In 2018, Breaking Cycles began as a 5,400-mile solo bicycle journey across the United States.

Over four months, BrittanyMarie traveled from New York City to Tijuana, Mexico, meeting people inside prisons, shelters, transitional programs, reentry programs, and community organizations along the way.

The focus was incarceration: the experiences and circumstances that can shape a path toward prison, what happens when someone comes home, and what people need after serving time to build a stable life and reduce the likelihood of returning.

WHERE IT BEGAN

Map of a cross-country journey across the USA in 2018, starting in New York City and ending in Tijuana, with stops at Columbus, Chicago, Sioux Falls, Yellowstone, Sawtooth, Florence, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego. The map indicates a travel distance of 5,400 miles, duration of 4 months, and a bike trip, with icons for each detail.

The ride looked beyond convictions and statistics and into the lives behind them.

What brings someone into a cycle? What keeps that cycle moving? And what makes a different life possible afterward?

That journey became the foundation for Breaking Cycles.

Across 5,400 miles came wrong turns, mechanical failures, roadside conversations, borrowed beds, campgrounds, strangers who opened their doors, and long stretches with nothing but road ahead.

But the miles were never what lasted. The people were.

The ways we reach for one another. The instinct to contribute. To matter. To belong to something larger than ourselves.

That stayed with BrittanyMarie long after the bicycle was put away. It resurfaced through years of travel, service, creativity, and community, until something larger began to take shape.

Long before The Sanctuary had a name, its first foundations were already there.

Not in a blueprint. In the people who showed up.

ALONG THE ROAD

A PARTNERSHIP THAT CONTINUES

Breaking Cycles first partnered with Sheltered Yoga in 2018.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Sheltered Yoga brings evidence-based, trauma-informed programming into shelters, treatment and reentry settings, schools, and community spaces, with work spanning mental and behavioral health, mindfulness, life skills, and support.

Nearly a decade later, the partnership continues. Sheltered Yoga returns as fiscal sponsor for Breaking Cycles 2027.

SHELTERED YOGA →

THE COMMUNITY BEHIND THE MILES

The ride was solo. The journey never was.

Across four months and 5,400 miles, people found their own ways into Breaking Cycles. Some purchased gear or sent supplies. Others offered a place to sleep, shared a meal, made an introduction, opened a door, or helped solve whatever the road presented next.

Some were brief encounters. Others became friendships that lasted far beyond the final mile.

There was no single way to support the journey. What mattered was that people chose to step in.

Years later, some of those connections remain.

So does the lesson:

Community is not measured by how much someone can give, but by the willingness to show up.

GEAR

HOSTS

Local knowledge, introductions, and practical support.

RESOURCES

CONNECTION

People met along the way who remain part of life today.

Homes, campsites, and spare rooms that gave the journey somewhere to land.

Equipment and supplies that kept the ride moving.

Crossing a country by bicycle leaves little room for excess. Every ounce has to earn its place. Every piece of gear has a job.

Over 5,400 miles, the tent became home. Panniers became a closet. A repair kit became insurance against whatever waited between one town and the next.

Cameras, batteries, and navigation gear carried something else: the responsibility to document the people, places, and stories unfolding along the road.

Much of that equipment arrived through donations, one practical piece at a time.

The gear list became another record of the people who helped carry Breaking Cycles across the country.

THE GEAR THAT CARRIED

THE RIDE

    • Trek Transport ★

    • Specialized S3 MT Helmet ★

    • IBERA Panniers ×2 ★

    • IBERA Quick Release Bags ×2

    • CoolChange Front Frame Pannier Bag ★

    • Selle Royal Respiro Seat ★

    • CamelBak Podium Ice Water Bottles ×2 ★

    • Bontrager Race Lite Rear Cage Holder ★

    • Cell Phone Holder ★

    • Bar Fly 4 Road Max GoPro Mount ★

    • Kryptonite U-Lock + Cable ★

    • Elasticated Cargo Nets ×2 ★

    • Bungee Cords ★

    • GlowPRO Tire LED Stem Caps ★

    • Specialized Torch Road Shoes ★

    • Baleaf Padded Cycling Shorts ×2 ★

    • Pearl Izumi Pro Leader Jersey ★

    • GORE Windstopper Base Layer ★

    • Visijax City Ace Cycling Jacket ★

    • Tough Headband Moisture-Wicking Headband ★

    • LMD Windproof Leg Warmers ★

    • RockBros Shoe Covers ★

    • L.L.Bean Adventure Dome 2-Person Tent ★

    • Kelty Cosmic Down 20 Sleeping Bag ★

    • Sea to Summit Reactor Thermolite Sleeping Bag Liner ★

    • Klymit Insulated Static V Lite Sleeping Pad ★

    • MalloMe Backpacking Cookware Kit

    • Etekcity Ultralight Backpacking Stove

    • MPOWERD Luci Lights ×2 ★

    • Navisafe Headlamp ★

    • LifeStraw Water Filter

    • Youphoria Travel Towel ★

    • Roomi Toiletry Bag ★

    • Bathing Suit

    • Sandals

    • Running Shoes

    • Toiletries

    • First Aid Kit ★

    • Survival Sewing + Repair Kit ★

    • Pocket Knife Set ★

    • Leatherman Wave ★

    • Emergency Double-Sided Blanket ★

    • Light & Motion Vis 180 Micro Taillight ★

    • Light & Motion Urban 350 Headlight ★

    • Electric Horn Siren

    • Pedro’s Tire Levers ★

    • Topeak Road Morph G Bike Pump ★

    • Tri-Flow Lubricant ★

    • Patch Kit

    • Zip Ties ★

    • Mirrycle MTB Mirror

    • GlowPRO Tire LED Stem Caps ★

    • Garmin Edge Touring GPS ★

    • FUSAR Camera + Emergency Detector (Sponsor)

    • iPad Air

    • GoPro Hero4 Silver

    • Canon EOS Rebel T6i + 18–55mm Lens

    • Pro Zoom SLR Camera Cover

    • Gorillapod SLR-Zoom Mini Tripod

    • Sirui T-004X Tripod + C-10S Ball Head

    • DJI Phantom 4 Drone

    • My Passport External Drive

    • Audio-Technica AT803 Clip-On Condenser Mic

    • RAVPower FileHub Router ★

    • EC Technology 22400mAh External Battery ★

★ Donated for the 2018 ride

Breaking Cycles 2018 was built with more than determination and a loaded bicycle.

Sponsors put equipment on the bike, resources behind the miles, and expertise behind the mission.

Their support became part of the ride itself, helping BrittanyMarie travel farther, document more, and carry Breaking Cycles across the country.

THE SPONSORS BEHIND THE RIDE

With gratitude to the organizations that helped make 5,400 miles possible.

WHAT THE ROAD SET IN MOTION

By the final mile, Breaking Cycles had become bigger than the ride that started it.

What BrittanyMarie carried forward was not a conclusion, but a pattern she kept seeing: people reaching for purpose, connection, a way to contribute, and somewhere to belong.

In 2027, Breaking Cycles returns for a second continent, traveling from Portugal to Turkey with a specific focus on domestic violence and addiction.

Beyond the ride, the lessons of 2018 kept unfolding through years of travel, service, creativity, and community, eventually helping shape another vision: The Sanctuary.

A future place where community, creativity, meaningful work, restoration, and belonging are given room to grow.

2018 was not where the story ended.
It was where everything that followed began.

EXPLORE THE 2027 RIDE
DISCOVER THE SANCTUARY