despite the huge attendance of these rides, the intent of the Breakfast Club is to offer a community event that is as inclusive and safe as possible. Each group not only has multiple ride leaders but also front and back police escorts, who safeguard the riders through the open roads. The ride leaders (sometimes over five per group, depending on group size) are all equipped with radios to communicate with other ride leaders and police escorts. This rolling enclosure ride has an expense similar to that of an escorted gran-fondo and is funded through brand partners and merch sales.

Recently, to continue covering operating costs and building community, the paid club membership was launched. While the rides will continue to be free for everyone, the paid membership offers exclusive perks from partners, like free drip coffee and tires, plus discounts on kits, gear, nutrition, and more. They also launched an app, free for all, to manage membership as well as provide the community with an interactive schedule, safety best practices, and more to come,

The best part about Breakfast Club—and what makes it so popular—is that there truly is something for everyone.

“We’ve always emphasized the breakfast part—meeting others and spending time together after the ride—over the ride itself,” says Grant Rogers, co-founder (a.k.a “Head Chef”). “We have a pace group for everyone and feel that our ‘come as you are’ approach and ability to meet folks where they’re at has attracted all ends of the sport. At any odd ride, you might see someone on flat pedals with a dog in a basket starting and finishing a ride at the same time as a professional WorldTour cyclist, so long as they both leave the ego at home and show up to ride with and enjoy the company of others.”

Breakfast Club's impact has extended far beyond the hundreds of folks who have benefited from increased inclusivity and safety of group riding in Austin. When we talked to Rogers, he fondly recalled two people who met at a Breakfast Club Ride, started dating, got married, and now have a baby daughter who attends the after-ride breakfasts.

“Breakfast Club has changed my life, and I’ve seen firsthand how it can positively impact the lives of others as well,” he says. “All of the time and energy put into BC is returned in spades through everyone who is a part of it, and that is what keeps us passionate about continuing to put effort into this crazy thing.”