Founder Introductions - Dave Zabriskie

You Can’t Pedal Through a Concussion. Dave Zabriskie Tried. Now, He’s Helping Others Do Better.

"When you’re in the thick of it, survival feels like progress. But sometimes, the most dangerous thing is the illusion that you’re okay."
— inspired by Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

Dave Zabriskie knows what it takes to go all in. He spent over a decade on the World Tour, earning his reputation as one of the strongest time trialists the U.S. has ever produced. He won stages at the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, and Vuelta a España - the first American to do so - and stood atop more than a few podiums. His focus was total. His discipline, relentless.

But pro cycling isn’t just about victory—it’s about endurance in all its forms. The kind the cameras capture, and the kind they don’t.

In the early days of his career, during a crash at Redlands, Zabriskie was knocked unconscious for 15 minutes. He woke up in a helicopter, disoriented and alone. There were no protocols, no guidance—just a vague notion that if nothing was broken, you got back on the bike. Like most athletes, he did what he was told. Or more accurately, he did what no one told him not to.

“It wasn’t that we ignored head injuries,” he says now. “It’s that nobody really knew what to do with them.”

That moment didn’t define his career—but it did plant the seed for what would come after. Years later, when the lights of competition had dimmed and the adrenaline wore off, the fog rolled in: memory gaps, mood swings, a dull, persistent feeling that something just wasn’t right. And no roadmap for how to fix it.

That helplessness—the sense of being a passenger in his own recovery—became the force behind Cognitive Protocol.

Founded by Zabriskie and wellness innovator Scott Thomson, Cognitive Protocol is more than a supplement line. It’s a system designed to give people agency over their cognitive health—especially in the critical window after head trauma, when most are left with little more than rest and crossed fingers.

For Zabriskie, it wasn’t enough to accept that feeling lost and foggy was just the price of a hard-charging life. With Thomson’s support, he immersed himself in the science of brain healing and recovery, connected with doctors, researchers, and natural wellness leaders. The result is a science-backed, easy-to-follow protocol designed to bring clarity and support to people when they need it most.

And this isn’t just for athletes. The average person doesn’t need to ride 100 miles to relate to what Zabriskie went through. Most people know what it feels like to not feel like themselves—to stare at a phone and forget why they picked it up, to lose words mid-sentence, to feel their sharpness fade.

That’s the magic of what he’s building: a high-performance solution for real-life brains. Because in the same way athletes build their bodies with deliberate effort, anyone can train and support their brain—especially during recovery.

"We’ve been reactive about brain injuries for too long,” Zabriskie says. “You get hurt, and then you're told to wait and hope. We’re flipping that script. This is about stepping in, taking action, and feeling like you're actually part of your own recovery.”

Cognitive Protocol isn’t a cure. It’s a toolset. It’s a routine. It’s the shift from uncertainty to ownership.

And for Zabriskie, it’s a continuation of what he’s always done—devote himself, fully, to something that matters. Only now, the goal isn’t to shave seconds off a race clock. It’s to give people the power to reclaim their minds.