Absolutely, and there are a number of reasons it is. First, Ride Guides doesn’t store ANY of your Payment Card data, it is all processed through our payment gateway (Mijireh & Stripe, or Paypal) and each of those service providers have to adhere to strict PCI compliance regulations. Second, the checkout process on our site is secured using SSL, again through our payment gateway so your payment information is encrypted while the payment is being processed. If that still isn’t enough for you, please call us at +1-705-241-9938 and we’ll be happy to process your payment over the phone. It’s as easy at that.
It’s true, we are really a Tree-Free company. We have spent a good amount of time and money creating systems which allow us to operate without consuming paper (call it a digital nirvana here). However some of our relationships with certain service providers (our lawyers for instance) require us to consume or use paper. Whenever we need to use paper, we leverage paper made from the chaff of wheat or sugar cane (waste products which would not otherwise be used). This keeps our trees in the ground. If for some reason we have to consume regular “cut-down-a-tree” paper, enough money goes into the “Swear Jar” to plant a tree. That’s right, we plant ONE WHOLE TREE every time we consume a single piece of tree made paper. Here is a link to the organization we support to plant those trees if you so desire to plant some yourself because you feel bad that you use so much paper every day – and you really don’t need to. Plant a Billion – Atlantic Forest
Ride Guides was brought online during the 2013 riding season with the intention of going live in 2014, however due to demand we had to get our act together (so to speak) and open our doors early.
Both Sara and Matthew have travelled to the far reaches of the globe, except a trip to Indonesia is what really spawned the idea. While they were in Bali, they wanted to go mountain biking and found a local guide who was able to coordinate picking them up at their hotel, driving them an hour into the mountains (volcanoes), getting them rental bikes and equipment, providing their lunch, and guide them all over the Indonesian singletrack for the day. After experiencing that and realizing that the service didn’t exist in Ontario, even with all of the incredible cycling here, they opted to form Ride Guides to fill the gap.
We like to think that your experience with us will be incredible. We have a serious commitment to safety, and have some of the best price points in the country for Guiding services. We are stewards of the areas in which we ride, and promote proper trail etiquette. One of the biggest reasons to choose us is our commitment to sustainability. No other guiding business (and very few other businesses) have even come close to Ride Guides level of sustainability. The proof is in the pudding, our pudding tastes way better.