Trailside First Aid

As some of you have seen in the Hellacious ride thread, I had a gnarly crash and split my shin to the bone.
Riding solo, I was prepared for minor injuries but this would test my minimalist first aid kit.

I always carry, 4-6 butterfly bandages, two 4×4 pads, small roll of gauze, and a good quantity of duct tape wrapped around a tire lever.
Not much. But it was enough to get me all the way to the ER without filling my shoe with blood.

Put the butterflies in the patch kit you always carry, right? Regular band aids just cover the wound. The gauze and 4x4s tuck into a frame pouch pocket. Absorbant and non-stick.
The tire lever with duct tape goes with my other tools. Duct tape is better than first aid tape in these situations. It just sticks. Makes removal complicated, but if you do it right...
Notice I am not too particular about keeping things sterile by wearing gloves or using antibacteria creams. Most likely you have just been dragged over rocks and dirt at speed and you need to get out of there.
Clean your wounds as soon as possible.

Spare tubes make slings.
Extra cable makes a tourniquet.
Frame pumps and sticks make splints.
Knife.

A little training wouldn't hurt, but the thing I always remember is to

Stop the bleeding
Start the breathing
Protect the wound
Treat for shock.

 

Front is my top 3, butterflies, duct tape, and gauze roll.
Behind, the black bag has more first aid goodies.
The Fast Orange Wipes clean and scrub and are also a good way to head off poison oak or poodle dog


Edit: The black bag and Wipes stay in the vehicle, not on the bike.

 

Whatthe??? No bueno!!!!!!!

Sorry to hear it. Here’s to a clean heal!

Thanks for listing the survival supplies. I add an ace wrap – not for support, but it does a good job of keeping dressing in place, dirt out and blood from making a mess.

 

Oh yeah!
You can see my well-used ace bandage in my vehicle kit. I used it when I got back to the van.
I have also been known to use crazy glue / cyanoacrylic for closures of smaller wounds, usually not in the field though.

 

Nicely done and thanks for the reminder! Heal up quick. See you Saturday.

 

Thanks for the posting, Ross. I have a pack of butterflies, and also carry some clotting gauze for gushers. Never had to use it, luckily! I don't carry it with me all the time, only when I wear my H20 pack. Might need to revisit that some.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HJTH5L2/?tag=imtbtrails-20

 

Good info! I have a decent supply, but will add the butterfly’s and ace to it! Thanks Ross

 

I would like to see what everyone else is carrying. I get all my ideas from watching and learning from others in the field.

Not all of these happened to me but I was there...
Crazy glue for a sliced arm in Moab
Duct tape for cactus needle removal in Palm Cyn
Inner tube and sticks for a broken arm in Big Bear

Let's hear some war stories. If we're not careful we might learn something!

 

Welp, so far I have had no gushers and no broken bones (knock on wood) on a bicycle. I can't help on this one.

 

I carry a compact size mirror for signaling and usually have a large Mylar bag and a flint steel fire starter.
My supply is really pretty weak when I really think about needing it for survival
@evdog you can chime in anytime!

 

And neither of us had to give the other mouth-to-mouth resuscitation today, so we have that going for us! Knock on wood...

I once put a mt biker's severed finger into a baggie after removing it from his rotor. Is that something?

 

Are you serious about the severed finger?! @herzalot

 

A loop of webbing and short stick to tighten it make a decent tourniquet in a pinch. Hehe. Okay, don’t get that hurt, alright??


Sorry, Ross, you’ll learn nothing from me. I carry exactly what you do...

 

Yup. Funny thing is (well, not funny "ha ha," more "funny like a clown died"), that was the second bike related severed finger that I tended to within 6 months. One of my students crushed and severed his finger trying to adjust his chain while seated and riding his BMX bike on campus. Found that fingertip too. No luck re-attaching it.

The MtB-er had just installed his first set of disc brakes on his bike, and the rotor severed the finger during a routine fall. He was (is) a drummer and had a gig that night. I told him I didn't think he would be twirling his sticks that night. He said "It's OK, I've never been good at twirling my sticks anyway."

 

Yikes! Hopefully that’s the last severed finger you ever have to recover

 

funny haha, LMAO.

 

@rossage - I've done the "duct tape around the tire lever" trick before- loosely wrapped. When it came time to use it, it was baked onto the lever. Yours stays pliable? Maybe I need better tape...

I had an old Italian meat cutter friend when I was a kid... When he lost most of his thumb on the job working the meat grinder, they never found it. Neither did they toss the batch of sausage afterwards. The joys of working for a mob owned store...

Tony could work wonders with a hanging deer... Or rabbit, or squirrel, or just about anything else he had in front of him.

 

My go to trail side first aid kit.

Funny thing is, when I offered @rossage some medicinal elixir at the pancake breakfast, he declined....

 

Ha! Me and alcohol don't get along at all. Try offering me some weed next time...

 

I use Gorilla tape and I haven't had it bake on, yet. Not as pliable as other manufacturers, but super sticky. Also works better than Stan's for setting up rims for tubeless.

 

If ya dont want to gunk up anything with duct tape, the rolls with no core are tiny. REI or ?

 

Smoke signals FTW

 

Yikes

 

Thanks, but I'm far from the most qualified to post in this thread. I'm that guy who carries minimal first aid stuff and rides in remote areas solo, often at night, without telling anyone where I am.

I do carry a Garmin inreach so in theory if I am injured (and conscious) I can summon help. And I carry plenty of tools to get me out of most situations. Since I ride at night a lot I tend to carry extra clothing and food, plus water filter. I recently added a small first aid kit but I really need to go through it and add some things. Aside from a bad cut like Rossage though, a lot of common MTB injuries aren't things you can do a lot with (broken collarbone/wrist/ankle, concussion etc) aside from macguyver a splint or brace with stick or spare tube.

 

that’s how I lost mine at 8 yrs old.

 

What the!?
I guess it could be worse, my grandfather had his whole arm amputated when he was only 8

 

I upgraded my in-pack first aid supplies from minimalist to realist after this post. Thanks for sharing.

 

I carry those little rubbing alcohol pads
happy blood free trails

 

I laid down my bike to take a picture. It rotated on the downside pedal and the chainring put three perfectly spaced gouges in my shin.

I had nothin'.

 

Be important to know how to proceed if an individual looks like he might go into shock. Encountered a motorcyclist who crashed on Maple Springs about a year ago. The individual appeared to have a broken pelvis form the pain he was experiencing. Only thing I could do while awaiting a helicopter rescue was to get the guy in as comfortable a position as possible, make sure he stayed warm and upright and keep him awake. Fortunately help arrived (both Fire Department and Sheriffs, but their battle for the body is another story) in 90 minutes or so.