BRE VINE – UNAPOLOGETICALLY IN HER MUM ERA

From raising a young family overseas to supporting her husband, Jay, through the highs and lows of professional cycling, Bre Vine opens up on the reality behind the scenes.

The life of a pro athlete and their family doesn’t always look like the highlight reel. When we caught up with Jay Vine late last year, we got a glimpse into the life behind the racing.

Not just the results, but everything that makes them possible.

At the centre of that is Bre.

There’s a certain honesty to the way she shares her life online that cuts through the noise, without compromising her values. Her socials aren’t overly curated, but they’re not overshared either. They help normalise the ups and downs through thoughtful reflections of a season where things don’t always go to plan, but there’s a quiet acceptance that they don’t have to.

Even before their son Harrison was born, supporting Jay’s career required adaptability, resilience, and an inner drive to prioritise the bigger picture. For Bre, it was never about stepping back, but about stepping into something shared. Not her making sacrifices or Jay taking the spotlight, but building something together. It’s all about Team Vine.

In this honest Mother’s Day story, Bre shares what she describes as being “unapologetically in my mum era.”

#GETWRECKEDJAY

You’ll see #GETWRECKEDJAY pop up across Bre’s posts, and others joining in on it too. It might sound like a throwaway line, but for Bre and Jay, it carries a lot more meaning. 
Bre explained to us how it started mid-race, during their mountain biking days as teenagers back in Australia.

“We were on the same course but in different sections. I was ahead, and Jay was behind. It was a technical mountain bike race with long switchbacks and tight hairpins.”

“I came through a section of switchbacks and saw him mid-race with a broken wheel. As I rode past on a hairpin, we only had a few seconds to speak.”

Bre shouted, “What’s wrong?!”

He shouted back, “Broken wheel!”

She asked, “Can they fix it?”

He said, “Yes, doing it now.”

And as she came around the next hairpin she shouted, “Get wrecked!”

Not in a harsh way, but in the sense of: this is racing, things go wrong, deal with it and keep going.

He fixed it, got back on, and finished the race.

It stuck from there.

“For us, it’s never been about the words themselves — it’s the mindset. Things break, plans change, life doesn’t go smoothly, but you reset and keep going.”

And if that doesn’t sound like a pretty accurate description of motherhood, we’re not sure what does.

A Life Built as a Team

Before Jay turned professional, Bre was very focused on her own riding. She raced domestically in Australia, did e-racing, and was always working to stay fit and, in her words, “honestly, just chase his wheel in training.”

When he signed his first professional contract, naturally, things shifted.

“His career became the priority for both of us… it simply became our normal.”

Bre took on the role of doing everything behind the scenes: managing house logistics, organising visas when they moved to Spain, packing for races, airport runs, travel coordination, helping with race preparation, and driving Jay to training camps or altitude. She was often out on the road with him just to keep everything running smoothly. When she was home, it was all about making sure life was structured so he could fully focus on racing and recovery.

As Jay came into the sport later than most professionals, they knew early on it had to be a full team effort. There was no room for half-measures if they wanted it to work.

“I think that period prepared me more than anything for motherhood — the constant planning, the mental load, the flexibility, and the instinct to put someone else first. Being a mum and supporting Jay don’t feel like separate roles. They sit side by side and shape each other.” 

What We Share, and What We Don’t

One thing that’s important to Bre and Jay is that they share just about everything with each other. But over time, adapting to life in the spotlight, they’ve become very intentional about what they share with others.

“There’s often a perception online that you see the full picture… but you really don’t.”
What people don’t always see is how much of life behind the scenes is truly shared between them. After Jay’s rides, especially the big ones, recovery becomes everything. Bre and Harrison meet him at the door with a protein shake and electrolytes, get the sauna ready, and sit outside with him while he does heat training. Talking, distracting him, just being there.

Those routines might seem small, but they matter.

“We approach everything as a team. Not just racing, but life.”

At the same time, when it comes to sharing publicly, Bre explains, “We’ve had to learn where the line is — what supports Jay, what protects our family, and what simply isn’t for public consumption.”

