Century Training - Week 2; Day 2

Week: 2

Day: 2

Ride: Off-Day (in lieu of Thursday due to wet roads)

Scheduled Mileage: 11

Actual Mileage: 0 

The weather in New York City hasn't cleared exactly as Sam Champion promised. The air is chilly, the roads are still wet, and I couldn't stomach the idea of cycling 11 miles indoors on a stationary bicycle today. So, today is my Thursday off-day, and I will adjust this week's mileage accordingly. In the meantime ...

America By Bicycle "Across America North" Tour Preparation Update:

I spoke with a Betsy at Access America earlier this week, who easily, quickly and kindly helped me select an appropriate travel insurance plan for my cycling tour. I usually pass on travel insurance because the likelihood - or rather lack thereof - of missing most of my trips generally outweighs the cost of insurance. However, with a $6850 tour price tag, plus correlated travel costs to and from the tour start- and endpoints, preparing for and taking this trip without cancellation or interruption insurance is just too risky for my blood.

Following cues from my parents and Helen, who - with careers in the medical field - tend to catastrophize when it comes to the various needs for medical insurance (they saw the worst-case scenarios materialize daily), I began researching my coverage options for both health and travel soon after I decided to join the tour.

Unfortunately, the medical, dental and emergency coverage through my primary employer at job #1 cannot be suspended in lieu of a cheaper temporary insurance option, like Assurant Health. Since I'll unavoidably be paying for my entire corporate-rate comprehensive health care coverage while I'm taking my leave of absence (approximately $400/month; ouch), I focused primarily on trip cancellation and interruption insurance for a "Sport Adventure" with Access America. My best fit ended up being the Access America Classic Comprehensive Plan, which doesn't maximize emergency medical benefits, but provides the superfluous travel coverage I want.

Betsy quoted a $375 rate for coverage from June 18 - August 10, which includes the $6850 tour fee and other pre-paid expenses: my airfare to Portland, my bus fare to Astoria, my airfare from Boston, and my hotel stays outside of the official tour dates in Astoria and Portsmouth (see The Budget).

Additional perks: I can adjust my plan for any other pre-paid inclusions or benefit-upgrades/downgrades up to 24 hours prior to departure. And I have 10 days from the date of purchase to change my mind about this policy and cancel altogether. My policy goes into affect tomorrow so maybe it's a good thing I didn't risk braving the wet roads again today.

[Insert cash register cha-ching here]