Accident and extraction coverage for bikepacking racing

[Foster]

Well, not much to it really.  I dislocated my right knee on the second day near Flathead pass.  Didn't get a rescue, I got myself out of it and made it to the hospital in Whitefish a couple days later.  After whitefish everything really went downhill, worst knee pain I've ever experienced.  Not sure why I did that to myself, guess finishing was more important at the time.  Could barely walk by the time I made it to Butte, MT so I called it there.  That's the short version.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Foster won the 2012 Badass of the Year award, Duh!



The Terms and Conditions for the SPOT SAR stuff seems like it's so full of holes for their lawyers to jump through, when you attempt to use it, I'm wary about you could actually utilize. It'd be really great to get some real-world stories about it. I get the same feeling when I buy traveler's insurance via a random website: you get what you pay for. Some relevant discussion:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/johnmuirtrail/message/7490

http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=15971 (Sorry this gets into CO-only COSAR stuff as well - but still relevant for the Tour Divide, CTR - I'd suggest grabbing it)

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-22302.html

It really doesn't sound like (health) insurance, but it DOES seem to be worth it, especially if you have along the SPOT anyways. When I reup my SPOT subscription, I'll probably go for it. One thing that may make a huge difference is filling out as much relevant details in your SPOT device's profile (sorry if this terminology is weird), like relevant phone emergency contact numbers, any medication requirements or allergies, planned trip itinerary, any medical/SAR/survival training/classes you yourself may have - things like that. Anything could really help. The gamble on price is low, your own expectation you have on the coverage just has to be realistic (I guess?). If you need a chopper, you need a chopper - sort out the details later.

I was really lucky when I took my tumble in NM - there was a some people out of town going up the jeep trail in the Gila, outside of Silver City that just so happened to be there for a Boy Scout reunion and a mile up the road a Fish and Game Police just so happened to be doing his rounds. The Fish and Game officer gave me a lift to the hospital as a courtesy! I offered to buy him some beer when he got off. He had an experience of being air lifted out of his own motorbike accident - the price was far too expensive for him to really name.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Some more relevant information:

http://travellingtwo.com/resources/insurance-for-bicycle-tours

I wonder what the ACA says about this type of stuff - maybe they've got an interesting perspective, what with creating the GDMBR and knowing exactly the type of stuff that could go wrong.

EDIT: Here's their referral for travelers insurance that they list on all their wavers, etc:

http://www.adventurecycling.org/travelinsurance/

I'd still get clarification if what's covered for road bike touring makes sense for offroad bikepacking/racing. Although all these traveler insurance plans look basically the same and are reasonably priced. There's a few upgrades you can make for a pittance that may be worth it.

World Nomads specifically lists "Cycle touring", "Cycling (incidental to the trip)", :Mountain biking - incidental to the trip", "Mountain biking off track / downhill",  "Mountain biking on tracks and trails",  "Trail bike riding", "Trail bike riding", "Hiking or tramping", "Zorbing"- you get the picture. The emergency extraction is <= $500,000

http://www.worldnomads.com/files/DocPDF/20111001/Explorer_CO.pdf

[the tortoise]

LongRanger,

Thanks for the links.
I looked into travel insurance and I think a lot of them exclude races. Something to ponder. I am going to do a google search on the GEOS insurance. They sure seem to have a lot of exclusions that they could use to deny coverage.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Yeah, you have a point. Although in the eyes of the insurance company, what would you someone who's going for basically an unofficial  FKT (or not even that?) completely independently? That question may not be so rhetorical - is there any precedence? 

[mmeiser]

great thread!  Just headed out to do a fall trip down the great divide in a couple days and was wondering how the spot GEOS insurance worked.  The BIG question for me though is is it transferable to whomever has the spot. My guess is that it is not a transferable service.  I'm going to have to do some more research it looks like on how to enable it on a used spot, if even possible.

[mmeiser]

awesome sauce, only $17.xx to get GEOS insurance on a pre-owned spot, can do it right on their website anytime

https://www.geosalliance.net/geoslogin/orderstart.aspx

I assume it's going to disable it for the person you are borrowing / lending your spot too though so they will probably have to pay to reenable it should they want it in the future.  Very small price to pay for the piece of mind though.

[mmeiser]

Reading up up on what this covers i.e.

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/johnmuirtrail/conversations/topics/7490

not as critical:
http://www.14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15971&start=24

more positive real world example:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-22302.html

It sounds like the person injured made the right choice in pushing the button.

I have some serious reservations about wether this insurance is worth $.02 let alone $17.  However it's easier to pay the $17 and change then to risk not enabling it on the SPOT and having no coverage whatsoever, so I will likely enable it, but I sure won't worry any less about getting hit with a massive bill if something were to happen.   

Have been reading up on some of the other options pointed too by the ACA and other long term / professional tourers and the trip insurance options look much better but I'm very leary of going with any service which isn't personally vetted by people I know.

A good example is this one: https://www.mhross.com/index.php/consumer/index/adve0150mt

Recommeneded by the ACA it is however more aimed at travel losses for non-refundable bookings and delays. That said it does have seemingly much better extraction coverage and even medical coverage.  Starting at $34 it would appear to be a much better solution than the GEOS coverage. Much more comprehensive.   I flipped through the policy and could find no exclusions for bicycling or anything like the great divide whatsoever. (Not suprising since it was endorsed by the ACA whom helped create the Divide route. Indeed any sport exclusions were very specific to professional racing activities, spelunking, rock climbing and other things well beyond the scope of riding the great divide.

If I find more useful information I will try to post again on this subject.  Still on the fence on the Spot GEOS coverage.