How we earn — and why it never bends a recommendation.
We're a cycling media property, not a store. Here's how the lights stay on, in plain language.
We never sell placement. No brand can pay to be recommended, rated higher, or listed first. An affiliate link never changes which product we suggest — it's the same pick we'd make with no link attached. This is the whole reason you can trust us, so we protect it above revenue.
Affiliate links
Some links in our buying and gear guides are affiliate links. If you click one and buy something, we may earn a small commission from the retailer — at no extra cost to you. Those commissions help fund the research behind every guide.
What that money does not do: it doesn't decide what we recommend, it doesn't change a rating, and it doesn't move a product up the page. We research picks from primary sources first and attach a link second — never the other way around. If a link ever tempted the choice, the choice would be wrong, and we'd cut it.
Affiliate links are marked with rel="sponsored" for search engines, and the guides that carry them say so in plain sight. Where a category has no product we're willing to stand behind, we show nothing rather than a filler link.
How we might get paid
When we do turn earning on, it will come from ordinary, disclosed retail affiliate relationships — the kind that put a small commission on a sale you were already going to make somewhere. Programs we may use include retail affiliate networks (such as Skimlinks or Sovrn), cycling and outdoor programs (such as AvantLink, Impact, or ShareASale), and Amazon Associates. The network never affects what appears on the page.
Our advocacy pages carry no affiliate links and nothing sponsored — by design. Keeping money entirely away from advocacy is itself a trust signal, and it's a line we don't cross.
Privacy — what we collect
Very little. Browsing the site requires no account and no login, and we don't ask who you are. We use Vercel Web Analytics to understand aggregate traffic — which pages are read, roughly where visits come from — measured without cookies and without personally identifying information.
Our Assessment keeps your answers in your own browser; they vanish when you leave. The only way to "save" a result is the shareable link we build for you at the end — we don't store it for you.
Your first-week plan
The first-week cycling plan runs in your browser. Optional device saving stores your choices, start date, and checked tasks locally, and automatically saves changes while enabled. Turn saving off or use “Clear progress and saved data” to remove that saved copy. Downloads stay on your device; importing a calendar file shares its contents with your chosen calendar service. Invitation links contain no personal selections or progress.
Your kit plan
The kit planner runs in your browser. If you choose to save a plan, your selections are stored in local storage on that device until you delete them. Shared plan links put those selections in the part of the address after the # sign. Anyone with the link can read them. We do not ask for a name, address, or bicycle serial number.
When equipment interaction measurement is enabled, aggregate events can record planner views, completed plans, saves, shares, downloads, and retailer clicks. These events use a broad source category and product or offer identifiers; they do not include your answers, budget, email, or shared-plan contents. The planner respects the browser’s Do Not Track signal for these events. Retailers and affiliate networks apply their own privacy and attribution policies when you follow their links.
Product links in kit plans follow the same recommendation and disclosure rules as our guides. Planning allowances are estimates, not current retail prices. Prices shown for products are dated, and the retailer confirms the final price and availability.
The email list
If you subscribe to our email, we collect your email address and nothing else. We don't ask for your name, your city, or anything about you.
When signup is available, the form sends your email address to the email service identified at signup. That service processes the address and sends messages on our behalf under its privacy policy.
We use the address for one thing: sending the email you asked for. We never sell, rent, or share the list, and we don't use it to target advertising to you anywhere else. Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe, and unsubscribing removes you — there's no back channel and no "we'll just send the occasional one anyway."
Sponsorship, if and when a newsletter carries it, works exactly like the rule at the top of this page: a sponsor buys space, never a recommendation, and never your address.
If we later add display ads, or anything else that changes what we collect, we'll update this page and date it. This page was last updated 2026-10-31.
Questions
If anything here is unclear, or you spot a link or claim that seems off, get in touch — getting this right is the point. Read the guides to see the standard in practice.
Whenever you can, ride.