Mtb First Aid Kit

Biscuits, anyone?

Steristrips occlusive dressings tick hooks aspirin 300mg soluble

Depends on ones definition of first aid.

You're going to get medics that say no point, and you'll get people thinking that they need to carry tourniquets, and a range of opinions in between.

I carry enough to clean, cover up and carry on. Anything more severe and you're going to be asking for help anyway.

The problem that I have about making a comment here is that the comment I should make will result in me needing the object that I'm commenting about on my next ride depite having never needed it before. A bit like never committing to 'one last run'.

good point 🙂 I wont bother and just the whole lot in the bag and stuff in the back of the truck :-))))

Don't bother with eye wash (but I do have water in a squeezy bottle or a hydration bladder). Carry tick remover in my FAK, they're tiny and useful. Often carry an emergency blanket, just gets chucked in. Hopefully it'll never get used!

I do feel happier knowing I've got a first field dressing available. That's a pretty versatile bit of kit.

I just have a general small outdoorsy kit with additional foil reflective blanket. That, a small eyewash bottle and some taped on Melonin dressing pads are the only things I've ever used on the trail.

It gets used more at home, when steri-strips, tweezers and general plasters are useful.

Biscuits, anyone?

They'll either go stale or you'll need to replace them every ride....

I do feel happier knowing I’ve got a first field dressing available. That’s a pretty versatile bit of kit.

This came up a while ago and I decided a space blanket, some tablets and a trauma dressing would be a good idea. I tend to not carry anything but will probably change that.

I carry enough to clean, cover up and carry on

This seems pretty sensible

Roll of cling film.

The thing I've need most for incidents is a foil blanket.

These (regularly repeated) first aid posts always degenerate into people arguing that you need a full trauma unit on one side and ‘I carry nothing but a potato and aspirin’ on the other.

I’d suggest a dressing or 2, some plasters and some tape. Basically buy an average generic first aid kit, open it up and make sure you know what’s in there and how to use it.

If it’s a big expedition to somewhere remote then probably take a bit more.
And have a fully charged up phone with either a grid reference app or What3Words so that you can call out for help.

Edit -
And a sling. Slings are really handy.

Catastrophic bleeds worry me. Too many sharp things to land on at the side of trails.
So I carry stuff to deal with that. The rest of my stuff is in the ‘clean, cover, continue’ spectrum.

And a sling. Slings are really handy = spare tube?

Sorry I am being dumb, aspirin? Is it for shock?

A crepe bandage can be made into a sling and can bind wounds too, without the bulk of sling material.

Such as.

Slings are really handy = spare tube?

I had a horrible solo crash 2 years ago resulting in a shoulder reconstruction with broken bones and severed rotator cuff and other nasty stuff. My spare tube was, in hindsight, an arm saver, quite literally.

I do have Outdoor First Aid qualification which maybe helped,but basically it was down to common sense.

I carry the full kit if coaching or leading rides, but for normal stuff, and as others have said, some good dressings, tick twisters and some pain relief.

After seeing a bloke on Insta collide with what looked like a Deer with a nice set of 10 point antlers, I am fairly sure you can't be ready for everything..
Sticky dressings a bandage and maybe a small pack of antiseptic wipes.

I take a lifecycle zip up one - I’d describe it as a’2 person’ kit.

I have added: ZapPain (30mg codeine + 500mg acetaminophen); anthisan; as Lon cream; Marvel plaster selection; one of those emergency reflective bivis.

I could probably pack lighter as most of the time it’s painkillers, plasters, anthisan that’s needed. Bandage? Use a buff? Sling? Use a couple of buffs or a sleeve? Wound too big for a plaster? Gaffer tape!

10p for the payphone ?.

Seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls, for pain relief / post-ride car park sesh duties.

🤦🏻‍♂️’as lon’ cream? ‘Savlon’!

payphone

are these even a thing anymore? Most rural ones seem to be defibs now.

10p? Probably 20p at least these days. Reverse charges saves weight in the pack?

Knowledge - attend an outdoor orientated course, so you have some understanding about what to do, It can also inform you as the kit you might want to carry.

I just carry a small kit, in a Poundland pencil case to cover the basics - few plasters, triangular bandage, foil blanket and self-adhesive dressings.
This should cover most 'fix and carry on' type issues, or be enough to get you back to the car/home.

If anything bigger happens (suspected fracture/bigger bleed/etc) you can improvise with clothing, spare inner tube, etc - ultimately you're just trying to stabilise the situation until the professionals take over.

