If Daniel were to describe building a Vancouver-based cycling apparel brand with a community-first mindset, he’d compare it to Paris–Roubaix: brutal, chaotic, full of crashes and punctures, but with moments of joy and the thrill of overcoming the unexpected. It’s a fitting metaphor for someone who’s spent much of his life on two wheels, but the road to launching a company wasn’t a breakaway win—it was built on lonely hours, uncomfortable learning curves, and the discipline to keep showing up.
The brand’s name, ENLESCE, reflects that same spirit—a blend of “endless” and “coalesce,” symbolizing the ongoing effort and the sense of community Daniel wants to build around cycling
Danish Roots and Riding
Daniel Barslund grew up in Denmark, and spent most of his adult life prior in Copenhagen—one of the best biking cities in the world—before moving to Vancouver in late 2023.
At 13, when his parents encouraged him to get a job, Daniel ended up at a local bike shop. “There were a couple of other young people working there,” he says, “and it just felt like the obvious choice to start riding bikes then.”
Though he began racing shortly after, he gravitated more toward long rides than short bursts of speed. “I liked races that were two, two and a half hours and more. I liked the hills and the longer, steadier rides more than the flat-out, high-intensity racing that’s typical for younger riders,” he explains. “I was riding at a high level and competing and having fun with it, but I never really had the aspiration of going pro. I was a mediocre cyclist.”
Despite his self proclaimed mediocrity as a cyclist, Daniel was offered a job with Specialized’s sales team in the Netherlands after high school. It was about a thousand kilometres from home—and with even fewer hills—but he packed a car, drove to the Netherlands and found a place to live.
A Taste of the Pro Life
“Specialized was the best job I've ever had to this date,” he says.
It was about more than just the gear and group rides, although there was the occasional taste of the pro lifestyle—“They took care of your bike, they took care of all your gear, all your equipment needs, everything,” he says. “You had someone giving you equipment you’d never be able to buy otherwise. I was riding S-Works everything.” And it wasn’t just about the gear or group.
“We had so much fun,” Daniel says. “Like, sure, I enjoyed all the bike riding and the cool rides we did and, you know, riding with your coworkers and all that. But it was really the community we had at the company—on the sales floor, in the office. We just had such a good time.”
That community vibe spilled over into some memorable pranks too. “We’d mess with each other’s computers or desks,” Daniel laughs. “There was one coworker—he loved his morning cappuccino. One day we put, like, twenty cappuccinos on his desk before he got in. He was pissed.”
Why?
“There were twenty,” Daniel says. “And he had to deal with them.”
It was during this time he also started taking his training more seriously, working with a proper professional coach for the first time.
“That changed my training completely,” he says. “He flipped it upside down—from doing 15–18 hour weeks to cutting it down to 10, and I was performing better than I ever had.”
Putting in the Work
That period wasn’t just about chasing results on the bike—it was when Daniel started dialing in all the other pieces: training, fueling, recovering, and learning how to work hard for what he wanted.
“I wasn’t a naturally gifted rider,” he says. “A lot of people with talent have so much talent that they get lazy. They don't have to work that hard and they are still winning their races but they're actually not putting in their best effort. Whereas, I knew if I didn't put in my best effort, I would not even get close to a result.” Without the luxury of natural talent, Daniel made up for it by outworking everyone else. He trained hard, held himself to a high standard, and zeroed in on every small detail that might help him improve. “I became really competitive with myself. I always wanted to make sure I never left anything on the table.”
He got strategic about fueling—staying on top of hydration, eating something every 30 minutes, and figuring out whether bars, gels, or homemade snacks worked best for him. He even experimented with supplements like protein and beta-alanine, though not everyone understood the point. “My parents’ generation was like, ‘Oh my god, why are you taking protein powder? That’s for bodybuilders!’” he laughs.
But to Daniel, it was all part of the same commitment. “I trained as hard as I could, always to the best of my ability and always trying to improve. That ability to focus on the process and the development, to really work on yourself and get better—that’s something I’m really benefiting from now in business,” he adds. “You have to set a goal, work hard toward it, and make sure you don’t look back and say you could’ve done more.”
Shifting Gears
By early 2016, cycling had taken over Daniel’s life. While he loved the culture and the community at Specialized, eventually, it felt like too much.
“[Cycling] was everything,” Daniel says. “It was what I spent all my time doing. It was where I saw all my friends. It was what we always talked about. I lived it 24/7—and it just became too much.”
So he stepped back. He left the industry, moved to Copenhagen, and went to university—first for a business degree, then a master’s in finance. He pivoted entirely, spending the next five years working in investment banking.
Exams and finance taught Daniel how to break down problems he didn’t yet understand—how to take something unfamiliar, simplify it, and work methodically from A to B. And in the background, he was quietly building a mental framework for what it would take to build something of his own.
He wasn’t interested in pitching ideas endlessly or daydreaming about startups that never happened. “My worst nightmare is walking around talking about a business idea for years without doing anything about it.” What he wanted was to build something where the product made sense—and was worth the time, energy, and risk.
Instead of getting caught up in mood boards or names, Daniel started with all the reasons the idea shouldn’t work. He made a list, “If I can’t find a supplier willing to create a premium product with me, can’t source it at a competitive price, face MOQs (Minimum Order Quantities) that are too high, or can’t get traction on social media — kill it.”
That focus on viability is what took ENLESCE from a concept to launch in barely a year: Daniel landed in Vancouver in late 2023, began seriously developing the idea in spring 2024, and by April 2025, the brand was live.
