Mountain Bike Travel Insurance

Holidaying is a time for adventure and fun. It’s important that you get the most out of your holiday, should you decide to get on a mountain bike and do some exploring, you’ll be fully covered provided you aren’t taking part in a competition.

If you’re going to be riding a mountain bike on your holiday, you should purchase a travel insurance saver policy. All of our travel insurance policies provide travel insurance for those who are planning on riding a mountain bike on their trip, and some of our selected policies even allow for an increase to a specified item limit. This essentially means that you can insurer your mountain bike, take it on holiday, and be covered while you ride it.

Taking extra precautions when it comes to participating in sporting activities which pose a risk is a must, not only to ease the process of claiming the event of unforeseeable circumstances but also when it comes to personal safety! Travel Insurance Saver recommends wearing protective gear such as a bike helmet when going mountain biking on your holiday. If you fail to wear headgear while mountain biking and sustain an injury, you may not be covered. Always wear protective headgear while mountain biking.

Here is just some of the coverage offered which may apply to you if you go mountain biking while on your holiday:

Hire or ride your own bike and be covered by all policies
It is advised that you wear a helmet when cycling and bike riding
Unlimited medical and dental cover
Up to an unlimited amount of medical evacuation and repatriation with Annual multi-trip travel plan, and International travel insurance plans
Personal liability cover

Mountain biking has some obvious health risks, particularly for young children, the elderly and anyone who suffers from a previous or current physical injury.

If a scenario involving mountain biking aggravates an injury or pre-existing medical conditions, you may be excluded from receiving full coverage unless you have applied beforehand for coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.

Drinking alcohol or taking illicit substances while mountain biking is obviously very dangerous. If you sustain an injury while intoxicated your insurance coverage may be prevented, the same goes for failing to wear protective gear such as a helmet.

Specified Item Limit

If you want more coverage than the individual item limit, you can apply to cover your bike if you purchased it within the last 12 months of applying for your quote, or if you have a had a valuation of your bicycle within the last 12 months of applying for your quote. To apply a specified item limit, you will need to include the bike details when checking out. An additional fee of 3% of the total value will be applied to your total premium.

Is the bike older than 12 months?

If your bike is older than 12 months and you want to get additional cover, you will need to get a bike valuation before applying for a specified item limit. You can get valuations by taking the item you want valued to a licensed insurance valuator for a quote.

Here are the products that you can include a specified item limit

Sporting equipment is covered while in use on the following two policies

International Comprehensive
Annual Multi Trip

Sporting equipment while in use is excluded from the following four policies

Premium Plus
A Travel Plan (Comprehensive)
B Travel Plan (Comprehensive)
C Travel Plan (Comprehensive)

Tips for mountain biking

Though your insurance won’t be affected by your technique, we’ve gone ahead and listed some biking tips for you. If you’re new to mountain biking there are a few handy ways you can help minimize how much you feel the bumps in the road, and how to minimize injury if you fall.

Your position

When your mountain biking, the position you hold on the bike is very important. When you’re riding along level, non-technical parts of a trial, you’ll want to keep a neutral position. This position means keeping the pedals level with each other and your knees slightly bent so your bottom is off the seat, and your back should be quite straight the not totally vertical.

When your trail gets more mountainous, rockier or steeper, you’ll want to adjust your position to accommodate for the change. You should bend your knees further and your back should be parallel with the ground, almost leaning over the handlebars. This means you’re in the ready position, you’re ‘ready’ for the trail ahead.

Let the trail do the riding

When you ride a mountain bike, the idea is that you should let the bike do most of the work for you, letting yourself glide down-hill and rolling over as much terrain as possible. You should really just be peddling uphill. Also, don’t focus too much on the obstacles in the trail, the rocks, roots and tree branches, though you need to know they’re there, you should really be focussing on the trial ahead. If you focus on your obstacles you’re more likely to hit them, just stay aware, look ahead and ride fluidly.

Take it easy

The most important thing to do while riding is to relax. If you’re stiff or nervous you’re more likely to make mistakes on the trial, just go slow. You’re not racing, the idea is to enjoy the ride and take in the scenes around you. Unless you’re an experienced rider you should never really ride too fast. Keep a relaxed grip on the handles and make sure you stretch out before your ride, the more limber you are on the bike the less you are to feel the trail, and the more comfortable your ride will be.

To ensure that you receive full insurance coverage, please abstain from being intoxicated while mountain bike riding, and also ensure you wear protective gear such as a helmet.

Contact Travel Insurance Saver

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