Dang This Long Winter

Winter is firmly in place in New England and it has been long and cold.  I haven't had a proper ride in over a month so I'm not happy.  This gives me some additional time to check and finalize some details with my bike that I might have put off.  With that I decided to review and overhaul my First Aid Kit. You have an endless amount of options and approaches to a first aid kit, mine started out as a medium hiking kit that has grown with recommendations and experience.  Unfortunately, I have experienced the scene of several motorcyclist accidents over the years, from minor crashes with cuts and road rash to compound fractures and major head trauma.  It sucks to be in those situations, and in the extreme cases there is very little a first responder can do except stabilize and wait for emergency help.  My approach has been to have the basics covered with wound dressings and pain killers in the past.  My kit is fairly compact since my trips for the most part have been along the east coast, but the IB5000 is sure to be a bit more.  With the start in Denver I am sure to be covering some pretty remote, sparsely populated areas of the country so I decided to expand it.

 

I started with my original kit and added to it a large automotive kit and some additional supplies.  This is really a lot of stuff and is probably over kill.  I decided to go a bit larger than in the past, because there are a lot of unknowns for me on this trip.  I broke this super kit into 3 kits, one that will be on my person in my jacket, one that will be primarily a wound kit to grab and go to a scene, and one that will be wound and other medical issues.

  

Kit 1 is something new to me that I learned about from the LDRider list.  If I am hurt and unable to reach my bike I might need a way to signal, call attention at night and stay warm, so I put a whistle, an emergency blanket and a chemical light in a small bag that will go inside my jacket.  In addition, my cell phone will be in my jacket.

This is what I packed for cleaning and medicating minor wounds.  Gloves, antiseptic wipes, first aid creams and Q-Tips for applying them.  Note that I put everything in plastic bags to keep them dry.

 

This is what I packed for medicine.  It is a small supply of emergency pain killers and insect sting relief.  I carry this only for emergencies, so it is in a bag to grab and go.  Everything went in a plastic bag to waterproof it.

 

This is a shot of bandages, tape and wraps.  I split this up into the two kits and of course put everything in plastic bags and discarded the boxes.  

 

These are some basic tools to have, scissors, pen light and tweezers.

 

These are some extras, hiking boot laces always come in handy, water proof matches ensure being able to have fire and a small bottle of hand sanitizer for cleaning.

 

Here are the three kits, note that the orange chemical light is actually in my small bag on my person.

 

All packed up and ready to go.  The small red bag fits in several of my jacket pockets, the Large Red Bag is only bandages, matches, hiking boot laces, and sanitizer.  This bag goes into my left saddle bag.  The Black Bag is more bandages, plus the additional medical supplies as outlined above.  Right now it is in my trunk for quick access.  In reality, the Large Red bag could be consolidated into the black bag, and I may do it in the future.  I split them up to reduce the size and to have the two in different locations in case something happens to one of them.