Travel insurance “recognised trail”?

Just sorting out insurance for a family trip next month and our policy includes “Mountain biking on recognised routes”, but there is an extra charge for “Mountain biking (on recognized trails – safety pads and a helmet must be worn)”

Any ideas at all on what the difference is?

This is the helpful reply when I emailed them:

Good afternoon and thank you for your email.

Mountain biking on recognised routes is covered as a standard.

The cover for the additional sports and leisure activities covers Mountain biking (on recognized trails – safety pads and a helmet must be worn).

Hope this helps in answering your query.

Useful.

Ah, so don’t wear helmet or pads and you’ll be covered…

Mrs a11y had a looooooonnnng chat with whoever provides the travel insurance that#s included with the RBS bank account we have. Wording was similar to the OP: covered if we’re on recognised trails, but they absolutely stipulated that helmets and ‘suitable protective equipment’ must be worn.

Hmm interesting, my policy states “mountain biking on recognised routes” as being covered but nothing further mentioned in the exclusions section or needing professional guides sections.

Edit & no mention of helmets or pads either.

RBS platinum here, so probably the same policy!

Usually get a specialist for the Alps, but this is more of a family trip with the odd day riding solo here and there.

I’ve asked them again in writing, will see what they have to say.

RBS platinum here, so probably the same policy!

Yep, that’s it. I overhead Mrs a11y’s call to them and it sounded f**king painful! All recorded and based on the conversation we believe we’re covered.

Similar use scenario. We’re off to Les Arcs and it’ll mostly be family activities but I intend getting some solo riding in too.

I’m trying to remember the comment that Doug from BaswueMTB once made in this subject. Basically, standard cover is for people who don’t spend half their lives in a mountain bike forum. What most people consider mountain biking on holiday is not what you do when you go on a mountain biking holiday.

Given them a chance to weasel out of covering you and you might as well not be covered.

This is on my to do list at the moment, is Yellow Jersey still the go-to for uplifted, MTB travel insurance?

A11y- when are you there- we may cross paths! Staying in 1800 8th to 18th July

They have now told me to buy the additional cover, without any explanation of what I’m paying for!

Ah, wouldn’t worry about it… there’s always Go Fund Me[/url] 😀

Mountain biking on recognised routes”, but there is an extra charge for “Mountain biking (on recognized trails – safety pads and a helmet must be worn)”

I would be more worried about the Mountain biking on recognised routes.

That to me suggests that you could be in a bike park or recognised mtb resort (ski resort) and if you happen to ride down anything that isnt a marked mtb trail then you are not insured.

Just imagine you are going down a marked run but see a nice bit of singletrack. Tough you cant go down it as your not insured.

Its the equivalent of needed off piste skiing insurance.

ut there is an extra charge for “Mountain biking (on recognized trails – safety pads and a helmet must be worn)”

Trollocks to that Ive never worn pads in my life, and your not racing.

Personally I think you are better getting specialist travel insurance if intending to do ‘extreme sports’ which mountain biking is classed as if someone needs to pick you up off a mountain side, not just rock up in an ambulance and scoop you in the back.

Given them a chance to weasel out of covering you and you might as well not be covered.

Yep sounds to me like the insurer doesnt want to insure you for dangerous sports.

The weaselling out is what worries me- so I’m getting as much info in writing as possible from them in advance

I have confirmed with my seniors the following definition.

“A recognised route is a route approved by the government and then trail is more a series of signs left by the passage of someone.”

So if the routes are recognised and approved by the government they are covered as standard but a trail is not recognised or approved by the government hence the additional sports and activities upgrade will need to be purchased to cover.

I hope this has helped resolve the confusion.

Clear as mud!

Since I’m going to be solo, I’ll probably be sticking to the bike park stuff anyway.

Sticking to a bike park means you shouldn’t need the additional cover as the bike park should be recognised.

Yup, had it confirmed in writing that the bikepark trails are covered.

I wonder if they are aware of what constitutes a modern bikepark?!?!

Make sure you have cover for if you are helicoptered of the mountain. Then read the policy wording with regard to what they constitute an emergency or not for pre authorisation.

The claims management firms that insurers use will try and wangle out of everything.

My wifes advice is similar to Doug. What’s covered is what some one on a non biking holiday might do. Say rent a hard tail and ride to the beach

To me it’s no credible that your covered in a bike park at no extra cost. Looking at the policy summary it doesn’t mention a sum
for rescue, for example

I’d say a “recognised route” would mean a cycle path.

Just pay the money for Yellow Jersey. If things go Pete Tong, you really don’t want to be worrying about your level of cover.

I’ve always used Snowcard before.

