More Than 50% of Pro Riders Feel They Wouldn't be Adequately Financially Supported After Injury - State of the Sport Survey
Welcome to the 2021 Pinkbike State of the Sport Survey. This anonymous survey is designed to help shed light on key issues affecting the professional field and elite competition. We surveyed the best riders in the world to hear their thoughts, ideas, concerns, and criticisms on mountain biking in 2021. We invited any rider who had finished in the Top 40 overall of their chosen discipline in either of the previous two seasons in either XC, enduro, downhill, or slopestyle & freeride, as well as notable non-competition riders and highly ranked juniors. To read the introduction to the survey click here, and to see all the other currently published SOTS articles click here.
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![Mille took a big slam but came back to take 2nd in juniors]()
The Pinkbike State of the Sport Survey has revealed that more than half of professional riders feel they would not be adequately supported in case of an injury.
Of the 196 riders surveyed, 101 (51.5%) either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, "I would be adequately financially supported in case of an injury". 42 (21%) riders answered the question neutrally while only 53 riders (27%) felt they would be supported.
Of course, "adequately" could mean different things to different riders but even in the past few years, we've seen high-profile riders such as Brook MacDonald and Paul Basagoitia benefit from crowdfunding to supplement their recovery costs. Could lower profile riders with less cultural cache or a less well-publicised injury do the same?
This seems to be a trend across all disciplines, but freeride athletes, in particular, seemed the most worried about this. They had the highest proportion of riders who disagreed to some extent with the statement at 61.91%, From our freeride specific section of the survey, 63.2% of riders also agreed to some extent with the statement, "I have felt pressure to drop in at an event despite not being comfortable with the conditions." Although, it's worth noting that only 21 freeride/slopestyle athletes responded to the survey, far fewer than the other disciplines.
Enduro racers felt they were the next least secure at 54.69% followed by downhill at 54.29%. XC was the only discipline where a minority of racers felt they wouldn't be supported at 38.46%. Perhaps because of this, 70.9% of all respondents take out private insurance of some kind in case of injury or loss of earnings. In every discipline, the majority of riders take out private insurance, but freeride has the highest proportion (76.19%) followed shortly by downhill (76.06%) and the lowest uptake is in enduro (64.06%).
Some riders feel pressure to come back early from injury
We also asked riders to respond to the statement: "I have felt pressure to come back early from an injury". In total, 33.5% agreed with the statement and 41.6% disagreed with the remaining riders answering neutrally.
The disparity between freeride and slopestyle and the rest of the disciplines remained from the previous questions and this was the only discipline where a majority of riders had felt this pressure—57.15% of slopestyle riders had felt pressure to come back earlier from an injury, compared to 39.44% in downhill, 25.4% in enduro and 23.07% in cross country.
Whether this pressure is merely perceived, or overtly applied by sponsors and fans, it's clear that the precarious employment of professional mountain bikers contributes to some riders coming back from injury too soon. We asked riders what their sponsors value and more than 50% of riders said it was, "consistent results in my chosen discipline", something that would be impossible if they were off the bike with an injury. Other highly valued assets included, "active social media" (23.4%), "good, one-off results" (13.2%) and "face-to-face interaction with the public" (6.1%).
Riders are especially worried about concussions
As the science around the topic grows, it is becoming clearer that concussions can have long-lasting and serious effects on athletes even after they retire from the sport. Recent high-profile cases in mountain biking such as Anneke Beerten and Ethan Shandro show that head injuries are being taken more seriously, but they are still a grave concern for riders.
Riders were asked to respond to the statement, "I am worried about the long-term effects of concussions" and 29.8% strongly agreed and a further 40.9% agreed to it. in total less than 10% of riders disagreed to some extent with the statement. These results are consistent between the main racing disciplines but do not seem to be echoed in freeride and slopestyle, where nearly 30% of riders said they were not worried about the long-term effects of concussions.
