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Following on from the @scunny post asking what kit people take on rides with them ..... how many people carry a first aid kit with them? Is it bad luck to carry one? Do you assume that one of your mates has one? Given that a lot of MTB'ing can be far off of the beaten track should we all carry one or at least ensure that one of a group of riders has one?
I carry one.
I know that a lot of stuff can be improvised but a couple of wound dressings, a pair of nitrile gloves, some plasters, some painkillers and a tick removal thingy don't take up much room and mean my clothes might not get covered in blood / that slice or graze is protected from cow shit / I or someone else is just a bit less uncomfortable etc.
But then I also carry water, some tools and puncture kit etc. I like to be self sufficient. I appreciate that for others carrying a pack will ruin their ride and they are happy to walk home or just bleed freely. Each to their own and all that.
Just a few bits for cleaning stuff and holding it together until I'm home.
I do. Some good posts on here about carrying just ‘big injury’ stuff like big dressings, suture strips, tape and latex gloves (I am not a paramedic), plus the ability to improvise with bike spares like inner tubes, clothing etc.
I carry one. I have two different kits - one when doing ML/DofE/big trips out. One that is pretty basic for just small trips out.
I carry a resuscitation aid in both - and combined with some tape has literally saved a friends life.
Yes. It has some dressings, pain killers, couple of bandages, foil blanket and the use on everything duck tape. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t carry one they aren’t heavy and can save a lot of hassle on the odd time it does get used
Yep. Had to have a small one for a Rat Race event many years back, have carried one since. One of those foil blankets then mostly a few useful plasters and dressings, tiny little roll of zinc oxide tape, tick remover, some spare hayfever medicine and a few paracetamol/ibuprofen. Goes in a little waterproof bag that fits easily in any of my packs including the small waist one.
Other than the foil blanket not that useful in a full-on emergency but I've had enough times where me or someone I'm with has got cut badly enough to bother with it.
Yes I carry one.
Comes in handy - especially when I binned it on a solo ride and had a massive hole in my elbow.
Have a small one for my solo rides and a larger one in my pack for coaching/guiding.
Yes
basic first aid kit & foil blanket for me; I'm assuming the next time I do myself a bloody mischief in the middle of nowhere I probably won't have the good fortune again for the next person down the trail to not only be a surgeon but also one who hasn't gone tubeless and therefore able to fashion a tourniquet at the drop of a hat.
Yes, I do. Given one as a ride leader for my club and just always have it with me...
Yes. Recognize that the window between doesn’t require even first aid, carry on riding and go directly to a and e, do it pass go, do not collect 200 dollars isn’t all that wide, but still...
Partic great when riding with kids, a plaster coming out of a first aid kit goes a long way in turning distress into excitement.
Most used things are Brave Soldier crash packs - the contents of which are easily recreated. Used at least one on each week long cycle tour we’ve done, either on a member of our group or on a stranger!
I do. And based on usage I will continue to carry a minimum of the following....
1. A triangular bandage - used to strap my broken collar bone allowing me to push bike off hill and ride 4 miles one handed on the road back to the cars. It can be improvised for a number of other injuries too.
2. A 10 x 29 wound dressing. - used on a mates shin on a particularly nasty pedal strike that went down to the bone.
3, roll of insulation tape or similar - used to keep wound dressings in place and a multitude of other things
4. painkillers. Stronger the better. If you need them out and about, then you generally really need some pain relief.
If any of these are deployed then a ride is pretty much over and you are in limp home mode anyway so pointless taking loads more stuff just in case.
Yes always and a foil blanket and the St. John’s first aid for cyclist app on phone.
Tick tweezers for pulling out, err, ticks (preventing Lyme disease).
Yep, just a small one but enough to deal with a few different things.
No-one else seems to have said it, though, so I will: the first aid kit is only as useful as the training you have to back it up.
On rides, I always have a large kit in my bag that's about 1 kilo in weight, suitable for making a difference when it matters, which it has over the years on several occasions. But as an emergency medical technician (EMT) who specialises in a lot of wilderness work, you might expect me to go that wee bit further.
There's also a 2-3 man small shelter, a sit mat, spare skull cap and 2 or 3 foil blankets that with duct tape can be turned into a great extra jacket for the walking wounded. Inner tubes can make a useful arm sling; a tiny tail light & head torch are always there too..
Just carry a well thought out, simple one. It might be you, me or your best buddy lying there in a crumpled heap. A two day, targeted outdoor first aid course will make a big difference to anyone's outlook on this subject.
Basic small pack of dressings, plasters, and a foil blanket. Need the foil blanket at least once a year, often for injured riders we find at the side of the road.
I always have done, just the essentials and a shoulder sling.
It goes back to my mountaineering days and it just lives in the bag.
In a what do you carry thread - only a minority mention one.
In a ‘do you carry a first aid kit’ thread the answer is a so far unanimous yes.
Are there many non first aiders unwilling to go against the grain when the implication is you don’t care about yourself/others and are willing to burden MR?
Or have they all just seen the thread title and scrolled past?