An FFD? Where are you nerds riding, Mogadishu?

A space blanket helps you wait for an ambulance. If you don't need an ambulance, you don't need anything else.

(Guides can carry stuff to make their clients feel better about the occasional scratch).

I carry a small 1st aid kit with some dressings and a space blanket. Im of the view I need enough to patch up and carry on or be able to look after the injured person until qualified help arrives.

Speaking as a doctor, I'm probably pathologically relaxed about all this.

A space blanket helps you wait for an ambulance. If you don’t need an ambulance, you don’t need anything else.

This is my attitude too. I've been in one scenario in 20+ years of riding that made me think "Er, this could go south if we're not careful." Someone with a fractured shoulder on top of a hill - it was warm but breezy, and being immobilised on the top of a hill in Lycra is a good way to get properly cold.

Mind, this is for riding in the UK (England) where nowhere is too remote, and Mountain Rescue exists so we can all take unnecessary extra risks knowing that there's a lovely safety net. My MR colleagues may disagree with this assessment, and indeed the MR guy I sometimes ride with does indeed carry a lot more kit. If I was trekking across Botswana, I may feel differently. Obviously.

EDIT: Having read the responses, I might actually start carrying aspirin (to offer to people having a heart attack). I'm not sure I'd really advocate Joe Public treating other Joes with aspirin, though.

Whatever you carry, know what you have and how to use it. It’ll make my life a bit easier when I rock up in an ambulance and sort you out/cart you off the ED. Also be careful what medication you give people as they can be allergic to the weirdest things.

Support trailer

For what it's worth I get people's risk appetites are different I have actually ridden around Mogadishu and whilst I did carry an FFD I thought it was superflous so that situates my risk appetite I guess.

My other half is an ed doc and she thinks carrying more than some tape (which can fix your bike and kit as much as you) is mostly a waste of your time and effort.

Canister of spray on plaster? It's always the flexy bits that graze, are hard to get something to stay on and constantly rub against clothing.

Forestry first aid kit is bigger than my bait box though.

How long will it take to get help and what time sensitive injury might you have to endure in that time that a little bit of something could make a big difference to?

Springing a leak is the one that springs to mind. Little leak, I tend to just carry on and let nature do its thing. A big leak could be a problem hence something like a first field dressing/ambulance dressing/Israeli dressing.

Like all risk assessments, it's severity and likelihood against practicality of control method.

Someone above mentioned aspirin and heart attacks. Out first aid training at work, rightly or wrongly, tell us that this is the only instance where you can administer medication.

I’ve just done my first aid +F course refresher and since I’ve last completed it they’ve changed the CPR methodology again, we were told aspirin and paracetamol were out, tourniquets are in and all of a sudden adder bites are really scary.

I rarely carry anything bar my phone on local rides. I have a small first aid kit I pack for longer days but to be honest it’s probably not that great for dealing with a genuine emergency. I should maybe rethink it. I’ve only ever needed to properly use a first aid kit once, when I trapped my hand in a gate. My dad had one in his car, brand new, never used. His car was VW. I was bleeding quite heavily so I was quite disappointed to discover all the items in the first aid kit were shrink wrapped, unwrapping them was quite difficult… they were also all labelled in German which caused some confusion!!

I tend to cary a couple of space blankets as they take up so little space. Not used one yet, but I went and bought them when I witnessed a lass impale herself at Llandegla (no bar end plugs). Both her and her partner had no warm clothing, so gave her my waterfproof whilst we waited for the air ambulance. I could do with antiseptic wipes, tape and dressings - I put a fair old hole in my arm a few weeks ago when out on the road bike.

Springing a leak is the one that springs to mind. Little leak, I tend to just carry on and let nature do its thing. A big leak could be a problem hence something like a first field dressing/ambulance dressing/Israeli dressing.

This is my thinking. Most likely life threatening things to come across on a MTB is a head injury or a lot of blood. The one you’re likely to be able to actually help improve is by trying to keep the blood inside, assuming you’ve got something with you.

Duct tape. If you want to carry some dressings, the ones in a normal first aid kit will be too small. A rolled up thin bin liner or space blanket is helpful to keep the wind off. Bin liners leak less than space blankets. And you can put your muddy clothes in them when back at the car.

Btw I always carry a spare bar end plug. Few things can spoil your ride or race dq like a missing plug.