The survey also showed that a majority of riders also believe there is not enough education for riders about concussions with 54% disagreeing with that statement. Thankfully, the UCI updated its guidelines surrounding concussions last year based on the 2017 Berlin concussion consensus, and the sport is slowly taking traumatic brain injury more seriously.
The Pinkbike State of the Sport Survey has revealed that more than half of professional riders feel they would not be adequately supported in case of an injury.
Of the 196 riders surveyed, 101 (51.5%) either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, "I would be adequately financially supported in case of an injury". 42 (21%) riders answered the question neutrally while only 53 riders (27%) felt they would be supported.
Of course, "adequately" could mean different things to different riders but even in the past few years, we've seen high-profile riders such as Brook MacDonald and Paul Basagoitia benefit from crowdfunding to supplement their recovery costs. Could lower profile riders with less cultural cache or a less well-publicised injury do the same?
This seems to be a trend across all disciplines, but freeride athletes, in particular, seemed the most worried about this. They had the highest proportion of riders who disagreed to some extent with the statement at 61.91%, From our freeride specific section of the survey, 63.2% of riders also agreed to some extent with the statement, "I have felt pressure to drop in at an event despite not being comfortable with the conditions." Although, it's worth noting that only 21 freeride/slopestyle athletes responded to the survey, far fewer than the other disciplines.
Enduro racers felt they were the next least secure at 54.69% followed by downhill at 54.29%. XC was the only discipline where a minority of racers felt they wouldn't be supported at 38.46%. Perhaps because of this, 70.9% of all respondents take out private insurance of some kind in case of injury or loss of earnings. In every discipline, the majority of riders take out private insurance, but freeride has the highest proportion (76.19%) followed shortly by downhill (76.06%) and the lowest uptake is in enduro (64.06%).
Some riders feel pressure to come back early from injury
We also asked riders to respond to the statement: "I have felt pressure to come back early from an injury". In total, 33.5% agreed with the statement and 41.6% disagreed with the remaining riders answering neutrally.
The disparity between freeride and slopestyle and the rest of the disciplines remained from the previous questions and this was the only discipline where a majority of riders had felt this pressure—57.15% of slopestyle riders had felt pressure to come back earlier from an injury, compared to 39.44% in downhill, 25.4% in enduro and 23.07% in cross country.
Whether this pressure is merely perceived, or overtly applied by sponsors and fans, it's clear that the precarious employment of professional mountain bikers contributes to some riders coming back from injury too soon. We asked riders what their sponsors value and more than 50% of riders said it was, "consistent results in my chosen discipline", something that would be impossible if they were off the bike with an injury. Other highly valued assets included, "active social media" (23.4%), "good, one-off results" (13.2%) and "face-to-face interaction with the public" (6.1%).
Riders are especially worried about concussions
As the science around the topic grows, it is becoming clearer that concussions can have long-lasting and serious effects on athletes even after they retire from the sport. Recent high-profile cases in mountain biking such as Anneke Beerten and Ethan Shandro show that head injuries are being taken more seriously, but they are still a grave concern for riders.
Riders were asked to respond to the statement, "I am worried about the long-term effects of concussions" and 29.8% strongly agreed and a further 40.9% agreed to it. in total less than 10% of riders disagreed to some extent with the statement. These results are consistent between the main racing disciplines but do not seem to be echoed in freeride and slopestyle, where nearly 30% of riders said they were not worried about the long-term effects of concussions.
The survey also showed that a majority of riders also believe there is not enough education for riders about concussions with 54% disagreeing with that statement. Thankfully, the UCI updated its guidelines surrounding concussions last year based on the 2017 Berlin concussion consensus, and the sport is slowly taking traumatic brain injury more seriously.
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I was a couple of payments away from paying off the 3.5k in uncovered cost (my insurance premiums are over 1k a month for our family for the "best" insurance available through my employment in public schools) for my son breaking both his arms a year ago.
He just broke his arm again. I just called the hospital and told them to total it up and add it to the bill.
