Cave Crew: Support indie development, unlock new features

Building Ride Cave Together

Ride Cave started as a side project—a free indoor cycling platform built by a cyclist who wanted something different from the big players. No subscription walls. No corporate priorities. Just focused software for people who want to train.

That approach works, but building and maintaining a platform takes resources. Server costs, development time, and the computational expense of features like AI coaching all add up. Cave Crew is how we fund continued development while keeping the core experience free for everyone.

What is Cave Crew?

Cave Crew is Ride Cave's optional membership program. For a small monthly or annual fee, you support independent development and unlock a set of features designed for more serious cyclists.

The core Ride Cave experience—workouts, racing, challenges, tracking—remains completely free. Cave Crew adds extras on top of that foundation. Think of it as patronage with perks.

Pricing is straightforward: $4.99/month or $49.99/year (saving you two months). Cancel anytime. No hidden fees, no tricks.

Atlas AI Coach

The headline feature is Atlas, Ride Cave's AI-powered training assistant. Atlas provides personalized coaching advice, generates custom workouts, and creates structured training plans—all through natural conversation.

Ask Atlas a question about training, and you get evidence-based advice tailored to your situation. Request a workout, and it builds one around your goals, available time, and current fitness. Need a multi-week training plan for an upcoming event? Atlas handles that too.

AI features are expensive to run. Large language models require significant compute resources for every conversation. Cave Crew membership offsets these costs, making it sustainable to offer a genuinely useful AI coach rather than a marketing gimmick.

XP and Progress Tracking

Cave Crew members earn experience points from their activities. Complete a workout? Earn XP. Finish a challenge? XP. Race on a track? XP based on field size, race duration, and your finishing position.

XP isn't about gamification for its own sake. It's a simple way to see your training consistency over time. The XP meter on your profile tracks cumulative effort—a rolling record of the work you've put in.

The formula rewards showing up. A quick solo ride still earns something. A hard-fought race against a large field earns more. Finishing first doubles your XP. The system recognizes that training consistency matters more than any single workout.

Private Discord Community

Cave Crew members get access to a private Discord channel. This isn't a generic community forum—it's a direct line to development and other committed riders.

Feature requests from Cave Crew get prioritized. Bug reports get faster attention. You can vote on what gets built next and preview features before they go public. It's the closest thing to having a say in where Ride Cave goes.

Early Access

New features often roll out to Cave Crew first. This gives you early access and helps us catch issues before wider release. It's a win-win—you get new capabilities sooner, and we get feedback from engaged users who actually push the features.

Ghost Riders

Racing alone can feel empty. Cave Crew contributes to Ghost Riders—AI-powered racers that populate your track races. These aren't random bots. They're based on real riding patterns and create competitive, dynamic races even when you're training solo.

Ghost Riders adjust to race conditions, respond to attacks, and provide the drafting and tactics that make racing interesting. Your support helps make this possible for everyone who races on Ride Cave.

Supporting Indie Development

Behind everything else, Cave Crew is about sustainability. Major cycling platforms are backed by venture capital, corporate owners, or large teams. Ride Cave is one person building what cyclists actually want.

Cave Crew revenue goes directly to development and infrastructure. No investor returns. No corporate overhead. Just continued work on making Ride Cave better.

Every member makes a difference. The subscription model means predictable resources for development. That stability lets us focus on building rather than constantly chasing the next funding round.

What You're Not Paying For

Worth noting what Cave Crew doesn't include: the core experience. Workouts, challenges, track racing, history tracking, device connectivity—all free. We're not putting formerly-free features behind a paywall.

Cave Crew is additive. You're paying for new capabilities and supporting development, not buying back features you used to have. That distinction matters.

Join the Crew

If you use Ride Cave regularly and want to see it continue improving, consider joining Cave Crew. The AI coaching alone is worth it if you're serious about training. The community access and XP tracking are bonuses.

Head to the Cave Crew page from the main menu to learn more and subscribe. Annual saves you two months. Monthly gives you flexibility. Either way, you're directly funding what comes next.

Thanks to everyone who's already joined. You're the reason Ride Cave exists.