You put a lot into your triathlon endeavours, including time, money, sweat and tears. As in all walks of life, it’s important to protect your investment. You protect your body when you’re training and racing, make sure you do the same when it comes to your bike.
Currently, in cities across Canada, we are experiencing a bike theft epidemic. This isn’t just the common swipe of a bike locked to a pole on a side street, but bikes are going missing from homes and condos.
Tips for Securing your Bike at home
- When packing, make sure your bike is the last thing on and the first thing off your car when travelling. This will minimize the time your bike is outside, open to the public to take a look and make a run for it.
- Secure your bike to your car when travelling to your next race or training centre. Consider locking your bike to your bike rack.
- Hide your home settings on Strava. The triathlete friendly app is great, but if you aren’t careful you may be giving someone a map of where your expensive bike lives. Put your mind at rest and go to your privacy settings in Strava and hide your home address. In Strava’s privacy setting you can also opt to have enhanced privacy for no fee.
- Do not leave your bike in your garage. Leaving your bike in the garage after a ride is convenient, but remember someone can just as easily break into it and take your bike with them. Consider taking the time after your ride and walking your bike down into your basement, or another secure location.
- Do not leave your bike in your condo’s designated bike area. The bike areas are a great initiative of condo developers, but this is not where your triathlon bike belongs. Even the best-manufactured locks can be disassembled and ineffective against someone motivated and skilled at stealing bikes.
Avoiding bike theft is key, but not always accomplished. To ensure you’re fully covered, you can also protect your investment by getting Tricover Insurance from Aon Risk Solutions. Developed in collaboration with triathletes and triathlon industry professionals, it provides amateur triathletes with year-round protection. The bundle protects against bike & equipment damage or theft, annual medical and travel insurance, and also covers your event fee if you can’t attend due to a valid reason. It’s an all-inclusive protection that isn’t just limited to travel in Canada, but around the world.
To learn more about Aon’s Tricover program, please visit www.tricover.aon.ca.