I will bite.
Yes my mobile phone, telling someone where I have gone and what time I expect to be back. If remote a emergency Bivvy bag (not foil blanket)
IMO you can walk out or need more help than a first aid kit
No, not normally. I've been qualified in first aid for as long as I can remember too. FA at work, outdoor stuff, GWO. I'm trying to think of a time when I wished I'd had one and I struggle. The odd road crash where it would have been useful.
I carry one and have used it several times, including immobilisation for fractures. As someone noted, pre hospital immediate care training has come in very useful over the years, it’s both interesting to do and very beneficial for other people (including your loved ones), so win win.
Just to balance stuff. On sub 3 hour rides: phone and some cash for the pub. For a bigger ride I'll stuff some food and tools in the bumbag which already has a few alcohol wipes and a piece from a roll of plasters. Other than that there's just some tape and zip ties. I usually won't even bring water so long as I know where the springs are.
The answer is sort of. I threw some wound dressings into me pack
IMO you can walk out or need more help than a first aid kit
I think something to stop bleeding or imobolise a limb can make a huge difference. Whether your walking out or waiting for help
I carry a basic one if out myself, and a bigger one when leading.
Only thing I've ever used out of either is a single aspirin. (Given to a collapsed walker on the advice of a 999 operator).
Yep but it's pretty much homemade. Emergency shelter, trauma bandage and a CPR aid, one generic multi-use bandage for general repairs/immobilisation, asprin, tape, backup phone charger thing with a wee light. It all lives in a wee first aid kit pouch that I think not a single item still survives from the original "outdoor specific first aid kit", but it's a good pouch, and all the elastoplasts and crap like that came in handy around the house.
Oh and some paracetemol, ibuprofen, blister plasters, anti-diarrhoea tablets, superglue, anti-indigestion tablets. These- the ride-saver stuff- get used more than anything else inevitably. And some tramadol just in case I ever break my own leg and want to walk home.
Like others have a big one for work and a small pouch for personal riding. One addition I’ve made to all our kits recently is a small zip lock back with a pair of nitrile gloves and a face mask at the top of each one; that and eyewear is the recommended minimum PPE for working on casualties at the moment.
Yes, definitely for MTB. Contents will vary depending on remoteness from assistance, size/skill of group and severity of the terrain. It’s been used many times on members of the group, random riders and myself (broken collarbone - dooh!). Brufen, Salvalon etc are pretty pointless IMO, it’s bleeds, cuts, breaks etc that need sorting to allow rescue, stop the situation getting worse or potentially keep someone alive. I had to patch up some chap’s face when he had an OTB incident at Gisburn. Was bleeding badly from a bad gash on his cheek amongst other injuries. All his buddies had with them was a toilet roll and they were about to apply that!! Having suitable bandages, and more importantly some training, helped keep him stable until the air ambulance arrived.
Great thread, I am about to update my home workshop kit and would like a nice little kit to leave in my bike pack as well.
Wondered if any stand out as better than others?
Happy to add to to any kit, but maybe better to start with the most suitable in the first place and add to that!
Not as a matter of course no. I have a foil blanket on me usually, those have been used a few times. Mostly to keep car seats clean when a random passer by has volunterred to take a casualty to hospital tbh. More remote rides which are rare for me these days I will take a few bits and bobs which I have never used!! Asprin is a good idea though, will add some to road and mtb kit.
I do for any decent rides. The last two times I needed it I was trail building and had a couple of strangers with nasty injuries, one machete wound to the thigh and one very nearly severed penis. I now carry it pretty much always. I’ve got something like this: https://www.safetyfirstaid.co.uk/travel-vehicle-personal/110-person-first-aid-kit-in-nylon-case/
Then I just add to it. IME most useful is suntancream, sachets to wash out eyes / wounds and a wound covering. Then a bandage to make a sling if needed. And a first aid course. I’m doing mine just now and it always amazes me how much I’ve forgotten each time I do my refresher.
Don’t carry one and I have never needed one. I do carry an aspirin in my wallet on recommendation from a first aid course. Think there’s a small kit in my bike van and there’s a tourniquet somewhere in the house.
No but I probably should!
Anyways have insulation tape on me though (for bike bodging) and that can be really handy for various human related repair bodging too.
Ooh, I carry an innertube too, though I'm tubeless, that can also be handy too what I've gleaned on here.
Always take IPA in a little spray bottle too (covid) which at 70% alcohol is good to clean wounds..... Though ridiculously painful as I learnt earlier in the year.😁
The last two times I needed it I was trail building and had a couple of strangers with nasty injuries, one machete wound to the thigh and one very nearly severed penis.
Bush Whacking?
I carry the bare minimum - a few pills and dressings/tape/wipes. I should probably add a couple of bits, foil blanket etc.
I've only needed one twice- the first time I had one because I was having a go at an Enduro and had to have one on me and the second time I didn't but fortunately I had a Buff thinger that I used as a bandage to help stop the bleeding until I got home (by bike, obvs.) The second time ties into this thread too. Do I get a thread-combo-bonus?