So 3 weeks ago, I was out with my team (Heleneholms Tri Team) on a small cycle tour.

It was sunny, no wind and the speed more of a social event than getting race ready.

We had just completed around 75km and were heading back in to Malmö. Some of the roads were heavy trafficked so we slowed down on the pace and took the bicycle lane that was separated from the road.

Then the accident happened.

To make a long story short,  A little boy got in my way and I had to swerve into a ditch hitting a light pole.

I had some bruises, but nothing serious. However my bike was damaged. My bike I only had ridden 14 times outside in sunny weather. MY BEAUTIFUL BIKE!

Another guy in the group told me to visit Bianchi Café and Cycles located at Caroli City. The mechanics there was a pro at carbon bikes.

I could still ride the bike so I went immediately to this mechanic and he instantly said, the fork was busted, do not ride it.

The frame had been bent and he might bend it back, but there was no guarantee it would hold or if it would break.

With my ironman 70.3 coming up, I was not happy.

I called my insurance company and told them my story. The administrator that I was assigned to, immediately understood my ordeal.

I asked them, if I don’t have a bike to the race, does my insurance cover the trip and admission fee to the race?

The administrator responded with: Let’s not think about that, we will try to fix this as fast as possible. This situation is a special one.

I sent them pictures of the damaged bicycle, receipts and all information they needed. I also sent emails to the company I bought the bike from asking them for parts.

However, they were not in stock anymore. Alright, now I was getting nervous. No parts, no bike.

I had close contact with my administrator who made investigations of her own in trying to get parts or see if the bike could be repaired.

She did not get any positive results either and then came to the conclusion. The bike could not be repaired as it was a liability.

If it would break later on and I would fall it would not be so good. So they decided they would reimburse me for the bicycle.

Since I had bought my bike overseas, and on top of it all, found a really good deal, they would have to estimate the cost for a new bike here in Sweden.

This is fairly a simple thing. I had a certain groupset (gear, chainrings etc), a certain weight etc. The only difference would be the frame and name of the bike.

It took 5 days from the first time I got in touch with my insurance company to them deciding to reimburse me with a new bike that I could go pick up at a local bike shop.

Let me tell you, a time trial bike is not easy to find in a local bike shop. It’s not exactly a big demand on them especially when they go up in price.

I had been calling every bike shop I know in Malmö all the way up to Helsingborg.

No one had any bikes ready and they could only order them with a delivery date of minimum 3-4 weeks.

But there was one left at Cykelcity in Lund. ONE! And it was in my size. What are the odds?

It was an Argon18 E-112 with Ultegra components.

I’ll take it I said while on the phone with Cykelcity.

The next day I could pick it up and go out to do some training. Thankfully my team had an “Intro class to riding with others” so I could join them and get a feel for my new bike in a pace that suited a first timer, which I was on the bike 🙂

All in all I’m very happy with the dealings with my insurance company (Länsförsäkringar Skåne). They acted swiftly and  had my best interest in mind as well as their own.

I’ll post photos of the new bike when I get the time.