There are an estimated two billion cyclists around the world, a figure that includes recreational, amateur, and professional cyclers, as well as commuters and delivery riders – in short, anyone who rides a bicycle. That’s approximately 35% of the world’s population.
Some may ask: is cycling a high-risk sport? Because of the huge variety of intensity, riding conditions, and frequency, risks of cycling vary drastically from one cyclist to another. A mother riding with her young children in an urban park once a month, for example, is not going to face the same risks as a professional cyclist competing in the Tour de France, known as one of the toughest endurance races, nor will her risks be the same as a delivery biker who cycles 10 hours every day in a traffic-dense city. This can make it difficult for underwriters to judge the risk cycling might represent.
This second article in SCOR’s Extreme Sports series will focus on risks associated with athletic cycling, both amateur and professional, in order to provide underwriters with a deeper understanding of how cycling risks should be considered during the insurance application process. Along with the author’s insights, gained from first-hand experience as a long-term cyclist and underwriter, this article offers a global perspective on underwriting athletic cyclists with input from SCOR’s underwriting and medical experts around the world.
We invite you to follow this series as we tour the world of extreme sports, tapping into SCOR’s network of expert insurance professionals – and amateur athletes – whose passion and knowledge allow SCOR to break through common misconceptions and offer a better understanding of the true risks surrounding extreme sports for amateurs, professionals, and – occasionally – even spectators. We will also explore the most recent trends and the implications of new medical developments, predict how a changing climate and other evolving factors might impact these sports, and highlight the hidden links between Life and Health and Property and Casualty coverage in the world of extreme sports.
Find the first article in the series here: Diving Deeper: Understanding Scuba in Underwriting.