The time I needed them, 6000 miles from home after a little mishap in the jungle, they were good to deal with.  No quibbling, their questions were basically

– where exactly are you ?

– are you in immediate risk ?

– do we need to get help to you ?

They also coughed up on a couple of other occasions for friends

– broken leg when dieskyving in the USA

– quality slicing of thigh in a crash in the Porte du Soleil area.

And unlike the UK, the near automatic response to the need to any evac is to call the helicopter in, not get an old Series 3 landrover to collect you. You’ll get billed for it later, bigly.

horribly worded, but maybe what they’re getting at is if there are “recognised” trails you want to ride on where it’s mandatory to wear pads and helments, they want to charge extra for you riding on those trails.

“recognised” – recognised by who? You, when you look at it? A “competent local authority”? The UCI? More than 10 people on Strava?

“safety pads”? – my mischievous side immediately wondered if sanitary towels would qualify. But try typing in “safety pads” into google and see where clicking the first auto-complete gets you…

Toss up between choosing an insurer who clearly understands the activity you’re doing and will charge appropriately (eg BMC/Snowcard) and choosing an insurer who clearly doesn’t but you reckon there’s enough ambiguity in the wording that you’ll be able to win a dispute about whether your claim should be paid*. And ask yourself how much is it worth to avoid the hassle of dispute resolution? And have you got the ready cash to cover the emergency care while you fight with the insurers?

The thing that annoys me is that if I’m doing a 2 week camping trip with the family and I want to do a day’s uplift, I can either not have that activity covered or pay the same as someone spending 2 weeks solid riding bikeparks.

*Having said all that, calling up beforehand, with the conversation recorded, clearly stating what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, and having them confirm you’re covered, should help the dispute process!

Austrian Alpine Club was recommended on the Ski and Snowboard thread for well priced insurance for medical/evac costs for adventurous alpine-type activities. Annual membership covers the riskier end of activities, leaving boggo(ish) travel insurance to cover baggage, cancellation etc.

That’s what I’ve done this year.

The safe way, is to do the mad stuff at home, or pay big insurance policy fees. Bike riding, and bike riding, has always been tricky, even with road cyclists.  Tracks will be classed as a byway, not even your blue descent.

I’ve got bank insurance now, and there is no way I’d expect it to cover “extreme sports” – what we all do every day is classed as extreme.

Even a couple of friends of ours that got on a moped in their 50’s in Thailand, neither a cyclist at all, nor ridden a motorbike ever, were like ‘this is great’. Flippin fall off and it’s not, you aren’t insured.

Shit happens.    You can’t fault the NHS in emergency situations TBH. I’ve been there with a broken spine (bike vs car on the way to work).

horribly worded, but maybe what they’re getting at is if there are “recognised” trails you want to ride on where it’s mandatory to wear pads and helments, they want to charge extra for you riding on those trails.

But as per others, who’s saying it’s mandatory? the trail centre? local legislation (should? must?), the insurer?.

Probably they do themselves, for any mountain biking (or even “cycling”) elsewhere in the wording, then you’re into a stupid closed loop where no mountain biking is covered as standard because the insurer’s wording says “safety pads and a helmet must be worn” for any of it, or it’s not a covered activity.

sorry mtnboarder, could have saved myself a bit of typing if I’d clocked your additional info! Not much less **** stupid – Which government bodies approve mountainbike trails? Local, central? Do they have have someone approve each new trail/feature at private venues, or is does the venue count as a whole? What if it’s a registered, licenced guiding operation does their licence effectively delegate “recognition” of trails to them?

Or does it rely on local legislation of e.g. bridleways/ footpaths/”off piste” So you’d be covered riding a section of Borders singletrack north of the border, but not once it crossed to England?

We’ve been here a few times but not for a while. Purchasing decent cover for Alps MTB we found that riding anything with any kind of colour grade required extreme sports insurance, not the general cover that comes with e.g. a bank account.

We’ve only ever made one claim but it ran into many, many thousands of Euros. All from a slippery blue trail in Morzine that caused a broken pelvis.

On the same trip a friend fractured his spine. He self-rescued back to the accommodation and eventually drove home. At the time he didn’t properly let on about the pain/ severity of the injury (which was only properly confirmed once back home in Wales). To this day he sidesteps questions about the level of cover he actually had.

Austrian Alpine Club was recommended on the Ski and Snowboard thread for well priced insurance for medical/evac costs for adventurous alpine-type activities. Annual membership covers the riskier end of activities, leaving boggo(ish) travel insurance to cover baggage, cancellation etc

Yep. This is what we do too. Austrian alpine club or Assursport. Good for both summer and winter mountain sports.

and there is no way I’d expect it to cover “extreme sports” – what we all do every day is classed as extreme.

