I’m talking mini as in the smallest size you can get, I’ve got an old Ortlieb mini first aid kit but the contents have gotten a bit scattered, now it just contains one massive crepe bandage and thats about it.

I’m guessing enough kit to patch up smallish flesh wounds/cuts/grazes, so some sort of wrappable slightly stretchy bandage to apply pressure with and something to secure it (smaller stickier roll of bandage or some of those wee hooked stretchy bits of elastic)?

Sterile pads as well I suppose?

Cling film and gaffa tape.

The man knows his stuff.

Gaffa tape and a clean hankie will deal with everything you can fix at the trail side.

The most important thing, as TJ reminded me last time I said this, is the knowledge to use them.

With zulu on this – duck tape, cling film and a sanitary towel. You fan fix just about anything with that and clothing.

Done.

A mobile phone and an ability to MTFU and get out yourself 🙂

Super glue, sanitary towels.

If you are well enough to fix it it don’t need fixing
Mobile phone for all other injuries

Haha, quality replies 😀

Whisky check. Ibuprofen check.

Sanitary towel? As in a tampon? My mates new Gerber should suffice Klunk, he accidentally took his finger down to the bone last time without even noticing until the blood started pouring…

Know-how is another matter, I’ve only fixed one trailside boo-boo with it and now its half empty cos of all the excess bandaging I did…

Sanitary towel? As in a tampon?

Thanks for confirming that… Why a ‘sanitary towel’ as opposed to just prepacked melonin sticky gauze things? I can get them almost free I think..

The melonin stuff is better if you have a supply but sanitry towels are cheaper and available from more places.

I would carry a couple of absorbant wound dressings as above, a crepe bandage and a woven (cotton) triangular bandage. That should cover you for most things.

Is the tampon for soaking up excess blood as you open up the chest to find the internal injury, or some ill informed poetic idea of what dying of major trauma is about?

whisky
can of ‘no more big gaps’
cyanide
10p for a phone call

solves most problems, even the unsolvable ones

The melonin stuff is better if you have a supply but sanitry towels are cheaper and available from more places.

If you’re too coy to ask for one in the shops find your local trekkie – Kingons stick sanitary towels on their foreheads to keep the sweat out of their eyes.

( the one second from the left is Bill Bailey)

Well I’ve already substituted cigarettes for food so I see no reason not to substitute whisky for medicine…

The thin sticky dressing things aren’t much use for anything that actually NEEDS dressing.

Ambulance dressings are better for big holes (like the type a chainring might make if it all goes a bit wrong) but quite heavy and a bit pricey. WOuld say sanitary towels (not tampons) and gaffa tape are a good compromise.

meolin pads = great for small scratches. In a mini first aid kit, I would MTFU if it is that minor.
Sanitary pads / tampon = massively blood absorbing, better for a big wound.

If you genuinely want a mini first aid kit, think why…? For me, it is the ‘bodge it and get of the hill/river’ line of thought – and my suggestions of tape, pad and cling film are what I carry for me. Tape = @ 3m stuck back on itself and folded up, 2x sanitary pads and both wrapped in cling film @ 1m long/20cm wide roll. Burns, cuts, breaks – that kit can deal with it.
Add in wee bits like plasters, micropore, tick remover and asprin if you want a ‘multiday in the outdoors bare minimum’ kit.

To be honest, the only thing I’ve ever patched up in the wilds was a big graze across my palm. I made a bit of a big deal of it cos I wanted to stay out for another few days so was concerned about keeping it clean etc.

Guess thats what I’m thinking about, stuff to stop the blood flowing and keep the wound clean and tidy. the above ^ all seems like reasonable suggestions.

Did a mountain leader course a few years back and the mandatory first-aid qualification included use of a range of neck braces. Realistically, they’re not going to fit in your camelback, so I’d just procure the strongest co-codamol you can find and hope for the best.

Did a mountain leader course a few years back and the mandatory first-aid qualification included use of a range of neck braces.

rubbish, there is not ML first aid recommendation beyond a 2day+ course appropriate.

transpore tape.

Err, matt, do you want to repeat that in English? It was the 2 day course we did. What’s your point?

What I think matt means is that the course you did isn’t mandatory for all people doing ML. Mine had no mention of neck braces, for example.

EDIT: use of bold there a bit aggressive. Not intended.

Ah, I thought he was saying that ML didn’t require first-aid.

I agree, I was already qualified as a first-aider so was shocked when they got the neckbraces out. We also made an emergency carrier out of a rucksack and a stretcher out of tent poles. The ML provider sacked the bloke the next year because he was too full on.

