I have been using the Oura Ring every day for four months, and am so excited to share what I love (and dont love) about it! About a year or so ago I started to see so many fitness people and influencers talking about the Oura ring. Of course I became curiouswhat was this ring all about? What can it do that an Apple watch or Gamin watch cant?According to the Oura ring website, Oura translates your bodys most meaningful messages sleep, activity, stress, and heart health to transform how you feel every day. Which I admit, sounds rather lovely, but what does this mean?Heres the thing. There are just so many electronic items out there now from your simple heart rate monitor, to fitness watches, and now smart rings.Not sure about you, but I wasnt really feeling like I needed yet another device that gave me more data. As much as I love health data I can get pretty overwhelmed by all of the data I am already getting.As someone who is trying to simplify her life it didnt seem like adding MORE in made a whole lot of sense. But, then my good friend got an Oura ring. She was like, Stacy. You absolutely HAVE to try this.I did a little research and realized that there was fertility tracking. As someone interested in going off hormonal birth control this appealed to me a LOT.Additionally, none of my fitness watches have seemed to get my sleep data 100% right, so I was interested in something that would do this better.Finally, four months ago I decided to bite the bullet and see for myself what the hype was all about. I have now been using the Oura ring every single day, and I can honestly say that a) it has changed my life for the better and b) I truly cant live without it.These are big claims, I know, but this is truly how I feel! Curious about whether or not the Oura Ring is right for you? Read on for my detailed review of the Oura Ring for women who bike!Review in a NutshellPros:Well-researched, innovative technology: Oura strives to offer the absolute best in technology from both a hardware and software standpoint. The app is gorgeous and easy to navigate. According to its website it has 20+ PHDs working across an in-house interdisciplinary science team. It is currently in its 3rd generation with each one smarter, lighter, and more durable than the last.Gentler wellness approach than other fitness trackers: The Oura ring was conceptualized in Finland and it takes a much gentler and well rounded approach to fitness and general well-being. Its less GO GO GO than most activity trackers on the market and is designed to bring all of the facets of your health together in one place.Amazing sleep and stress data: The Oura ring does an excellent job collecting sleep data. The best of all of the sleep trackers I have tried (Apple Watch, Garmin Watch). The stress data is great too, and gives you a sense of when your stress peaks are during the day and suggestions on how to lower stress.Syncs with FDA approved contraception app: The Oura ring syncs with Natural Cycles, the only FDA approved contraception app. With some fine tuning you may be able to use this in lieu of hormonal birth control (see detailed review for a much more in depth analysis of this).Choice of styles/finishes: It comes in two different styles and a bunch of finishes so you can find one that suits you best.Sizing kits to ensure proper fit: You can get a sizing kit in the mail before they ship your actual ring to make sure that you have the size just right for the finger you want to wear it on.Great battery life: The battery life is awesome. Unlike the Apple Watch which really needs to be charged daily like a cell phone, I get 4-5 days of 24/7 wear out of my oura ring. It charges really quickly too!Cons:Price: The ring itself is expensive. Depending on the style and finish, plan to drop at least 300 dollars but up to 500 if you want the most expensive/popular version. I find it super annoying that you pay up to 200 dollars more for a different style/color.Subscription fees: Additionally there is a fee to use it (5.99 a month or 69.99 a year). AND, if you are using it for birth control you have to pay for Natural Cycles which is for me $119.99 a year. All told after the initial investment of the ring I am also paying almost 200 dollars a year for the subscriptions that go along with it.Bulky for a ring: It is a ring, which is awesome, but it is easily the bulkiest ring I have ever worn. It took a little getting used to, but now I feel weird if I dont have it on.Scratches easily: For a ring that is so expensive you would think they would make it a bit more scratch resistant. This really doesnt bother me but I know some people are very irritated by this.Price: $299-$549Shop The Gen 3 Oura Ring NowFocuses on overall wellbeing, not just fitness.One of the wonderful things about the Oura Ring as a health tracker is that it takes a refreshing, well-rounded approach to health. While a lot of the other fitness trackers on the market are primarily focused on fitness and moving your body, which is obviously great, the Oura Rings approach is more gentle.Though it does use its innovative technology to track movement and activity, the focus is more on stress, sleep, and body temperature. It can let you know when your body temperature is elevated and give you a heads up that you might be coming down with something.The more you wear the Oura Ring, the more it learns about you, and the more data it can share that is helpful to you in understanding your overall health. It even has an Oura Advisor that you can chat with and ask questions.It is clearly AI generated, but its still really cool how it takes your data into account.From the screenshots below you can see how the Oura chatbot notices that I cycle and strength train and suggests other activities that it thinks could be helpful for me to partake in.Finally, the app is really just incredible. It offers tons of graphs, data, and details in a very beautiful manner. There are often different beta tests you can enroll in because they are constantly innovating and adding new features (like the Oura Advisor).There are also links to articles that explain all of the data and help you focus on what is really important. Not too surprisingly