AufRoad.com

My personal journey into adventure riding

Being Better Prepared

This last weekend I was invited to go ride and camp a few days (TH-SU) with some guys I have ridden a few times with before. The group is a mixed bag of bikes, riding capabilities, ages, and personalities but we’re centered around one thing – Motorcycles and camping, and great roads, and great trails. Ok, make that four things.

We had a great trip, great ride, great roads. But, we also had a rider go off the road on the 3rd day. He needed immediate medical care and was ultimately helicoptered down to Fresno. I was the last one there when it happened so I was the one calling 911. I’ve had a few days to reflect on what happened, what we did right and how we could have done better.

DEJA VIEW

Pun intended. I had to look it up, but way back in June of 2014 I went riding with the Pinheads, which is a way of describing Tomm, Tom B., Ernie and myself. We were up in the hills above Quincy, CA riding towards Glacier National Park in nice tree covered twisties. Tomm and Ernie were up front and I was riding sweep behind Tom B. We were entering a downhill left hander with a decreasing radius when for whatever reason I watched Tom B. fighting to make the turn on his new Ducati MultiStrada. He tried, but he couldn’t. With a full lean angle, as soon as he hit gravel he was gone off the side of the road.

This was before Sena, before Spot and before inReach. We had cell phones but there was no signal at all in this place. Tomm and Ernie were long gone and I was all alone. Tom B and his bike were nowhere to be seen – at least from the roadway. I came to a stop and parked my bike in an obvious way on the shoulder. I hoped off and then started to climb down the steep embankment looking for Tom. I found him. He was unconscious but breathing. He had wrapped himself around a tree and I was sure there was broken bones involved. I couldn’t see bleeding but you never know what lies under leathers.

Long story, short, the right person happened to come by, saw my bike on the road and knew there was trouble. They had a radio and called it in. Medical help arrived and Tom was transported down to a hospital in Chico – nearly 2 hours away for us, but just 20 minutes away via the air! Broken back, ribs, and much more.

I was in the right place at the right time. The truth is, if I wasn’t right behind him nobody would have known where he was or what happened to him.

BUT… there’s another truth. And that is that I wasn’t prepared. I had nothing but the clothes on my back and the minimal toolkit that the Hayabusa had under the seat.

I am not a Paramedic. I am not a medical professional. I may be CPR Certified and have had some decent training when I was Mountaineering. But all that means is that I could diagnose and tell you how to treat Cerebral Edema, Pulmonary Edema, Frostbite, Hypothermia and all the things generally related to climbing in snow and ice, but that was about all. Not at all helpful here, in this situation.

PUTTING THE WHITE STUFF ON THE RED STUFF

Over the years I have been putting together a kit for what I needed on a bike. It’s an ongoing process. I affectionately call it the Ouch Pouch and it sits on top of my Mosko Moto Rackless 80.

It’s attached to the beaver tail by what are called Molle (pronounced as molly) straps. There are two sliders that securely hold into place – called Molle Stix. They have a snap kind of feature that opens or closes allowing for fast removal. Pull up on the tab and it can slide out. With the tab in the down position, the teeth bite into the Molle fabric and lock the slider in place.

If you didn’t know this, the bag is just a waterproof, roll top, protective cover. Undo the opening straps like any of the other bags we carry and you’ll see a nylon bag on the inside that pulls out easily.

I won’t go too deep into specifics of the bags contents. It does not contain boo boo cream or a band aid if you get a sliver or blister. It’s purpose built for the big incidents. Ok, maybe I will go into a few.

  • an Israeli Bandage – which is a compression dressing for big open gashes. I’m not a big fan of the name. I much rather like Hemostatic Compression Bandage instead. This is not a tourniquet. This solves a slightly different problem.
  • a Tourniquet – I have a CAT version. If you think I dislike the Israeli Bandage as a name, this stands for Combat Application Tourniquet – UGH! The truth is that many of these items come from military background use and honestly they have a pretty good idea on what works. Sever an main artery and this is the right tool.
  • a Vented Chest Seal – the chest is like a big balloon. For you to breathe you need the outer part to seal. Your diaphragm moves down, your ribs expand and this creates a vacuum in your lungs and in goes the good air. If you have a hole, you make no vacuum and that would be bad, right?
  • New Skin – superglue for wounds.
  • Quick Clot – as you might think, this helps stop the bleeding.
  • Clozex Strips – I think I spelled that right. These are kind of like stitches, without the needle and thread. Really cool. Not Rambo cool but pretty cool.
  • 2×2 pads, 4×4 pads, small roll of cling gauze – this is the extent of bandages in this bag. I do carry band aids in my toiletry bag.

I have a few other things like a space blanket, light stick and so on. No splints because you can always make a splint out of something around you and some tape.

THE PULSE OXIMETER

I am going to add a Pulse Oximeter to the kit. That’s the clampy thing they put on the end of your finger. It reads out 2 things – your pulse and your 02 (technically it’s measuring your %sp02) level. I have one sitting in my nightstand that will be better served here.

No doubt you’ve heard the ABCs. Airway, Breathing, Circulation or maybe in CPR class it was Airway, Breathing, Compressions? Actually CPR is now CAB (Compression First), but that’s a whole other topic. It’s an easy way to remember what to do in an emergency situation.