I’d just procure the strongest co-codamol you can find and hope for the best.

Good advice. Did the mines-rescue course near Durham a few years back and am a first aider at the local dry ski slope (get to practice my medskillz at least once a week).

A good quality bag of skag would be ideal, but Tramadol / Co-codamol would suffice. My wife’s mate fell off her bike during a two week tour of Wales a few years ago. Seeing her in a pool of claret, mostly emenating from a large scalp wound, I fell apart until my wife spat, “You’re the first aider, DO SOMETHING!!”. At which juncture, the (minimal) training all flooded back and the first aid bag was produced.

Just the physical presence of kit you’re familiar with can make a huge difference to your reaction – triangular bandages, dressings…. I was able to stop the bleed until a passing nurse came along and took over (I was a tiny bit annoyed!).

It’s easy to treat someone you don’t know. It’s very hard to apply your knowledge to a good friend in pain……

I agree user-removed. Sounding confident and giving someone something to hold over their cuts is one thing, dealing with a proper accident is another.

I’m also defib trained, which are pretty much automatic machines anyway, they actually speak to you!. Whilst I was out at a meeting recently the woman who sits opposite me in the office keeled over unconscious. Colleagues took ages running round to find a first-aider, then there was a cock-up with the 999 call. She’d had a massive heart attack and was 40 mins without oxygen. They switched her off a week later. Only 45. Keep thinking how I’d have handled it if I’d been there – really hope the autopilot thing kicks in if it happens again.

Well that’s it – it really is all about training. Mine gets refreshed bi-annually and the hope is that the autopilot thing will take over.

And it does – when I worked at a Victoria Wine off license in my 20s, we were given training about what to do if we were robbed. Eventually, I was (by a midget with an axe!) and looking back over the incident, I realised I’d done everything by the book, right down to making a mental note of the robber’s description (4′ 6″, oversized chip on shoulder).

Whats being trained how to use a de-fib got to do with what to carry in a first aid kit on a bike….am i missing something?

Well Peter, I was referring to general first aid training, rather than training in specific items of equipment. So yes, I fear you are missing something… Point being, it matters not what you have in your kit if you’ve never had the opportunity to use it, all the more so if the casualty is a close friend.

If pressed though, I carry a foil blanket on the grounds that hypothermia is a killer(especially as shock and exposure are likely to be factors in the equation), a few bandages (to reassure myself and the casualty) and a bag of top quality powder for pain relief (replenished on a near daily basis).

Happy?

i was referring to the post before yours…

OK, but he was only enlarging upon a theme – I cannot say that I’ve ever managed to keep my defib machine charged long enough to use it. And I’ve spent enough time at Glentress to think that one of those overweight, middle management, carbon-riding swines would keel over and justify the extra two kilos 👿

…and there you have the problem with teaching people first aid, they get all excited and want to use those skills…
In any real serious situation don’t fanny about, call for help from the ambulance service.

The one thing I’ve used most from my first aid kit – once/twice a year, is antihistamine.
Always keep a couple with my “whisky” and nurofen.

Crikey – you are quite right of course, but being able to comfort a casualty until the experts arrive is a good thing. I’m not talking about applying hundreds of slings and bandages – just stopping any bleeding and putting the person at ease.

And depending on where you ride, it may be the case that self evacuation is the only option (no phone signal).

And depending on where you ride, it may be the case that self evacuation is the only option (no phone signal).

Good point, I’ve always found having a good dump puts the casualty at their ease

“Good point, I’ve always found having a good dump puts the casualty at their ease”

Very Funny !!

On the subject of defibrillators . . .

These are starting to appear in all sorts of locations. For example, we passed one on a wall in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, when riding in the Berwyns!

Whilst they are fairly idiot-proof, they are also a bit scary, and I wouldn’t like to use one without training.

Field-expedient FA knowledge is the first thing I’d say – improvising is fine for FA purposes … if it’s worse than that, it’s all just reassuring hand-holding until the helicopter arrives isn’t it?

Water, which you’ll have, although I assume a ‘sports-drink’ will flush grit out of a wound just as well ? A small folding pocket knife (non-locking, and with a cutting edge not exceeding 3″ of course 😉 ), tick-hooks, and some decent tweezers (like Old Bills Silver Grippers), gaffa-tape and something to pack the hole with if the edges are too far apart / ragged out for you to tape up reliably (another reason to wear a bandana under your helmet). A couple of zip ties might come in useful, or a pedal strap … that way you can fix the bike too / instead. 🙄

Gaffa-tape butterfly sutures have got me out of err, a number of scrapes in my time.