the emphasis is on your overall health and well-being, not just working out constantly.The sleep data is the most accurate of all the fitness trackers Ive tried.True confession, I have become OBSESSED with sleep. Since I have discovered how necessary it is to really feeling good, and how much easier it is to do things when I am not in a sleep deficit, I have been really focused on getting good, quality sleep.The Oura Ring has done the best job with this of any of the sleep trackers I have tried. It really seems to KNOW when I am awake vs when I am asleep. Which yes, I understand is sleep tracking 101, but I cannot tell you how often I have been wide awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, and my Garmin watch thinks I am sound asleep.When I was using an Apple Watch to track my sleep it was more accurate than Garmin, but not as accurate as Oura. Add to this the fact that I had to charge it every day AND remember to charge it before bed so I could wear it overnight (and miss out on precious stand hours)I just found using the Apple Watch to track sleep to be a hassle.In addition, the Oura ring reminds me that bedtime is approaching a full 2-3 hours before I actually go to sleep. This is awesome. My Garmin sleep coach does this too, but much later.Sometimes when I am out of the house and doing things between 7 and 8 pm when Oura likes to give me these little reminders I roll my eyes and think yeah must be nice, would love to wind down now Oura but I cant!Mostly, though, I am grateful for the fact that it is reminding me to structure my evening in such a way that I can fully wind down before I go to bed (usually between 9:30 and 10:00 PM).The Oura Ring comes in many different styles and colors, and you can get a sizing kit to make sure you have the right fit.I am going to just say it, I think its probably a challenge to make a smart ring attractive. These suckers are BULKY. Right now I think the technology is just at a place where they kind of have to be.Oura does what it can to make sure that you have a lot of pretty color choices and two different style choices so you can find a ring that works for you.The heritage ring is their original style with a flat side. The horizon ring is a perfect circle, no flat side. Some say the horizon seems a little bulkier than the heritage. The horizon is also more expensive for some reasonjust something to keep in mind.Speaking of cost, I cant help but think that one of the reasons why the Oura Ring costs so darn much is that they need to factor in a good amount of hardware attrition with people getting the wrong size and exchanging for another.AND, they have to STOCK so many different sizes, colors, styles, etc.Not to mention Oura sizes dont seem to follow traditional ring sizes, which makes this an even great challenge. For example, I wear a size 5 on my ring finger and the size 5 Oura would be WAY too small.As a result, Oura does everything they can to get you to choose the right size the first time. One of the coolest things they do is send out a sizing kit with plastic replicas of all of the rings so you can wear the plastic version on the finger you want and decide whats right for you.Getting a nice, snug fit is key, and our hands swell at different times, so it can be tough to get the right size the first go around.I loved getting the sizing kit and being able to try the different sizes on different fingers. Oura recommends wearing your ring on your index or middle finger, so I was able to play around with that on both my left and right hands.I ended up choosing a silver horizon ring on my middle right hand. You can see it here!Right hand middle finger was the winner!Didnt like how it looked/felt on my left hand In order for your ring to read data properly from your finger, you really do need a snug fit. Obviously not so snug that you cut off your circulation, but snug enough to get the information you want.My friend suspects her ring is a little too big and feels like as a result some of her readings arent as accurate as mine. She regrets not doing the sizing kit. She was eager to get the ring and wanted to get started, but I definitely recommend doing the sizing kit first.The Oura Ring syncs seamlessly with Natural Cycles, the Only FDA approved app for contraception, BUT you should be aware of a few details before you make this jump.Note: I am NOT a medical professional, I am just sharing my own personal experience and things I wish someone told me before I started. Using the Oura Ring for contraception with Natural Cycles ultimately was the deciding factor in my purchase of the Oura Ring. I did not want to be on hormonal birth control anymore, and did quite a bit of research on the Fertility Awareness Method of contraception.Heres the thing. I am not a wing it and lets see what happens kind of girl with much of anything, but certainly NOT with something like birth control. I am a planner to the extreme. What I loved about the pill was that I just had to remember to take it every morning (no problem!) and I was good.There was a problem, though. I was not feeling great on hormonal birth control. You see, I would get terrible headaches from the hormones, and my mood swings were pretty intense.I am not going to say the pill caused them, I dont know for sure, but I will say that now I am off I get way fewer headaches now. Also, with the fertility awareness method (FAM) and reading the latest edition of Taking Charge of Your Fertility I felt pretty confident that I could learn whats going on with my body without needing hormonal contraception.The Oura Ring has proven to be an essential part of this journey. What it does is monitor your skin temperature to get an average temp for the day. It will then sync that with Natural Cycles, and Natural Cycles will use its algorithms to tell you when you should avoid having sex.Now. Here are the caveats. Read them carefully, please, if you are considering this method of contraception because you need to know what data you are actually getting.First of all, the Oura Ring does not measure Basal Body Temperature. This is considered to be the most accurate way to track fertility. With a Basal Body Temperature (BBT) thermometer