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Carrying First Aid Kits
Today I competed in the Convict 100 at St Albans. About 21km into the race on the first section of water bars where people stack every year there was a rider down with 3 other guys frantically waving me down. Naturally I stopped to find he had banged his head and had opened it up. The panic was due to none of them having any first aid kits on them.
I used my kit and then went for help. Lucky for him he had a nasty gash but didn't appear to have concussion or any major damage so I went for help and he was transported out of there.
At the end of the race I was telling my friends and expressed my surprise none of them carried first aid kits despite it being a requirement of events and just a common sense thing to do. Turns out my friends don't carry them...
Maybe I just see risk more than most due to the number of stacks I've had that have ended up in hospital trips and once a snake bite.
Am I an outlier in my belief you shouldn't ride your bike without a first aid kit on you in the same way you must wear a helmet?
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As I ride alone much of the time and even thought I am no more than a few kilometres from civilisation I feel it wise to be basically self-sufficient.
First aid kit for the body and the bike includes -
- 2 x 3m elastic bandages - many uses including snake bite (the reptile kind).
- 1 x gauze triangular bandage that doubles as an absorbant pad.
- a few bandaids
- elastic bands
- 30mm pocket knife with scissors
- mobile phone
- cable ties
- spare tube and plastic levers.
- pump
- multi-tool
- and for after the 'first aid' the ultimate saviour - the mobile phone.
For the body the focus is to stabilise me (or someone else) for the more serious stuff hence the 'first aid' until the real help arrives. I can wait until I get home to clean up the minor stuff.
For the bike the focus is to get me home on the bike (ie. not having to walk it). As an aside, I still carry a tube even through I have not had a puncture in over two years (running tubeless) but I have donated my spare on three occasions to others with nothing in that time.
All up weight is about 500 grams in the Camelback.
Others may suggests more things particularly the further you are away from assistance.
Me being an ex Scout (34 years ago!) I realise the motto of 'be prepared' always comes in handy at some point.