#InReach

While motorcycling is filled with a variety of herds, many of us, myself included, primarily ride alone. I always have, despite working in the industry and having tons of friends who ride. However, riding alone has its issues. How do I send for help should I have a mechanical issue or an accident when there is no cellular reception? Then there are the people on the other side of the riding equation, who are wondering where I am when I’m overdue. While cell service is much more ubiquitous than it was a decade ago, rides still frequently take us out of range of cellular towers. Regardless of whether we are alone or in a group, the situation can arise where we need to reach out to someone unexpectedly. That’s why GPS trackers, which used to be the province of backpackers and other remote explorers, crossed over into motorsports. Originally, these devices only sent out their location and preset messages. Now, the ability to send and receive custom messages has entered the market. Unlike many of the other two-way message satellite communicators, the Garmin inReach Mini 2 packs this capability into a small, easily carried package. 

The first thing you need to know is that we are not trained professionals. The second thing you need to know is that we’re not trained medical professionals either. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, we wanted to put together a basic overview of what a macro look at motorcycle-specific first aid and best safety practices might entail. We won’t be touching topics like, how to clean wounds, how to splint a leg, or how to reattach an appendage. I mean, yea, we’ve seen Frankenstien, we could probably stitch someone back together. Seems easy enough, but we’ll leave that to the pros and mad scientists.