She continued, “In a sport like cycling, where margins are so small, there are elements of training, recovery, preparation, and mindset that we keep private because they directly affect performance and wellbeing.”

At the same time, they are quite open and thoughtful around what they do share. This is partly for themselves, as a lot of what they post is a form of mental debrief that has become genuinely therapeutic. It helps Jay reset after racing, and it helps Bre stay grounded in everything she’s balancing.

“We call it the “sh*t sandwich” — this was good, this was bad, then this was good again. It sounds simple, but it creates structure for processing the day or race properly.”

Bre notes that some people may not always agree with the level of honesty she and Jay share on social media. But to them, it matters, and not just for themselves.

They feel a sense of responsibility to young riders and their families, whose only reference point for professional cycling may be what they see online.

So when they do share, they try to be honest. Not just highlight moments, but a narrative that reflects the reality behind them to give insights to what life looks like between podiums and behind mainstream media hype.

“We don’t want to contribute to a version of the sport that feels polished or easy, because it isn’t. There is so much sacrifice, exhaustion, logistics, pressure, and constant adjustment behind every result.”

A Moment That Changed Everything

Bre and Jay’s son Harrison was born in 2024, but that wasn’t their only life-changing moment that year.

Just weeks earlier, during the Tour of the Basque Country in Spain, Jay sustained serious injuries in a horrific crash involving multiple riders.

Bre recalls, “I was watching it live like I always do, going through riders one by one, when suddenly I couldn’t find him. That confusion quickly turned into panic when I realised it was Jay.”

For a time, she genuinely didn’t know if he was alive. And that feeling of not knowing is what stays with her most. Watching the race continue while everything in her world had stopped. Sitting there completely helpless. Trying to process what she had seen and figuring out how to get to him as quickly as possible.

“I went into survival mode. I had a quick shower just to steady myself, spoke to our sports psychologist, and drove straight to the Basque region.”

Bre was pregnant at the time, which added another emotional layer, but there was no space to think about that in the moment.

“We didn’t know how stable he was. There were real concerns about swelling and the possibility of deterioration.”

When she arrived at the hospital, everything felt overwhelming, made harder by the language barrier.

“I was being spoken to in Basque and broken Spanish, trying to piece together medical information in fragments. What I understood was that I needed to prepare for the worst, including the possibility I might not have much time.”

She also had to make difficult decisions quickly, including how much information to share with Jay, who was unable to move at the time, and what to tell their family.

The hardest part was the not knowing. Whether he would make it, how bad it was, and what life would look like afterwards.

While there were concerns about the impact of such a stressful situation on the pregnancy, Harrison held on strong throughout everything.

“He was healthy and stable,” she says, “and that grounded me in a way I can’t fully explain.”

The Shift After the Shock

Even when things stabilised, it didn’t feel like relief straight away. Rather, Bre describes it as, “shock unfolding over time.”

Jay endured a long recovery, slowly returning to riding in the months that followed. But everything had changed, and this had a lasting impact on how they approach things.

Jay now races with a deeper awareness of risk versus reward, and it’s shaped how Bre responds too.

“If something happens now, I don’t wait for updates. I go.”
They also track each other during training and long rides, not from control, but from care.

Even now, it still sits with her.

“I still feel it when I hear sirens or when he’s out training. But it has also reinforced how much of a unit we are. Not just in sport, but in life.”

In the middle of the initial recovery, uncertainty and everything 2024 had thrown at them, that unit grew when Harrison arrived and, in Bre’s words, “instantly stole our hearts.”

But even that moment came with the kind of timing only life on the road could deliver. Jay was due to leave for La Vuelta almost immediately, and they weren’t sure whether he would even make it home for the birth.

In what Bre described as “a huge emotional rollercoaster”, they just scraped in. From Harrison being born to Jay leaving for La Vuelta was around a 30-hour turnaround. In that time, they had a first day together as a new family, final packing, whatever sleep they could manage, and a 5am departure.

But that day was “a day of pure bliss” Bre shared on Instagram at the time. And there was also so much pride in it. After everything Jay had been through, lining up for a Grand Tour again so soon after his crash, and so soon after becoming a dad, was huge.