you need to take your temperature first thing in the morning upon waking before you get out of bed.As I mentioned before the Oura Ring gives you an average skin temperature for the day, not your BBT.I didnt realize this until after I got the ring, and I noticed that my temps seemed all over the place and werent following any kind of pattern that I could see.So, I purchased a BBT thermometer and used that along with the Oura Ring, and other markers like Cervical Fluid and LH testing, for my first couple of cycles. I wasnt taking any chances.What I found with all of my data markers is that I have a very regular cycle and ovulate within the same day or two of my cycle each month.Natural Cycles, after a few months, started accurately predicting my cycles, and the Oura Ring skin temp was close enough to my BBT that I didnt feel the need to temp in the mornings anymore.Now I know this will be overkill for many, not everyone is going to feel the need to use a BBT thermometer and LH testing strips to make sure that their ring is doing things accurately, but I wanted to share my experience if you are thinking of using the Oura for contraception.The Oura ring is pricey, as are the subscription(s). Additionally it is bulky and scratches easily.One of the things that really separates the Oura Ring from other fitness and health trackers is the cost. In addition to the initial investment of the ring itself (which is anywhere from approximately 300-500 dollars depending on which style and color you choose), there is the cost of the subscriptions.You need to pay 5.99 a month to Oura for the ring to function and give you data. This is in contrast to something like a Garmin watch that provides the app and data for free with the purchase of the hardware for the life of the hardware.I will say that for the data and information that you get, as well as the sheer loveliness of the app itself, that 5.99 a month is definitely worth it to me, I know there are some out there that just cannot pay for yet another monthly subscription.Additionally, if you would like to use the Oura Ring for contraception, with Natural Cycles, you will also need to pay for the Natural Cycles app. For me this is currently 119.99 a year, which, again, is significant.Both Oura and Natural Cycles claim that they are FSA/HSA eligible, which will certainly help, but of course it is still an extra cost. I did not try paying for either this way, however, so I cant speak to this experience.The Oura Ring is a great addition to a fitness watch like Garmin or Apple, but it really isnt a good replacement for women who bike or run.Fitness is simply not the primary focus of the Oura Ring, to the point where you cant even start a workout in it, just record it after the fact or hope it picks it up on its own. Or, at least, if you can I certainly have not been able to figure out how even after googling it.As a result, if that sort of thing is important to you (it definitely is to me!) then I would suggest using both.If you dont like wearing a watch to bed the Oura Ring is GREAT. You can take off your watch and still track your sleep data. I actually leave my watch on and use both to track so that I can compare/contrast. This may be overkill/too much data for some, but I really like it and find it fun!The Oura Ring does have a feature where it will detect your workouts and the next day ask you if you were, for example, taking a walk at x time. It even detects housework and calls it a workout which I absolutely LOVE. Why yes, Oura, I absolutely AM working out when I am doing dishes and laundry!The problem for me, though, is that it never automatically detects cycling workouts. So, if I was using the Oura for fitness tracking I would have to input all of my cycling workouts by hand, which is just not something that I am about to do. My Garmin lets me start a cycling workout or strength workout right on my watch. It also syncs with Strava so it picks up my Peloton rides that way.All in all this is why I really dont think you can use the Oura ring in place of a fitness tracker if you are really into tracking your rides and ride metrics.Bottom LineGet it. Seriously.If you can afford the investment and enjoy data this ring is incredible. When I say it has changed my life I do not say that lightly.The sleep data has been so helpful and useful, and I can honestly say that I have been getting better sleep since I purchased the Oura Ring*. I have really been getting to bed on time and getting as close to 7.5-8 hours of sleep a night as possible.Additionally, the Oura Rings gentle approach and gentle nudges to stretch your legs a bit helps me listen to my body more while also keeping me active.Its seamless syncing with Natural Cycles means that I no longer have to deal with the headaches and intense mood swings I suffered from on hormonal birth control. This for me alone is well worth the significant financial investment.I do not, however, think that it can effectively stand alone as a fitness tracker if that is what is important to you. I will 100% continue to use my Garmin Watch to track my activity, rides, and strength training workouts.On the other hand, if your fitness watch is kind of burning you out, either mentally or physically, I think you will absolutely adore the way the Oura Ring takes a gentler approach. It encourages you to be active, but not go crazy, which I honestly found to be a very nice shift in the approach to overall mental and physical health and fitness.I am so glad that I have it, and truly think that you will love it as much as I do if you give it a try!More Stuff You Might Like Do These 7 Things To Get Faster On The BikeCycling Recovery: 7 Things You Need To Be DoingCycling Nutrition: 9 Tips For Fueling On The BikeAbout The ReviewerStacy Ann Smithis a New England-based cyclist who strives to stay upright on her bike. She is the founder of Sascy Cycling, and her mission is to encourage women to love their body and focus on what it can do, not what it looks like. When Stacys not cycling she is teaching high school history and eating pizza with her husband and son.IG:@sascycyclingThe post Oura Ring Review: My Take As A Female Athlete appeared first on Femme Cyclist.