My long rides usually pass through small communities enough that I can procure/consume food and drink to augment my provided basics. most of my kit is for maintenance of the bike and contingent support of the rider.
Flats, wet weather, dry chain, unexpected delays anticipated but also are minor injuries, some of the places we ride may not be where help will be reach you quickly so I accept a greater responsibility of immediate aid and likely self evacuation and make sure I have some necessities to those contingencies. Any first aid kit is only any good if you know what the pieces are, what they're for and how to use them, the generalized ones are outdone by a good skinned knee but will curiously have a CPR mouth shield. I do better collecting individual items in a ziplock. My kit anticipates the sorts of things I've experienced personally and come across others suffering when riding. Being able to stop bleeding. Having enough bandage to cover abrasions (self-adhesive or Telfa plus tape), handful of nitrile gloves, Dr. Bronner's in the 2 oz bottle, white cloth medical tape, super glue, cravat or large clean bandana, two safety pins, alcohol wipes, Aquaphor, chlorhexidine glutamate, my Swiss Army Knife and charged phone. Lesson learned #1: you will never have exactly what you need. Lesson learned #2: you can improvise, this isn't a graded event like the American Heart Association CPR test. The ABCDE mnemonic helps if you can remember it. l\Lesson learned #3: in the event of closed head injuries, anything requiring CPR or any other condition you are unsure of how to help the injured and disabled person, get your phone out and call 911. You are going to be getting busy and if you can't bring it home the cavalry had better be on the way. If you had a remote location crash and are perseverating on little things, that confusion could be either shock or a closed head injury (helmet or not) and should be responded to clearly and quickly since your ability to do either will be diminishing. Lesson #4: If you seek help for yourself and do not have spouse, friend, or family coming you are likely to get a ride in an ambulance. You will go to the hospital ER dressed as you are, your bike will not make the trip likely be tossed aside like some flotsam and jetsam. Do you have a way to conceal it and lock it for later recovery? Do you have your ID, insurance card? Do you have a way to pay expenses due? These are experience-based observations of events I have come across or experienced while riding. Bicycling is not a particularly injurious activity but, as in any any pursuit, will include some folks who are beyond their skills, or poise, their intentions unimportant. Accidents happen. Steps will have to be taken. Being blank on the first aid front is akin to having a flat with nothing to address it. We've all had things happen and a few supplies are worth a pile of gold when you need them. Be safe, be prepared. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at 9:12:19 PM UTC-4 Deacon Patrick wrote: > What is your day ride kit, why, and for what type of riding? > > - coffee in thermos and insulated (soon to be a wood quaich/ kuksa) > - pipe and tobacco kit > - ventile cotton analogy rain jacket from Hilltrek > - fishnet long john shirt (turns my sun shirt into a medium weight > insulated shirt, but I have to put it next to the skin. Weighs near nothing > and takes minimal space. It and my rain jacket would be sufficient for 95% > of days, but the weather folks don't get the five % right very often, so I > haul wool...) > - (often) boiled wool 3-season weight sweater (extra layers cause it snows > anytime, and thunderstorms can drop temps into the 40's, dump hail for an > hour or more, and then keep on raining steady if they settle in) > - Sitting tarp > - Bike kit (pump, tube, patch, allen tool, et al) > - Buck 110 knife > - Digital typewriter (Freewrite: think Kindle e-reader on an quality > mechanical keyboard) > - Camera, tripod, etc. > - Irish straps and shopsack for shopping pick up days. > - Fire tinder kit (the only time you need a fire is when it's too wet to > start one. Grin.) > - compass > - rosary > -pen knife > - water pen light purifier > - no food. I prefer to ride fasted > > Why so much? Because I want to ride however long I ride, regardless of > weather. With a brain that can get overloaded by overstimulation, I go > prepared to emergency overnight if required). I haven't weighed the set up, > but it's likely 2/3rds of the way to my overnight/weeklong/forever set up > weight. Add tent, bag, pad, food, more water bottles, and I'm good for > forever. Grin. > > With abandon, > Patrick > > www.MindYourHeadCoop.org > www.DeaconPatrick.org > www.CatholicHalos.org > www.ShepherdsandHalos.org > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/d9814d2f-b7ad-40a1-9e55-dc085cfcbf69n%40googlegroups.com.