A Different Kind of Grand Tour

Back home, with Harrison less than a week old, Bre settled into the new reality of newborn life while watching Jay race from afar. Feeds, naps, cuddles on the couch, post-race debriefs and video calls became the rhythm of those first few weeks.

In those early months, Harrison wasn’t in daycare and Bre didn’t have a nanny. It was just her, 24/7, while also supporting Jay in a career that is relentless, unpredictable, and physically and mentally demanding.

“You can prepare for it in theory, but nothing really prepares you for the reality of being in it day after day without an immediate home base.”

“No parents nearby, no lifelong friends down the road… no built-in safety net.”

Bre reflects on that first year as one of the hardest transitions of her life. “There were so many moments where I felt completely alone in it.” 

“There were days where I looked fine on the outside but felt completely underwater internally.”

“It’s hard,” she wrote, “but it’s all a part of life.”

There’s something very “Team Vine” about that. Not perfect timing. Not neat. Not easy. But full of love, pride, logistics, exhaustion and a whole lot of making it work.

Over time, Bre built a mums group and slowly re-established a support system, but that first year had to be created from nothing.

And through it all, Team Vine only grew stronger.

“We rely on each other completely. There is no backup system. It’s just us. And that has shaped everything.”

Good Times at Home and on the Move

With Harrison still quite young, another baby on the way, and Jay back to kicking goals in his career, what Bre defines a “good day” these days looks a little different. Not less, not more – just different.

A good day might mean Jay getting his training or appointments done, Harrison having a happy day, Bre finding a moment to move her own body, and dinner sorted, often thanks to the slow cooker.

But not every day looks like that.

“It’s a very full season of life… we’re constantly on the move.”

From packing the car so Jay can train in Spain when it’s snowing in Andorra, to juggling naps, feeds, recovery, and everything in between, it’s a constant balancing act.

“It’s relentless in a way that doesn’t really switch off, but I wouldn’t trade it.”

Back and forth between Andorra, Spain and various training locations. Always moving, always adapting, and always carrying everything with them.

That reality is exactly why, when Jay was back in Australia over summer, we were stoked for the opportunity to help make life on the road that little bit easier. While Jay sat down with us for a chat, the Yakima team fitted out their vehicle with a setup built around exactly the kind of family-and-race-life crossover Bre describes. That included a premium bike rack, a rooftop cargo box for the overflow baby gear, travel bags, everyday extras, plus an OverNOut awning for Bre and Harrison to take it easy and stay cool while Jay was racing in the Aussie heat.

The Simple Things That Feel Like Home

During our conversation with Jay over summer in Australia, he also gave us one of our favourite behind-the-scenes details from life with Bre: her homemade baked beans, which have, in his words, “ruined baked beans” for him anywhere else.

We were curious to hear Bre’s thoughts on her now-famous baked beans, and we’re glad we asked! She was even happy to share the base recipe she starts with, which she often modifies in various ways based on what’s available locally, or their own preferences for flavour.

“It started as a way to bring a bit of home into life on the road. After big races, especially Grand Tours, Jay just wants something familiar, so I’ll make him a proper Aussie-style breakfast — eggs, bacon, baked beans, hash browns, sausages, the lot.”

When they were in Girona and couldn’t find the kind of baked beans they were used to in Australia, she started recreating them from scratch. It’s become one of those small rituals that makes life on the road feel a little more like home. For all the movement, intensity, and unpredictability, she says it often comes back to simple things.

It’s a thread that runs through everything. Not chasing perfection. Just creating moments that feel like home.

“At the end of the day, I feel incredibly grateful for this life.”

“We’re a real team, and everything we do is built around that. I’m incredibly proud of him, but I’m also incredibly proud of what we’ve built together as a family.”

Bre loves being a mum, and she loves supporting Jay. For her, those roles don’t compete, they complement each other. That shows up in so many tangible ways, whether it’s dropping everything to get to a foreign hospital, making baked beans that taste like home, or taking back-to-back calls to help manage Jay’s career with her little apprentice Harrison in tow.