I'm pretty sure I"m going to start carrying Spot or another MTB-focused waiver insurance on him and myself. I've heard about another "velosurance" or something that covers injury and bike theft.
Anyway, we have good jobs and good insurance, and this has been a hardship for us. I can't even imagine how other families in worse situations deal with unexpected health care costs.
And that has nothing to do with how well healthcare can be done here. It simply means that whoever your employer is likely pays more for that good health plan. Unfortunately most don't.
Overall I probably spent less than 100€ on treatment and medication out of my own pocket.
Is that what you expect healthcare should be? Apply a test to the circumstances of all injuries to determine if it is worth covering?
BUT I sure don't hear about countries WITH socialized healthcare wanting to get rid of it...
Just because a government funds healthcare doesn't mean management isn't staffed by experts in their field, just as a private business would. Do you have the same opinion of the military?
I live in California and Covered California healthcare is on tiered income system. The discounts are very substantial if you make less and are bigger the less you make. For those with the lowest incomes, they have everything covered with healthcare, dental, and vision. The California taxes are very high to pay for it.
Healthcare is excellent in the U.S.
It's just pricey. Very pricey. I wish my last surgery only cost me $1250... flippin chump change.
I guarantee if your hammer is "index fund ETF" (which I agree is historically correct) your experience is not typical. You think everyone on minimum wage has verizon and a BMW X1? Have you even seen a Walmart? Might be time to re-evaluate your assumptions of what plenty of Americans can easily do...
I've lived in England, New Zealand and now Australia, I've broken my neck, wrist, leg, elbow, ribs and foot from riding as well as numerous other hospital visits... never paid a cent in hospital fees, maybe a few bucks for a prescription, a few bucks for ambulance insurance and the annual medicare levy, with Oz being the only place that charges the latter two fees.
America needs to wake up and embrace free healthcare as a basic right for all.
I didn't miss your point, there was no point to begin with, you're out of touch, cool story brah
(Obviously the followin is just just my own experience, so take with a grain of salt please)
I feel the quality of care in the US is absolutely top-notch. (Currently recovering from a broken wrist after a Friday fail :-P ). But costs are out of control, because there's so little regulation on tariffs, medication cost etc. If you have a chronic condition and the low income, it's not fun.
The NHS in the UK is a very impressive system, for most 'non-critical' treatments that you can wait for – and most medication was way cheaper than in the US. It really is awesome. However, the caregivers in the system are under a lot of pressure to cut cost. (And overworked, underpaid, understaffed....) The quality of care I experienced myself, and in my entourage, wasn't always amazing. On the flipside, nobody's excluded from access to the healthcare system.
Switzerland seemed a bit like a best/worst from both worlds system. Everybody must have 'public' health insurance, and that's not crazy expensive, but has restrictions (no free choice of doctor, shared hospital rooms) so many people tend to supplement with 'private' and more expensive health insurance on top of that.
Again, I don't think there's one system that is universally superior, it needs to work for the country… but every system needs to have some level of states controlled regulation and quality assurance, to step in when the system or market fails.
So you consider a $300 car payment some sort of irresponsible luxury? 1) Most working class people need a car to live, and 2) a $300 car payment means a person financed roughly $17K at 3%. I'd hardly consider what you can buy for $17K excessive considering a base model toyota corolla costs over $20K. $17K is pretty much the bare minimum you can spend and buy a reliable car.
Also, as connected as everything is these days its almost impossible to not have an iPhone or some equivalent smartphone. They are a necessity more than a luxury at this point.
Had headaches in late spring, referred to an neurologist, had to wait about 3 months for appointment. He sent me for a brain scan which was done within 10 days. No charge for anything.
I live in BC and the provincial medical insurance is now paid by the provincial government. Previously I had to pay about $100.00 per month for family coverage. Apparently Canadian taxes are relatively high to fund our medical.
