We recently caught up with Yellow Jersey customer, Matthew Cousins whose recent trip to Morzine, didn’t quote go as planned…..
Hi, I’m Matthew from Telford in Shropshire. I have been a mountain biker for the last seven or so years since picking it up at university, and I currently ride a Nukeproof Giga 290. I ride a mix of trails, with my day to day riding being fairly chilled single track, but I try to get to more adventurous spots and bike parks whenever I can.
I first found Yellow Jersey back in 2018 when I was looking for specialist insurance for my first biking holiday abroad, and they seemed to be the best option out there. I have used Yellow Jersey for every subsequent trip I have taken, as every time I look, they have remained the best combination of cost and coverage.
My accident occurred towards the end of my trip to Morzine last year. My jumping had been slowly improving over the week, and I had been working my way up through bigger and bigger features and was feeling confident. Earlier in the week I had looked at a feature on the Black Shore in Chatel, it was a jump from a boardwalk over a stream and onto the bank, with a small right hip. I didn’t think I was up to it previously, but after my progress in the week I thought it was time to give it a go.
I chose a really bad time however, as I had let my riding buddies carry on to the bottom of the trail while I pulled over to give it a try, so I rushed the feature trying to catch up with them and didn’t have a proper look at the blind landing. When I hit the jump, I made the gap no problem, but I didn’t hip enough to the right so landed on some roots at the base of a tree which threw my weight back, so when I tried to correct and aim for the narrow bridge I also didn’t know about just after the jump, I lost the front end and high sided, slamming into the bridge with my left side. This knocked me out cold, and I ended up in the stream under the bridge with a broken hand and a concussion.
*Warning, Viewer discretion advised. Video contains footage of Matt being knocked out *
My claim with Yellow Jersey was pretty painless. It was my first time claiming on any kind of insurance, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but the claims portal took me through the process step by step. I had to read each step carefully to ensure I was doing exactly what it asked of me, I don’t think it was overly tricky. It took a little while for my claim to be processed and approved, but it was just a waiting game really and didn’t take any chasing or input on my part. To be honest the process was so easy that a lot of the details have slipped my mind!
I would say that if they are in any doubt that they should get or need specific mountain bike insurance they should definitely get some. My accident wouldn’t have been covered on regular travel insurance, and at least when I was sat in a medical centre broken and bruised worrying about my head and my bike, my ruined helmet, and wasting a day of my holiday, I wasn’t worrying about how I was going to pay to get the treatment I needed, as I knew I had bought the best insurance I could and that it would all be covered. The piece of mind is worth every penny, and I have already booked my cover with Yellow Jersey for my alps trip this year!
If you’re thinking about going abroad mountain biking like Matt, don’t forget, Yellow Jersey provide cycle specific mountain bike travel insurance which covers emergency medical expenses, trip cancellation, trip abandonment, repatriation along with a whole host of other benefits. Worried about crashing your bike, or worse still, your bike being lost by an airline, then you’ll be needing our mountain bike insurance. If you need any assistance, we’re super easy to get through to-just give us a call on 0333 003 0046 or message us on live chat.
