ID on Road and/or Trail...

Most of my life I have been admonished, as a female, never to undertake any kind of activity alone: Don't walk to the store alone - somebody might take you. Don't go to the mall alone - somebody might take you. Don't go to woods/park/camping/riding/running alone - you might get hurt and die, or somebody might take you.

Granted most of this scare mongering came from well-meaning, over anxious aunts and grandmothers, but lately the thought of injury while riding has been on the brain. Maybe its a function of age. I tend to ride alone most of the time, on road and trail. I don't want to carry my driver's license or other "official" issue ID in case I lose it, but I was thinking of making up an ID card for myself w/ standard Name, Address, emergency contact, etc.

The thought of ending up in pieces on the side of the road because a car was not paying attention freaks me out, but being a Jane Doe in that situation is awful for me and my family.

I've seen those "Road ID" tags runners and cyclists can get but I can do the same thing much cheaper - index card, lamination, on my way.

What do you carry? Is my fear irrational?
 

SpartaBard

Well-Known Member
I always carry my cell phone in my camelbak, and usually my wallet when I remember. Health Insurance cards are helpful to carry when needed, which is in my wallet.
 
I went with Wrist ID for $20 dollars. You want something you will wear and something people will see.

http://http://www.roadid.com/id.asp?referrer=2258

Yeah, this is exactly what I was thinking of getting. I run also, road and trail, so it would be nice to have something to wear and not stash in a pocket or backpack, which I usually do not have when running.

I suppose $20 is not too steep when it can mean your life...

Norm - no bubbles for me! The Bubble is what Grandma wanted for me, I fell out of more trees and walked to more stores on my own than she should know about, simply to preserve the peace of her soul...
 
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DANSPANK

Guest
Your phone should have a few numbers - "mom" is ok and so is "home" but "ICE" - In Case of Emergency - is the big one. Apparently EMTs will look for ICE on a cell phone sometimes:

This is a good idea but I'd not heard of that. God forbid I come across someone unlucky enough to have knocked themselves out in the woods but if I do I would press the number "2" button on their phone. "1" is voicemail typically and "2" is likely the person they call the most.

I'll put "ICE" in tonight though - it certainly can't hurt.
 

Spylab

New Member
Cell phone and wallet in my bag always. I had a scary incident where I easily could/should have shattered my jaw from going over the bars a year or so back, and didn't have anything with me. I had to walk my bike well over a mile back home, bleeding profusely and in a huge amount of pain. If I had broken a leg or something, back where I was, I'd have been in some big time trouble...
 

ArmyOfNone

Well-Known Member
Always a phone and most times an id. If i am riding alone i will call my gf and let her know where im at and about how long ill be gone for.

Always when your out of the house you should carry proper id. I have been on calls with people who are injured, who are not carrying an id or contact information. It become very difficult to obtain information and notify the proper people.

Also, most wrong doers tend not to carry id. If you so happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, having some sort of identfication can help get you out of bad situation a bit sooner.

be safe all!
 
Went ahead and ordered the Road ID wristband, for only $20.98 shipped I figure its worth the price in case something should happen.

I asked a co-worker who is Crew Chief of her rescue squad about theI CE thing. She asked her husband (a full-time paramedic) about it and he said it was sort of bunk. "Sort of" because when paramedics and EMTs arrive on scene, they could care less about who you are, their primary job is to administer emergency care and get you stabilized enough to land in the hospital. The onus is on the hospital to find out who you are. But always, anything you have on you (cell phone, ID tag, etc.) can only help you.
 

NJ Jess

Active Member
Dog tags

I used to carry my dogtags from the military. Now, I carry a real dogtag,. heehhee I went to walmart, to the pet section, they have a machine where you enter the name address phone number to make a tag. It cost my 3 bucks. Not as pretty as the road ID, but useful none the less.
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I always carry my phone with me but recently i've been thinking about one of those roadID things. I have it written down in my camelbak but it's probably all smeared to poo an now I never wear that on the road (i've been told this is as unacceptable as my non matchy-match ballerina outfit and MTB with slicks). I suppose if something did happen i'd be nice if they could know who to call w/o trying to figure it out on my treo.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Well if something happens they'll probably call an ambulance.