According to Wikipedia:
Patients in Canada waited an average of 19.8 weeks to receive treatment, regardless of whether they were able to see a specialist or not. In the U.S. the average wait time for a first-time appointment is 24 days (≈3 times faster than in Canada); wait times for Emergency Room (ER) services averaged 24 minutes (more than 4x faster than in Canada); wait times for specialists averaged between 3–6.4 weeks (over 6x faster than in Canada).
In the U.S., patients on Medicaid, the low-income government programs, can wait up to a maximum of 12 weeks to see specialists (12 weeks less than the average wait time in Canada). Because Medicaid payments are low, some have claimed that some doctors do not want to see Medicaid patients in Canada.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_healthcare_systems_in_Canada_and_the_United_States#:~:text=Patients%20in%20Canada%20waited%20an,see%20a%20specialist%20or%20not.&text=In%20the%20U.S.%2C%20patients%20on,average%20wait%20time%20in%20Canada).
“It must be noted that the PNHP identified statistical issues with the Fraser Institute's reporting. Namely, the report relies on a survey of Canadian physicians with a response rate of 15.8%. Distributing these responses amongst the 12 specialties and ten provinces results in single-digit tallies for 63 per cent of the categories, and often only one physician falling into a given category. The much more credible study from the Canadian Institute for Health Information confirms that Canada is doing quite well in delivering care within medically recommended wait times.”
Would be interesting to break down the datas by country, I think injury for american riders is not the same story as injury for european riders.
what we need is the government 100% out of the medical game. it's medicare and medicaid that f*ck the system. You can't compete with the goverment on what they are willing to pay, and hence they wildly warp the market and inflate prices and then people scream they want the goverment to do....MORE!? how insane is that...lmao
So while I’ve benefited from the quicker service down here as I tend to not keep it rubber side down, I can’t wait to move back to Canada.
I feel embarrassed now that I know how some of my favourite riders are risking everything (And I mean literally everything) with just one crash
If you don't want to be paid like a mountain biker, don't be a mountain biker.
If you don't want to sustain the level of injury common with professional mountain bikers, don't be a professional mountain biker.
There are PLENTY other forms of professional employment to chose from....and you can ride (relatively safer) on non-work hours. Or for us career sales guys.....during work hours.
Chance of injury ~72% - avg sleep 6hrs
Chance of injury 60% - avg sleep 7hrs
Chance of injury ~34% - avg sleep 8hrs
Chance of injury ~18% - avg sleep 9hrs*
*From the book Why We Sleep.
There's also reduced cardiovascular output from sleep deprivation. But from a harm reduction perspective, I'd tackle sleep deprivation first.
Sleep problems are tough to endure.
Hope there's is a remedy to your situation–that's difficult to survive on that level of sleep.
I've vehemently boycotted Redbull Rampage for the last 3 years, each year expecting that a competitor dies. When competitors aren't willing to take a second run, because the risk (likelihood of crashing) and consequence (likelihood of serious injury) are both so high that they don't balance out with the reward (cash money), the event and underlying model is broken. It simply isn't sustainable for riders. But the sponsors profit. Need a reference, go watch the original Rollerball.
To be clear, this is not new nor unique to cycling. When Niki Lauda crashed at the Nurburgring in '76, caught in his car and on fire, Ferrari had lined up a new driver before Lauda made it to the hospital. For them it was about the victory, nothing more.
The sad reality is that as long as there are athletes who continue to line up on the start line, competing for 5-figure payouts (at best), while risking 6-figure injuries (on a good day), the model will persist. Worst still, the sliver of a percent who make it inspire the next generation of to go bigger and further under the name of 'progression.' These same teens fill up your Friday-fails.
A partial solution: Redbull, pay for your athlete's insurance, as a start. Be a model of decency. Give athletes and influencers a real and life-sustaining reason to want to work with you. Athletes, band together.
Counter-example: here and there in Yoann/Remy/GCN tutorial youtube vids, you see them back down from features and explain their process for judging levels of risk. More of this please!
