One Thousand Roads

What it is

One Thousand Roads sells home and clinical exercise-with-oxygen-therapy (EWOT) systems and red light therapy panels. EWOT pairs roughly fifteen minutes of cardiovascular exercise with 93% concentrated oxygen delivered through a sealed mask fed by a large reservoir: exercise opens the body's physiological gates (higher heart rate, dilated vessels, deeper breathing) so cells actually take up the flood of oxygen instead of wasting it, and the carbon dioxide generated by exercising is what pushes that oxygen out of the bloodstream and into tissue. Founder Brad Pitzele engineered the first system for himself while recovering from autoimmune arthritis, melanoma, and late-stage Lyme disease, after pricing out a $50,000-$75,000 hyperbaric oxygen protocol he couldn't afford. He self-financed the entire company from inventory profit, buying batches as small as ten masks and reinvesting the proceeds, taking no owner compensation for four to five years.

Who it's for

Anyone managing chronic illness, autoimmune conditions, or age-related energy decline who wants an at-home alternative to $50,000+ hyperbaric protocols, plus athletes and longevity-focused users chasing VO2 max gains without a clinic visit.

Why it's better

• •A fraction of hyperbaric oxygen therapy's cost ($50,000-$75,000 for a clinic protocol) for a fifteen-minute at-home session.
• •Exercise-driven oxygen uptake avoids the oxygen toxicity risk of static high-dose oxygen, because exercise-generated CO2 pushes oxygen out of the blood and into tissue instead of letting it accumulate.
• •Founder-tested on the hardest case there is: his own body, across three simultaneous diagnoses.
• •Built and grown with zero outside funding, so there's no investor timeline or acquisition pressure distorting the product roadmap.
• •Stated results include 6-12% VO2 max improvement, the single strongest biomarker for longevity.