A Little More Prepared

My friend Stacy broke her femur on March 21st, 2021. I wrote about the incident here and as a follow up, I want to provide you with 2 action items to be a little more prepared when you are out riding, be it out your backdoor, or that dream vacation you’ve been planning for years. This is the second part in a three part series on general emergency preparedness. My third post in the series is, Ride Rules: how to navigate risk vs consequence.

#1) Pack Prep

I brake this category up into Medical 1st Aid and Bike 1st Aid. Simply going through the process of preparing a bike and med 1st aid kit should give you a good idea of how prepared you are. It also may motivate you to take a wilderness medical class or tinker with your bike a bit more.

After years of carrying a generic first aid kit (¾ of the stuff I would never use or didn’t even know what it was) I have gone to building my own kits from scratch. This way I know exactly what is in them and how/when to use the contents. I encourage you to build up your own kits (both medical and bike), ask questions, and if you don’t know how to use something or what it’s for, find the answer! Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I have my Wilderness First Responder certification, but the below information is based on my years of riding and hundreds of hours spent on trails.

 

Medical 1st Aid

  • Medications (antihistamines, NSAIDS, and anything specific to you) 

  • Non latex gloves

  • Sterile Gauze pads

  • Med tape

  • Antibiotic ointment

  • Antiseptic wipes

  • Lighter and whistle

  • Tweezers

  • Syringe (to irrigate wounds) a water bottle can also be used, but it’s hard to replicate the high power of syringe

  • Gummy bears or candy (you can ask the kids I ride with but every time someone crashes they are rewarded with gummy bears! Is also good to have for people with diabetes.)

  • Triangular bandages

  • Instant cold/hot packs

  • Emergency blanket

  • Bandaids

 

Bike 1st Aid Kit

The bare essentials:

  • Materials to fix a flat (tube, pump, tire lever) even if you don’t know how to fix a flat, if you at least have the needed gear you can hope to find a kind trail angel to help you

  • Multi-tool

Additional Items you may want to consider:

  • Quick link

  • Tire plugs

  • Chain lube

  • Derailleur cables

  • Small knife, pliers, or small multitool

  • Water filter

  • Extra snacks

  • Valve stem

  • 10’ length of p-cord


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#2) Know Before You Go

Communication: Always tell someone a general ride plan and expected time of return. You send texts all day anyway, send one more before you head out :) Easy!

Medical Training

My WFR training was key when I was out with Stacy. Without it, I would have been lost. One of the biggest things I’ve learned with the WFR training is how to know when a patient is in a critical state and needs immediate attention or when a patient is in a lot of pain, but they are not dealing with a life threatening injury. Time, or course, is what can change those conditions. The threat of shock and cold were real. I treated those things as best I could, and kept an eye on Stacy’s vitals to have quantitative data in addition to asking Stacy how she was feeling.

I highly recommend you take a wilderness first Aid (3 day course) to get you started and if you have the time and means, pursue a higher level of certification.

Volunteer with your local Search and Rescue (SAR). These groups are almost always entirely volunteer run, and always looking for help, and provide lots of great wilderness medical training! Below are 3 examples of wilderness medical training courses offered through NOLS.

Insurance

At the very least, make sure you have some form of medical insurance. If you are without insurance https://www.getspot.com/ is an excellent place to start

Sat Phones and GPS Devices

There are lots of different products on the market when is comes to GPS navigation and Sat phone communication. When choosing one, make sure it can provide two-way communication (vs just pressing and SOS button). Also, this device should be your last resort and should never change your travel plans. I have a Garmin Inreach mini. I always carry it, and hope to never need it.

When to call for help?

According to David Weber, Lifeflight Paramedic, calling for help should be your last resort after you have exhausted all your resources.

How do you call?

Calling 911 will contact a local dispatcher that will activate local Search and Rescue and/or Paramedics depending on the situation.

What’s the cost involved with a call?

If you receive help from a SAR crew, there is no cost. There is no cost for a flight, if the flight takes you to an ambulance! This is something I just learned yesterday from my friend Dave Weber, a lifeflight paramedic. The costs start once you get into an ambulance, are treated by EMS, or are flown directly to a hospital.

I hope you found this helpful, and not overwhelming. It’s important to remember you will carry the above items under optimal circumstances. I have been out on plenty of rides when I’ve run out of water, flatted and needed to borrow a pump, or placed a shirt over a cut and called it good. But I have learned from these errors, and my hope is you can learn from the experience of others and stay out of tricky situations! Please use the above information to help you feel a little more prepared, the next time you head out on the trail. Next week I will share several ride rules I have for myself, and my athletes, and dive deeper into the mental components of risk vs consequence. I welcome your comments and insights, as we all approach risk differently.

MTBRebekah RottenbergMTB, Safety1 Comment