And yes it was bad. Leg was a mess, knee cap damaged, shoe torn off and ground down foot, lots of blood and bone sticking out on surface.
I have seen many road rashes over the years and this was the only one that gives me nightmares. I will never forget her screams.
Telling me. $1400 a month for insurance and you still have big copays and unpaid portions of procedures? Dental insurance is a joke.
Concussions is another can of worms I suspect will be haunting us, myself included, for some time.
The added mental struggle of US healthcare is real. Even with simple injury, all the insurance company need to say is "that isn't covered" or "you went to the wrong hospital" and your life has changed financially. I broke my wrist, smashed my elbow - over $170,000 of cost! - and I was shorted so much healthcare, they wouldn't even give me arm cast! said - you're not covered for that.
Make choices, live with the consequences. No one gets a free pass in anything, and it's unlikely anyone (government, corporation, industry, people, etc.) is going to save you when things to tits up.
Stay safe out there, and try and have some fun along the way.
Pro riders are treated as independent contractors, every person for themselves in terms of the deals they can secure. No Union or "League", no standard for minimum pay or medical coverage. I don't see this changing anytime soon, or ever really. Roadies have been at it for over a hundred years, and have made little progress on this front.
Lawyer told me I had a case against both the insurance and the employer, but becuase I didn't die/get visibly deformed(only 2 fractured vertebrae and a massive TBI)... I wasn't due enough to be worth his time. Wait time for federal court was 8+ years.
Told me it sucks, and that all of his TBI cases go that way becuase jury's think you are a liar if you arnt drinking your meals through a straw.
I had a high 6 figure job, I worked insanely hard/ needed luck to get. I have perminate deficiencys I will have to deal with. They will definitely effect my job prospects.
Get f*cked sit and spin is the systems response.
Tell me more about how I just need bigger bootstraps.
But if he was hurt doing trade work or some something similar, he absolutely should be taken care of - especially if his employer was not providing a safe working environment.
Your abilty to pursue the case has everything to do with how much your case is worth divided by how long to litigate. That's the math. For 8+ years of federal court to be worth it, your settle ment needs to be in the millions.. that settlement take 5 to 8 years. 5 to 8 years without income. Becuase it looks bad if you can still work at your previous level. So you can go on SSDI and get $400 a week? I made 5k a week before, good luck.
It's really common for TBI cases to be told they don't deserve as much because it's easy to bury or obscure the testing nessary.
It's also really common to have to pay out of pocket for most of your care if you have the means.
It's a cliché
Thank you NHS!
How about: more than 50% of population feel that they won't be adequately supported after a serious incident or injury?
Cuck
I used to work for a major retailer back in the day. Girl got hurt on the job when some stock fell on her. She was forced to come in because they couldn't find anyone to cover her shift. She arrived to work in a wheelchair and doped up on prescribed pain meds to manage the pain. Next day she was set to open with me. Called my manager and told him it wasn't safe for her to work, nor was it ethical. He told me it wasn't his problem. So, I called her and said not to come in; I'd take the heat.
Long story sort, store manager flipped out, but then realized they were pushing the limits of the law an may get sued. The whole store talked about it like I was a hero. All for being a decent human being.
The fact that happens on the daily all over the country is a crime.
But i still think everyone is responsible for their own wellbeing, if the government doesn't provide the Health benefits you want, you have to make a choice, pay insurance or go to a country that does provide it.
Unjust systems need to be held to account. Blaming the poor is not a valid response.
Gonna raise a toast to you when California expats price you out of Idaho. Thinking a gin spritz with a garnish of your tears. Yes, that'll be lovely *cheers*
Her family and i had to pay the bills on a private hospital to have surgery the same day as it was needed. Those were my eMTB savings btw.
Weak
I can imagine your riding buddies laughing at you and leaving you behind when you get hurt, but clearly you're too toxic to have riding buddies.