TEMECULA, Calif. (BRAIN) — Chad Peterson, the chief operating officer at Intense LLC, died Monday from injuries sustained in a bike accident near Temecula.
Peterson had been at Intense since 2013. Previously, he was product director at Crankbrothers, and a product developer for Selle Royal, Brooks England, and Patagonia. From 1999 to 2007, he was a product manager at Cannondale. He entered the industry as a shop mechanic after college in West Virginia.
Peterson regularly logged 20 hours per week on a mountain bike, often waking at 4 a.m. to ride. In 2018 Intense conducted a #chadchallenge, where riders were challenged to match the miles, vertical feet climbed and countries notched by Peterson in a month for a chance to win a bike. In one month, he rode 1,074 miles, climbed over 132,000 feet and rode in three countries. The challenge was held prior to Intense's introduction of its Sniper XC bike.
Peterson leaves his wife of 20 years, Njani, and two sons, Kahlil, 18, and Maceo, 11.
"Chad's strong spirit will live on in our memories," Jeff Steber, Intense's founder and CEO, said in a company statement. "He lived his life intense and his drive for cycling inspired the majority of the bikes created since his arrival. There is no person that represents intense for life in a better way than Chad has. He felt like our Superman here — always invincible — and is passing will continue to not seem real."