As for camelbak's and road rides...well I used to wear them occasionally and I will again when I start to really ramp up for the 24 hoa race. Honestly I don't care what the other roadies think (eat it, you know who).
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
i'll wear the skin shirt eventually...just so the matchy-matchy crowd knows that even if I can't beat them on their $10,000 madone I can still BEAT them. :D
 
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Ant

Guest
Hmm, this road ID sounds like a good idea. Especially since I rarely remember my cell phone and NEVER bring my wallet.
 
i'll wear the skin shirt eventually...just so the matchy-matchy crowd knows that even if I can't beat them on their $10,000 madone I can still BEAT them. :D

Interesting that a sidebar about the matchy-matchy ballerinas came up in this thread about ID, since I would not want to be caught dead wearing clothing like that. I might prefer not to have ID on me if I was hurt wearing a full on skin-suit with color coordinated helmets, socks, and shoes.

Question: why don't the ballerinas ever wave? I went for a ride last Saturday and must have seen 11 other cyclists, 9 of whom gave a friendly little wave as we passed each other on the road. The only two who did not were a pair of matchy-matchy types - the were wearing identical outfits down to the shoes and sunglasses, and if I had to bet I'd say they also did their hair up with the same pommade and applied the same moisturizer that morning…they looked right at Ron and I as we rode by and gave them the little 2-finger "hey" wave, but they just turned their heads and rode on without acknowledging us.

I would give them the benefit of the doubt and say they were exerted, struggling just to breathe and ride hard, etc., but we passes a group of septagenarians on a hill who all took the time to wave and say hi in the midst of their efforts…

Just wondering.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Really could be any number of reasons. I guess first thing is did you watch the hands? A lot of roadies only slightly peel off their finger in acknowledgement, barely. Also, if I'm doing a balls-out effort I don't wave. But it's usually fairly obvious if someone is in that mode. But another possibility is that they see you as a poser. The reality is that many of those matchy-matchy guys would toast 98% of the people who post here, if not 99%, and they know it.

I'm not one of them, by the way. But I pass hundreds on a nice weekend so it's all standard stuff for me now.
 

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
some are elitist snobs, most signal very casually as norm mentioned. There is one ass in my town that is too cool to ever acknowledge anyone and way too cool for a helmet too. One look at the guy and you know he is an ass.

I feeling on the whole thing is this. I dont fing wave to every car I pass. Nor do I say hi or wave to every person I pass walking, or who has a dog. It actually is kind of annoying to feel obligated to wave at every fing biker out there. There are too many around me.

but with that said, i wave and say hi to everyone unless, as norm said I am in a really serious effort wich at that point its pretty darn obvious

i think i know this man and his name may be tim.

i'm about 50-50 with matchy-matchy guys waving to me. my observations are that generally, the guys who have taken the time to coordinate their ballerina suits to their bikes, helmets, socks AND shoes don't wave to me. i'm about the equivalent of a NYC bum to them...at least i'm guessing. i don't expect a guy to wave if he's hammering up a hill either.

anyway, that's is why i have my sig. :D
 

hardtale70

She's Gone From Suck to Blow
Shop Keep
The only reason i got a road bike was to hunt matchy-matchies and i think the 98-99% is off. I've only gotten my ass handed back to me twice in maybe 50 attempts.By the way i carry the phone(turned off,Norm),and text most rides in and out to somebody.The problem is that even in a group i'm usually the only one who knows the trail so if i lose conciousnous I'm pretty much dead anyway...........................
 
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integra evan

Guest
I usually go riding with my friend, so one of us carry a phone. ID we leave in his truck.

I went for a very long road ride last week on my mtb, wearing my camelback and my Fox Honda MX jersey, haha. I waved/said hi to the bikers I saw, and got a wave or hi back. Then some guys in a van were smart enough to pull a u-turn right in front of me, I had to slam both my brakes...grrrr....
There was also a roadie who zipped by me and gave a wave as he passed.
 
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DANSPANK

Guest
I especially like it when you'er on the road, a car practically brushes past you and then takes the next immediate right turn. It helps me practice my emergency stops whilst mouthing obscentities and, of course, waving...
 
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