The inspiration came fast once he landed. “[Cycling] was my entry into building community and meeting friends,” he says. “I literally experienced moving to a place where you don’t know that many people and you build a group of people around you in a very short amount of time through cycling. And I was like, ‘this is great.’”
But his business brain was still turned on. “I kept thinking—where are the brands? You’ve got these strong cycling communities in Vancouver, but no local brands building around them. You see it in major cities around the world—brands that lean into community creating communities and lifting them up. But here, you just have the communities.”
That missing link between community and brand became the opening for ENLESCE.
Building a Brand and Creating Community
Coming from Europe, Daniel was used to a different kind of cycling culture—one that was deeply embedded in everyday life, more accessible, and in many ways, more structured. Club memberships were cheaper, fondos were more affordable, and infrastructure tended to be more bike-friendly. “Cycling communities here are incredible,” he noted of Vancouver, “but the existing rides and clubs are often run on a volunteer basis with limited time and resources. A brand doesn’t have those constraints.”
The idea for a cycling apparel brand started there: not just with the product, but with the community around it. Daniel wanted to create something modern and authentic that tapped into Vancouver’s fitness culture and all the ways people move and connect here and that could further lift the community up while also bringing a bit of that European structure into the mix.
But building a community is never easy. Daniel recalls the early days of hosting rides:
“We had a ride where I think, like, two people showed up. And I didn’t realize how much you actually have to put yourself out there—your reputation, your pride, your feelings are all on the line. It’s tough to go home after an event like that and then do it all again the next week. But the week after that, more people showed up. Then ten people. It’s uncomfortable, but things take time.”
That quiet persistence comes directly from cycling. Over years of racing and training, Daniel learned to push through setbacks, structure his time, and stay focused on what matters. Whether it’s training or launching a brand, the mindset is the same: action is everything. You have to show up and do the work when no one’s watching, and keep going even when the results aren’t immediate.
“You don’t get better from the first rep,” he says. “You get better by doing something for months and months, even when it’s hard, even when it’s not perfect.”
He also talks about learning to embrace discomfort—not as a barrier, but as a sign you’re on the right path. In the off-season, you feel slow. When you’re starting a business, things go wrong. But you trust the plan, and you keep showing up. “It’s okay to suck sometimes,” he says. “It’s part of the process.”
Daniel was never under any illusion that building something like ENLESCE was going to be easy—or even always fun. It has meant saying no to a lot of things. Less downtime. Less balance. Less time with friends.
“If I hadn't started this business, my sacrifice would be feeling a little bit stuck and I wouldn't be excited about what I was doing.”
Finding a Balance
Right now, balance is less about managing chaos and more about creating structure. “It’s something I’ve learned from cycling,” Daniel says. “It’s not just how hard you go on the bike—it’s how you fuel, how you sleep, how you take care of yourself. That’s what makes the performance possible.”
For him, that looks like structuring his day around deep focus in the morning, riding in the afternoon, and making sure the foundations—sleep, nutrition, mental clarity—aren’t being neglected. “If I don’t feel sharp mentally, I can’t perform physically, and I can’t run a business well either,” he says.
That’s where supplementation plays a role, too. Daniel first started using beta-alanine back in his Specialized days, and now takes Blonyx Beta Alanine—along with HMB+ Creatine, Hydra+, and Beet It Sport Top Up 100. “Honestly, it’s the creatine that’s been the game changer,” he says. “It helps me focus. It sharpens me up. I take it with me when I travel. It’s just part of my routine now.”
At first, it wasn’t even about performance. “I got interested in creatine because of the cognitive benefits,” he explains. “I care less about lifting heavier in the gym—and more about staying focused, getting my work done, and still having the energy to ride.”
It’s part of a bigger theme for Daniel: building resilience through structure. From morning routines to nutrition to training blocks, it’s not about intensity—it’s about consistency. “You don’t get better from one hard ride. You get better from showing up every week.”
What’s Up the Road?
On the bike, Daniel is gearing up for a few late-season crit races, driven by wanting to keep up with—and maybe even drop—a few friends who’ve been pushing the pace lately. “They’ve been dropping me on the climbs this season,” he laughs. “That’s definitely motivating me. As are the group rides we're doing right now. We’ve been getting incredible feedback so that's really motivating me with the business.”
Off the bike, he's doubling down on building ENLESCE into a truly national brand. After a successful launch in Vancouver, the next chapter is about scale—bringing the same energy, community, and product focus to cycling scenes across Canada. “Everywhere I’ve gone to ride in Canada, I’ve seen the same thing: a cycling scene that's growing fast and a lack of brands investing in it,” he says. “I really want to have a community in every major city in Canada.”
The brand is growing fast, but Daniel’s idea of success has evolved alongside it. It’s less about numbers and more about moments—like giving someone an unforgettable ride experience up to Porteau Cove on the Sea to Sky Highway or seeing ENLESCE apparel out in the wild, being worn, used, and loved. “No one can take that story away from me,” he says. “That’s what success looks like right now.”
He’s also thinking more about how to share the mindset that got him here—especially when it comes to entrepreneurship. “One thing I really want to do is encourage more people to take risks,” Daniel says. “I meet a lot of people in Canada who are very afraid of taking risks. But I think we talk too much about the challenges and not enough about the pros and excitement. If I can build a platform to help shift that mindset, I’d love to do that.”
You can follow ENLESCE on Instagram, or learn more at enlesce.com
That’s all for this week! If you enjoyed reading Daniel's story, head over to the Blonyx Blog for more stories of athletic ambition.
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