Guest Post by anonymous
I had a roommate in school that carried a purse the size of her torso. You could probably fit a toaster and an extra pair of boots in there if you wanted to. She and her oversized bag always seemed so crazy to me.
I mean why would you need all that stuff to go to the grocery store? Why do you need 3 changes of clothes for one date? Or three books to read in case you were bored? She always said, “It’s a JIC (just in case) situation,” before she stuffed in yet another item on her way out the door. She was born to be prepared.
As a business major, I was always thinking about the 80/20 rule. I assume that my roommate used 20% of her purse contents 80% of the time. In other words, she could have gotten away with a lot less and done away with her Mary Poppins carpetbag.
As a newbie survivalist on limited funds, one general goal I have is to not over prepare in wasteful or inefficient ways. Below are a few simple ways I’ve come up with to meet that goal:
*Get a bicycle – Gasoline supplies will probably be in short supply in the event that SHtF. So, stock a bike or two. However, if space is a concern, get a hybrid. A mountain bike’s tires are big and inefficient. A road bike’s tires will make you fast but susceptible to frequent punctures.
I suggest a fixed-gear cross-bike frame with a set of ruggedized tires. Also, make sure to stock up on tubes and a pump. Check out Sheldon Brown’s (RIP) resource on bikes.
*Upgrade to LED crank flashlights – LEDs should last at least 10x longer than normal incandescent bulbs, use less power, and are more rugged. Granted, LED lights cost a bit more, but the preparedness benefits out way the added expense.
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I had to laugh out loud at the opening story about the purse. My wife carries a behemoth purse that probably weighs more than our son. I capitalized on it and bought her an organizer and made her a pretty nice survival kit to go in it.
+1 on the bicycle suggestion. The mountain bikes we use have quick release tires on them and has a pretty small foot print when it’s broken down. Only takes a minute or so to put the tires back on after you’ve done it several times. A great cheap additional purchase is one of those small bags that go under the seat – keeps your repair kit, a candy bar, and mini survival kit with your bike at all times.
It’s funny, my wife carries a wallet with a zipper in her hand or pocket. Sometimes I wish she would carry a purse!
My suggestion is that the most important survival item is your brain. I know it sounds hokie, but thinking about your roommate’s example, she had plenty of supplies for a variety of situations, but she didn’t look at the big picture of her “preparedness” like you did (big picture being inefficent, easy for someone to rip off her arm and steal, etc).
Translate that to a survival situation – even with the “big pack” example, if you lose that one pack for some reason, you lose all of your supplies. A lot of people get so focused on the “what” part of preparedness that they forget the “why” and “in what order”.
For what it’s worth, my order of importance for supplies (after your brain) is water – food – shelter and/or weapon. In fact, it was a water main break during a blizzard in the middle of the city that really pushed me over the edge into true preparedness…a few hours without access to water and with no clear solution is literally scary!
I bought a 1985 Trek road bike for $40 just for this purpose, which was obviously a great price. This is the first quality bike I ever bought, and it’s very nice. However, it’s also my first road bike, and the things I didn’t like about road bikes when I was a kid have made themselves apparent again.
First, the gears are mounted on the frame, not on the handles like a mountain bike. This makes changing gears challenging and frankly, somewhat dangerous. They have adapters that allow you to mount them on the handles, but they can get pricey.
Second, and this may be the biggest problem with road bikes and hybrids, is the tires are VERY high pressure. Mine needs about 100-110 PSI. I couldn’t find a conventional pump that generated this kind of pressure, and had to buy a specialized one for road bikes. Not very expensive, $30, but I only paid $40 for the bike, mind you.
Third, Schrader Valves. These are the valves that are on almost every kind of tire most of us are familiar with. When dealing with the very high pressures of a road bike tire, a Schrader type valve will lose up to 20 PSI when you release the nozzle clamp or test the pressure with a gauge. If you get Presta valves, this is less of a problem, but you need a special adapter to inflate them.
Fourth, handle bars. I hate road bike handle bars. They make your profile more aerodynamic, but they also force you to keep your head leaned back for a long time, and if you aren’t used to it, you’ll feel it. After a long ride, my neck hurts more than my legs because of this. You also can’t grab the brakes unless you hold the lower part of the bars.
Aside from that, it’s really fast. If you hit sugar sand with those narrow tires, you’ll be lucky if you don’t eat shit, but it’s not designed for that. My friend has a hybrid and it definitely works better as a commuter type bike over less than perfect terrain, but it by no means is a way of getting off road.
One last problem is that removing the tires of either bike, as in to fit it in the trunk of a car, requires the tires to be deflated, as the brakes on either of our bikes prevent the inflated tire from being removed or put on. You can open the brakes enough to allow it, but it will make your brakes spongy and weak.
Me and road bikes have never gotten along. I have the scars to prove it. The mountain bikes we have are Treks, I’m a big Trek fan also. They’re a lot lighter than the cheaper bikes and don’t require much effort compared to the others. The straight handle bar with twist shifters built in makes life easy.
One thing I noticed when riding with others is riding style has a big effect on endurance and average speed. Everyone else in the group sat down the entire time and used a lower gear. I used a higher gear and stood the majority of the time using my body weight to pedal instead of just leg muscles.
I always did that on my mountain bikes when I was a teenager. It’s very efficient, and not much harder than walking. My Road Bike is so fast, because the tires are narrow, I find I’m more concerned with stability and balance than speed. This means I have to sit down, and if you don’t have a comfy seat, you pelvic bone takes a beating. I did buy a comfy seat for my road bike (along with new tires, the old ones were dry rotted) to keep comfortable on my work commute (11 miles one way) and to avoid getting prostate cancer.
I recommend a bike rack for anyone who wants a bike in their bug out kit. You CAN fit it in your trunk if you have to, but for the reasons I noted above, that’s not very practical. Plus, you won’t get anything else in there (and I have a big trunk!)
Hi everyone! Sounds like your roommate might have misinterpreted the “Rule of 3″, but I won’t fault her for being prepared. As far as the basics/essentials, one word: Multitool. Best you can afford, carry it with you at all times, get an identical one as a backup/spare/cache item. Since Father’s day is coming up soon, anyone wondering what to get Dad (Hint Hint Nudge Nudge Wink Wink)…Take Care, Bubblehead Les.
The bicycle is an excellent idea, but I’m also strongly considering the gas motor assist option as well, as I’m getting really close to 50 and pedaling in 100 degree summer heat just doesn’t sound good – sounds like a recipe for a heart attack in fact, lol. Rawles blog had a pretty good article on it last week, I thought it worth consideration, especially if really long distance might be in order. Who knows – $8 a gallon gasoline may cause many of us to go bicycle. I saw quite a few folks do that after Katrina.
Got a hybrid bike AND a Burly Nomad bike trailer! THIS is going to come in handy when the petrol gets pricey. I may even be able to rent out my services.
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