Emergency?

Happy Memorial Day. It was a beautiful day here in SoCal. The kind of day that should be spent outside (preferably on a bike). I hope that it was a safe, fun and happy holiday for all of you.

I had some business to take care of today, but I did manage to get a 22-ish mile ride in. It was a variation on a ride a do quite frequently. A loop from my neighborhood out to the water and back through downtown. There was a stiff headwind most of the way (how does that happen on a loop?).

My mind wanders sometimes when I ride, especially if it is a route that I could navigate in the dark. Today I was wondering how many riders (or runners) carry ID with them. If you were unfortunate enough to be injured and unable to tell responders who to call, or even what your name is, would they be able to figure it out by checking your pockets? This isn't something we plan for, but we should.

I was doored once several years ago and I ended up with a concussion. I never lost consciousness, but I sure did lose my marbles. There is a significant period of time that I have no memory of. It turns out that when I was in the emergency room and they were working on me I gave them incorrect information about a number of things: my birthdate and the phone number for my emergency contact person (for some reason I had perfect recall of her old phone number and no recollection of the current one!). This caused significant delay in her notification.

After that experience I started wearing a dog tag around my neck (like a military one). It has my name, birthdate, allergies, and emergency contact information. This was quite useful the next time I was hit by a car (I was in much worse shape). There are a lot of ways you can do this for yourself. You could simply write it on a piece of paper and put it in your pocket, carry your driver's license, buy a product like RoadID (here). There are many options that I haven't even mentioned, but pick one and do it. And buy one for your loved ones who run or ride. It's important!

Another thing you can, and should, do is put ICE in your phone contacts. It stands for In Case of Emergency, you put in the number you want them to call if you are injured. It is my understanding that this is a trick that police and other emergency personnel will check. Read about the history of this concept here.

This is what mine looks like (the silicone bumper is wearing thin...) get yours now and Wear It!