This article is sponsored by Yellow Jersey
When booking any holiday there is always a list of jobs that aren’t fun but are super important. Travel insurance is definitely one of them but it’s such a vital task that it’s worth spending some time to get it right.
Standard holiday insurance, and I include that bog standard policy that often comes as a bolt on addition to your home insurance, will quite often include cycling, and scanning through my own insurance does reveal that mtb is part of my coverage. For lots of people that’s pretty much enough. But for mountain biking the way we tend to do things, it’s often not and that’s where specific mtb insurance like that offered by Yellow Jersey comes in.
The Problem with Standard Policies
I’ll use myself as an example. My travel insurance came as part of our home cover through Lloyds.
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The first thing I noticed was this big catch-all statement in the list of features.
“Includes golf cover and cover for certain sports and leisure activities.”
Which was rather vague, so I dug deeper into the policy to try and find what was and wasn’t covered. Way down deep in the policy, on pages 40 & 41 of my Allianz provided family travel cover, I found the first reference to riding bikes. It simply says, “ Cycling (no racing) “. Now, I’ve raced while on holiday, and it seems I probably wasn’t actually covered. On page 41, I found a specific mention of mountain biking.
“Mountain biking on designated trail/route.”
That’s it. That’s all there is in the policy document, and this raises some concerns. On my recent trip to Morzine, there were areas called ‘freeride’ that are effectively off-piste, i.e., NOT on a ‘designated trail/route’. Also, how about riding at the famous Passporte du Soleil event, which is a massive stage race event? 1000s of riders participate in this event every year, many aren’t actually racing and just riding for fun, but many are racing. Am I covered? I rather think I probably am not, and if you travel to actually race, then this policy definitely does not have you covered.
And that’s the issue. Most travel insurance excludes anything other than leisure riding and will usually exclude all cycling if that is the primary reason for your trip.
Insurance That Actually Covers What You Ride
That’s where cycle-specific providers like Yellow Jersey come in. They’ve built a policy specifically for cyclists and structured it around the riding you do, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Yellow Jersey covers cycling regardless of your event, be it a family holiday, charity cycle ride, the Ironman World Championships or downhill mountain bike racing in Morzine.
The policy even covers heli-rescue in a medical emergency.
Now, requirements vary, and we aren’t all in need of racing cover on a holiday, and that’s why Yellow Jersey has three activity packs. Pack A covers the basics. If you are taking your full-face lid and heading for Morzine’s black runs, you will need Pack C. Specifically, Pack C covers you for off-piste or Freeriding activities, enduro riding and racing, dirt jumping and even mountain biking with a guide above 3500m.
So, how much is this all going to cost?
I decided to have a look at a few cycle-specific travel providers and get a feel for the costs. I have compared them in the table below. The comparisons are based on a 35-year-old single traveller. The maximum trip length for annual policies was set at 30 days for all policies where the option was given. The activity selected was Downhill Mountain Biking, which included racing. Finally, all the quotes were based on a similar level of cover Yellow Jersey Pack C gives as standard: e.g. Trip Cancellation £5,000, Medical Expenses £10m, Baggage £5,000, Personal Liability £2m, etc.
| Europe | Worldwide (inc USA) | ||||||
| 365 days | 5 days | 10 days | 365 days | 5 days | 10 days | Excess | |
| Bikmo Competitive Travel | £287 | £94 | £116 | £530 | £202 | £263 | £50 |
| Sportscover Direct Gold | £563 | £146 | £194 | £2,289 | £552 | £738 | £90 |
| Snowcard Pro Extreme Adventure | £797 | £122 | £201 | £1260 | £185 | £326 | £100 |
| Dogtag Extreme + Max | £464 | £132 | £182 | £844 | £333 | £462 | £75 |
| Yellow Jersey Pack C | £169 | £46 | £74 | £311 | £126 | £175 | £60 |
One Last Thing: What About Your Bike?
Yellow Jersey’s travel cover focuses on you — your health, your repatriation, and your cancellation costs. Your bike isn’t automatically covered, but they do offer optional short-term bicycle insurance that covers damage, theft, and even airline baggage mishandling. If you’re travelling with your bike, it’s worth looking into.
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to assume your existing policy is “good enough.” But the riding most of us do — especially abroad — sits well outside the lines of a typical travel insurance plan.
If you’re heading away this summer, whether for a race, a big mountain adventure or just a few lift-assisted days, take 10 minutes to check what’s actually covered. If you’ve got gaps, consider a policy built around the riding you actually do.
More info and full policy details are at https://www.yellowjersey.co.uk/mountain-bike-travel-insurance/
