Thank you to everyone who came out to Revzilla last night for @Rich_Strauss’s big and beautiful class on all things gear and a special thanks to those of you that asked questions because I sure took away a few great pointers on things I hadn’t considered before.
Vic asked one of the best questions of the night regarding first aid on a moto trip, and I’m appreciative that Rich asked me to add some information here on the forum, so here it is.
First, my bona fides. I’m not a doctor, medical professional, or even EMT qualified. I’m an Infantry Officer in the Army with training and experience in trauma care and prolonged field care. I am Combat Life Saver (CLS) certified, but that qualification has no real civilian analog. I led a heavy weapons platoon in Afghanistan and dealt with a myriad of both combat and non-combat related injuries in an austere environment. I say all that to say, my medical experience isn’t moto specific, so I’m offering my no-nonsense perspective based on what I’ve seen work well in the past. There is a wealth of knowledge in the club, so I encourage anyone with something valuable to say to add the conversation so we’re all better for it.
First aid is one of those things that isn’t as compelling as putting that shiny new widget on your motorcycle, but I would argue that basic medical skills and gear are no less and probably more critical than the tires on your wheels or the oil in your sump (que oil debate…). I would rather have tourniquet (TQ) with me on the trail if I’m hemorrhaging than a spare inner tube if I popped a tube in my tire. You’re probably more likely to pop a tube on the trail but the consequences of not having a TQ if you need one are much more severe.
Like Rich said last night regarding tools on the trail- have them. If you don’t know how to use them yet, then that’s fine. Someone else will use your tools to fix your bike in exchange for some chicken tenders and an ice cream cone. Same goes for medical- have a basic kit readily accessible and someone else can use it on you if need be.
I’ll give you a starting point on a basic Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK). You could make it much more robust, but I consider these items to be the absolute basic must-haves.
The Gear
It’s a good idea to have two kits: A “Boo-boo” kit and a trauma kit and it’s a good idea to separate them because they’re used for different purposes. Buy medical supplies from a reputable distributor like North American Rescue or Rescue Essentials. I promise you don’t want to a piece of medical kit inside of your body that was probably manufactured in the same factory as NiceCNC.
The “Boo-boo” kit covers your basic bumps and cuts. You’ll use it often, so you’ll need to restock it often. Most of these items can be purchased from CVS or Walgreens. The boo-boo kit is easy to store in a small pouch somewhere easily accessible on your person or the bike. Recommended contents are as follows:
- 10x Band Aids of various sizes
- 2x small tubes of super glue (for closing cuts)
- 2x small tubes of Bacitracin (for disinfecting those cuts)
- 2x 2’“x2” and 4“x4” sterile Gauze pads (to cover wounds slightly larger than what a band aid can handle)
- 1 small roll of 1/2” cloth surgical tape (for extra security on those band aids and gauze pads).
- Tweezers and nail clippers.
- Pills: A few Ibuprofens and Tylenols (for pain/ headaches). It’s nice to have a couple of caffeine pills if you need a pick me up. If you’re moto- camping Imodium is great to have because if you catch some nasty little bug, it will prevent you from dehydrating from diarrhea and ruining those nice new $150 Mosko Moto underwear you just bought.
Okay now for the Trauma Kit. This is the kit that will potentially save your life. It’s my firm opinion that this kit remains either on your body or in your riding backpack. Reason is that if you go down and your unconscious, someone needs to be able to find that kit in a matter of seconds. Recommended contents are as follows:
- 2x CAT or SOFTT-W Tourniquets. These are the only two NATO approved TQs. There are a lot of other TQs on the market- avoid them. 2 is 1 and 1 is none. In my experience with casualties, we’ve applied 2x TQs more often than we’ve applied just 1.
- 2-3x Packets of compressed hemostatic gauze. Hemostatic gauze is gauze that’s impregnated with a chemical that makes your blood coagulate quicker to stop bleeding faster. You could get away with non-hemostatic compressed gauze if your ballin’ on a budget, but if you need it, you’re already in a bad way.
- 1x Israeli Bandage AKA compressive gauze (not the be confused with compressed gauze). This bandage provides pressure on a wound on top of hemostatic gauze to keep it in place. It can always be used as a makeshift arm sling or abdominal wrap in case you puncture your abdomen.
- Small roll of 2“ wide duct tape to get everything nice and secured.
- Small roll of 3’ self adhesive gauze to go under the duct tape to make changing dressings easier and less painful.
- Trauma Shears so I can cut off that $500 Klim super suit you’re wearing to identify and stop the bleeding.,
- Small Mylar emergency blanket to prevent you from going hypothermic after massive blood loss.
- Some nitrile gloves so someone else doesn’t catch your hepatitis while they’re working on you after you fall off a cliff and your BMW with street tires lands on top of you.
I know all this seems like a lot, but once you get it all in front of you, you’ll realize it’s not bad at all and you’ll feel much better carrying it with you. Some people will vacuum seal their trauma kits to get everything nice and compact, but I just have mine in a pouch with the contents waterproofed.
There’s so much more to say, but I’ll leave it here with two recommendations. First, there’s no substitute for training. I propose that the club run a free half day medical clinic for members to show people the very basics of first aid on the trail. We’d need some medical supplies as training aids to make it happen because many of these items shouldn’t be used in a real IFAK once they’re opened. My second recommendation is that we have a designated “medic” on group rides with a more robust FAK (perhaps owned exclusively by the club) that includes everything in the trauma kit listed above with additional items such as chest seals, needle decompression needles, EPI-pen, rolls of self- adhesive gauze, etc. Obviously this person needs the training to use these items. You don’t want some jabronie poking you in the chest with a 14 gauge needle unless he knows what he’s doing.
If you want to learn more, there’s plenty of Youtube videos out there. I like The PrepMedic and SkinnyMedic Channels but I’m sure there’s others out there. If you have something to add, please feel free. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
