I started CyclingAbout seven years ago as a way to document my 2.5-year bike trip from Europe to Australia. At the time, the internet had very few resources available for this style of travel, so whenever I couldn’t find the information I needed online, I simply created it myself. Over the years I spent lots of time documenting my bike setups, gear, trip preparation and experiences from around the world.

It turned out that writing content was a great outlet for me, offering a strong sense of purpose to my multi-year journey. On all of my rest days, I would work hard to share the things I knew. By the end of my trip in 2014, I was addicted to writing about bikes, gear, destinations and methods of travel. I honestly couldn’t get enough of it – I absolutely loved it!

Skip forward to 2018; I still love it and there are now millions of yearly website visitors. That blows my mind!

It might surprise you that a site this size is not monetized. I’ve been lucky enough to make a bit of money from my personal bike sponsor as well as from book sales. These two things have propped up the website and funded my simple life on the road.

The main thing that’s held me back from running bike and gear advertising all these years is the idea of ‘perceived honesty’. Even if I can get advertising revenue from a brand that I truly love, I want people to know for sure that my words here are both independent and honest. When you have paying (or potential) industry partners, I’m not convinced it’s possible to maintain a business relationship while also being truly honest about their products.

As a result, CyclingAbout has always been run on a shoestring budget. I do all the web design, graphic design, photos, videos, writing, editing and proofreading without professional assistance. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy figuring this stuff out for myself, but going forward, I’m going to need the community’s support to take CyclingAbout to the next level.

LEVELS OF SUPPORT

If you find CyclingAbout valuable, I’m asking that you support it to the degree that you find it valuable.

You can choose anything from shouting me a monthly coffee (~$2), through to shouting me a monthly night in a hotel room (~$40). I didn’t like the idea of crowdfunding the progression of CyclingAbout without providing something in return, so that’s why I’ve created a few incentives. In return for your generous support, all donors will get CyclingAbout free from ads. Yep, all you’ll see is the high-quality bike travel content.

Additionally, you can opt-in for:
– A copy of the Bicycle Touring in One Hour book
– Access to my supporter-only Ask Me Anything section
– The sponsorship of a CyclingAbout article
– A private video chat to discuss anything bike-travel related!

Being a site supporter will allow me to remain independent, while also offering you an even more premium user experience. Your generous donations will go directly into writing resources and improving the design, layout, speed and overall operation of the website. I’ve got so many ideas! And if enough people band together, I’d love to have the budget to pay some exemplary guest writers and photographers too. I’ve met so many talented bike travellers over the years who I think would be incredible contributors, but I’ve never been comfortable asking anyone to write without paying them what they’re worth.

I hope my reasons for setting up a crowdfunding/donations page make sense to you. I’ve answered a bunch of frequently asked questions about donating in the Site Supporter section. And if you have any other questions, please contact me via email or on the CyclingAbout Instagram or Facebook pages.

All the best from Peru,

Alee Denham
Publisher