Flash back to the other day when I was standing at my bike calling 911, while trying to look up our nearest cross street, or get GPS Coordinates, while also yelling down to the guys asking if he was breathing. IS HE BREATHING? At the time it was hard to get a status update from the guys and I was stuck on 911 and of course I was getting frustrated. It was a full 5 minutes of his being unconscious and my being on 911 before I could go down and see how we was doing. He was breathing but took a big hit on the helmet and so we didn’t want to move him. I could see his pupils were dilated (big time) so I was thinking concussion. We kept him still and stable, and shaded, until help arrived. Fire was there in about 20 minutes, followed by a paramedic.

Imagine slapping a Pulse Oximeter on a guys finger, no matter who does it or how frantic they are, it will quickly answer two things – is he breathing and is he beating? If he is, we can move on to the other stuff right? So a minor improvement to the Ouch Pouch from here on out.

EVERY Rider should have their own version of an Ouch Pouch and know how to use what is in it.

NEXT OF KIN

While we generally hear those three words when there’s a death – they simply mean a person’s closest living relative. I’ve ridden for a few days with these guys and while over the campfire we might have discussed wives and significant others I had none of this info in my phone. When someone goes down or has an issue should you be calling their wife, or girlfriend, or mistress, or brother, or who knows? 99.9% of the time, the only person who does know is the guy that’s hurt and sometimes they aren’t talking. I was repeatedly asking my friend on the ground what his wife’s cell number was – all I was getting was psychobabble.

Here’s my answer to that.

I wear a RoadID Bracelet. Mine is a silicone band that stays on my wrist from the time I leave home. It has a stainless steel tag on it that has 5 lines that more than cover everything you need to know if I can’t speak. Everyone is different but here’s what I choose for those 5 lines.

  1. MY FULL NAME and DOB – with these two the police can pretty much identify me, get my home address…
  2. CALL MEGAN (925) 555-5555 – Here’s the first person I want you to call.
  3. CALL MY DAUGHTER (925) 555-1234 – Here’s the 2nd person I want you to call.
  4. NKA / DONOR – No known allergies and in the worst possible of outcomes I am a donor, harvest away! There are abbreviations for quite a lot of conditions. There’s also an option that the paramedics can scan that will give them a ton of private medical info, if you need it. You might have allergies, you might not be a donor. You be you, boo boo.
  5. “OLD AND IN THE WAY” – Technically I just needed 4 lines for all the info, so this was just a great sounding filler. It was also the name of the bluegrass band Jerry was in with David Grisman.

There’s a lot of different options and even some for apple watches. Think of it as a dog tag for modern days. Get one and then all you have to do is let others know you are wearing it. It helps us, it helps your loved ones, and it can also help you.

Every Rider should be wearing a Road ID Bracelet. https://www.roadid.com/pages/gw-home-page

KNOW YOUR LOCATION

TRUE STORY: After a full day of riding, I had no idea what road we were on, what town we had most recently passed, or what the nearest cross street was. My Garmin Zumo XT said we were on Auberry Rd. which also happens to show on Google Maps as Road 222. Auberry Road runs 40+ miles from where we were, all the way down to Fresno. The 911 Operator wanted to know where along that 40 miles stretch I was. It was a simple question – but I was struggling to answer.

My Garmin is new to me and I knew I had seen something in there to pull up your GPS coordinates. As I was talking to her I was pushing buttons trying to find it. She switched to “Do you know what town you are near?” – and I did not. “Do you know what the nearest cross street was?” – I was struggling trying to read the map without my glasses and told her Catana Creek Road. It was not. It was Ciatana Creek Rd. and my eyes couldn’t pick up the i.

I then remembered that I had an app on my phone. It’s on the home screen and it’s called What 3 Words. As soon as I said that she said Yeah! Give me the three words! This app has mapped every 3 meter square of the world, and each box has been given a unique combination of just three words.

Do you think it’s easier to say 37°11’04.3″N 119°30’27.6″W
or Fingernail, Loves, Fries?

She found my location and transferred me to the CHP Dispatch. I was talking to them and everything was going smoothly when suddenly the phone call dropped!

But does it work?

I quickly called back and by then I had found my GPS Coordinates on my Garmin. It turns out all you have to do is push the little icon that represents you on the map and the screen pops up to show you exactly where you are. I gave the 1st operator my GPS Coordinates, slowly reading each number. She then read them back to me to confirm. Finally, she transferred me to the CHP Dispatch I had been disconnected from and that operator found the first call and said that the GPS matched the 3 Words and that medical had been dispatched and was on the way. So I can honestly say, YES it works!

EVERY Rider should have What3Words on their phone home screen.

At the end of the day, our rider friend is going to be ok. He has a pretty big concussion, a small fracture in his hand, but ok.

As for what we as a group could have done better…

  1. I think that every rider should have their own version of an Ouch Pouch – whatever it is that they think they might need out there. It’s not good enough to have it on one bike only to have that bike be the one that is thrown off a cliff, right?
  2. I think that every rider should wear an ID Bracelet of some kind. Something that not only identifies them and maybe any issues they have, but answers the all important question of who to call.
  3. I think that every rider should know how to identify where they are at – quickly, easily and with duplication. I can do that with my inReach, my cell phone and What3Words, and now with my Garmin Zumo XT. Why duplication? If my Garmin is totaled, if my cell is dead, or if my inReach fell off somewhere down the trail… 2 out 3 gone, I still have another option.

As for me, I am also going to add more education to my personal toolbox. I am going to get my Wilderness First Responder Cert. It’s expensive, it’s 5 – 6 days, but for me if and when the time comes to act I don’t want to be unprepared.

Mike Mueller
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