Most if not the vast majority of MTBing is not an extreme sport.

The insurance I used for Canada covered MTBing on waymarked trails but not DH racetracks.  Seems fair enough and this is similar to the OPs insurance.  Same as it covered on piste skiing but not off piste and flat water canoeing but not white water

Same as it covered on piste skiing but not off piste and flat water canoeing but not white water

Yup, had it confirmed in writing that the bikepark trails are covered.

As I said up there he better not crash off the bikepark trail ie get thrown out of a berm in to a tree as technically hes not on a bikepark trail.

Most if not the vast majority of MTBing is not an extreme sport.

It is though in the definition of cost. I would argue that someone off piste skiing is going to be doing it far more safely than someone on piste as they have years of experience and are in fact not wanting to take risks. The challenge is though that because they are more remote, 99% chance its going to require a helicopter for rescue rather than just a ski patrol. (equivalent can be made to MTB’ing too.)

Personally I wouldnt go into the alps doing any sport without specialist insurance as it can end up very very expensive. House insurance will try and avoid paying out however they can

Is mtb’ing in France like it is with skiing where in theory you are supposed to carry your insurance details on you?

The thing that annoys me is that if I’m doing a 2 week camping trip with the family and I want to do a day’s uplift, I can either not have that activity covered or pay the same as someone spending 2 weeks solid riding bikeparks.

That’s basically the situation I’m in- aiming for a couple of days or half days when the rest of the family are relaxing. I always use Snowcard for a proper biking trip, but the option to just pay for the days I ride isn’t there.

I echo the advice above.  My ambulance costs and a couple scans (only in hospital for 2 hours) cost £8k.   One friends bill was £100k for a neck break! Even a simple fall and ambulance trip can add up fast.  It’s not worth the risk of trying to stretch the limits of a non-cycling/extreme policy.  There are a few options these days so the prices are a little more reasonable, snowcard, pedalcover, yellow jersey etc.

We took out family travel insurance for our trip to Morzine, last year, with StaySure Insurance. ‘Cycling’ was standard but I added their ‘mountain biking’ option which required helmets but not recognised routes.

Eldest son did his collarbone and needed extraction, xrays and treatment. We also claimed for his unused days on his pass. No wriggling or making it difficult and we dealt with a real human who helped us get all the correct documents for the claim. They paid up no bother.

Pay the extra mtb-specific premium and make your life easier if it’s needed!

Ive always just paid for the highest risk level that doesn’t include racing. If the worst happens I don’t want me or my wife depending on which one is ok having to argue with insurance companies at what would be a bad enough time as it is. The extra premium is very little in the context of the cost of the trip and what I spend on the sport.

So – trundling through some wood on a little path nice and slowly – that’s not covered. But massive bike park gap jumps are?  Hmm…

So – trundling through some wood on a little path nice and slowly – that’s not covered. But massive bike park gap jumps are?  Hmm…

Yep – because some underwriter in an office block in London who may never have seen a patch of grass in their life and has no interesting about mountain biking, but knows about house insurance from 20 years experience is making the decision. They will look at the wording of the policy and be looking at any possible way to prove that what the person was doing didn’t meet the criteria

There are a few options these days so the prices are a little more reasonable, snowcard, pedalcover, yellow jersey etc.

Am I missing something with PedalCover? They cover the bike against theft, carsh damage etc and they’ll give you up to £50k if you die. But no cover for travel to cover getting you fixed and home?

They have 2 insurances, one is bike insurance other is travel insurance. The travel insurance covers your medical bills inc helicopter rescue, but doesn’t cover your bike if it gets nicked.

I have travel insurance with my bank but it doesn’t cover mountain biking, so the pedal cover one would cover that bit for me. Got a quote for me and my son for £60 for a week.

Just make sure you are riding with a friend who can drag you and your bike onto a “recognized route” before calling mountain rescue.

p.s. this is a joke, I am not advocating insurance fraud in any form.

As above – used to use Dogtag but they wouldn’t even quote last time we tried.  Now Yellow Jersey.  Doug BasqueMTB advice again – standard travel insurance almost certainly won’t cover the sort of stuff you’re going to be riding if you’re heading to the mountains with your bike rather than family leisure riding.

You probably won’t need it (one of our party was helicoptered off the hill in Spain one year – firebrigade, paramedics, the lot – at no charge) but you can’t be sure of that and costs could be horrific.  In fact MORE likely to be pricy in a ski resort bike/park where they’re it’s normal than in the off piste/footpath stuff where it’s less common.