Insurance

Among the many benefits that come with a Blue Ridge Bicycle Club membership, possibly the most significant is our League of American Bicyclists (LAB) Insurance administered through American Specialty Insurance Services (AmerSpec). It consists of Liability and Medical coverage plus an Accidental Death & Dismemberment policy.  All coverages apply only on approved and scheduled Blue Ridge Bicycle Club bike rides. The Liability Insurance provides $1 Million of General Liability and up to $3 Million of General Aggregate coverage. The Medical Insurance provides up to $10,000 of coverage per person per claim after a $500 deductible which disappears if either you or your primary Medical Insurance company has paid that amount on the claim. This Medical Insurance is secondary to any other Medical Insurance you may have. Also, there is a $5,000 Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage per person. Blue Ridge Bicycle Club pays the yearly premium for these insurances as a member benefit for all current paid-up members.

One may ask why is it beneficial to have Liability coverage while riding a bicycle. Well, consider the fact that last year alone, AmerSpec paid two claims of over $400,000 each to pedestrians who were hit by bicyclists. They also paid a myriad of smaller bodily injury and property damage claims resulting from cyclists’ errant actions including damage to automobiles.

The benefits of the Medical coverage are more obvious. Having this extra Medical coverage can help ease at least a small amount of the pain and financial hardship of having biking related injuries.

In order to benefit from our LAB Insurance coverage, you must: be a currently paid-up member at the time of the accident; have signed a yearly waiver or the waiver at the beginning of the ride in which the accident occurred; and work with the ride leader of that ride to file an accident report with AmerSpec as soon as possible after the ride.

While we hope that our members will never need it, Blue Ridge Bicycle Club is pleased to make this valuable benefit available to all of its members. Your half of the deal is to make certain that your membership is current and that you comply with the other items listed in the previous paragraph.

Mountain bike rides have a few different rules.  They must (like a road ride) be lead by a club ride leader. They, of course, will be familiar with the requirements. For your information the following is the unique rules for these rides:

• Only club members are covered.  Guests are not covered.
• Every member must sign a ride waiver for each ride, no blanket waivers.
• Every member must wear a helmet.
• General mountain biking, single track, cross country, trail riding is all covered.
• Rides involving “tricks” or timing is not covered.
• Gravel riding is covered under the regular road bike coverage.
• One ride could involve different types so different rules could apply.
• Mountain biking is limited to 52 rides annually, no more than 1/3 of all rides. The club ride leaders will keep track of this.