Emergency Kits for an Outdoor Lifestlyle

I like to read the blog of The Gutless Cyclist who on 3 December 2015 wrote a piece about not fussing with emergency supplies when out cycling. It's a good piece of advice for many, indeed probably most, cyclists, and it's a very good philosophy. But it's not for me.

Why is it not for me? Well the Gutless Cyclist is a racing guy, and I'm a touring woman. That is, I like to ride from place to place, tour with panniers, bikepack (which seems to be the new name for touring), or just go out for the day. One way or the other, I'm usually out of the house a long time. So I have a little kit, and for peace of mind, I'd rather have it. And yes, I've had to use it.

In my back pocket I have a 5" x 3.5" (12.5cm x 9cm) press-to-close plastic bag containing two paper tissues and two pairs of surgical gloves. That's two pouch empties in the field, and everything I use goes home with me in my pocket. Of course, there are loos in pubs, and I use these whenever it's convenient. But my stoma seems to like to output heavily around an hour after I eat. By then, I've left the pub and I'm in the middle of nowhere.

Being a day cyclist I have a rather large wedgepack on my bike (see 6 November 2015, "The First 500") . In my wedgepack I have a waterproof jacket, a pump, some basic tools, a bike lock, an oatbar and some gels. I also have a small, 6.25" x 4.5" (16cm x 11.5cm) zipped purse with a string I can use as a handle. In this I keep money, my phone, and a stoma change kit.

The kit goes in the zipped part

The fact is, that a stoma change kit can be tiny. I keep mine in a press-to-close plastic bag which is just 6.25" x 4.25" (16cm x 11cm) and which fits into one of the pockets of the zipped purse. When I get off my bike for a break in a pub or a cafe, I wear the purse like a minute handbag.

This bag is smaller than it looks!

Of course, I am an English woman and that means I can carry a handbag. I say this with some pointedness because whenever I spend time in another country I see that guys carry bags as well, but here in the UK, it seems guys are scared of what people might think!

Anyhow, I'm not particularly into handbags in the way that some women are, and I tend to pick mine up cheaply at TK Maxx. Here's a picture of me with my current one. You will see that it's not large and it contains stuff which won't fit in my pockets (that's even if what I am wearing actually has pockets).

I have a kit inside my handbag too, and I've had to use it at a music gig. It lives in a small cosmetic bag which I made out of a bit of spare fabric, measuring 6.5" x 4.5" (16.5cm x 11.5cm). It's a slightly more luxuriant kit than my cycling kit.

Change kit inside...

So that's what I carry. To be fair, if I slap one of these emergency pouches on in a pub or club then I'm probably going to change again in the morning, and do the job better. But for piece of mind, unless I'm in my local pub (which is next door...) then I'd rather have an emergency kit.

We're all different.