The Patrol Bike and Cycling for Preppers

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A few years ago, Matt Bracken posted an article, "The Patrol Bike" over on American Partisan. It's worth a read, and I recently reviewed it due to my renewed interest in cycling.

One thing I want to comment on that's missing from many prepper-oriented articles about bicycles is the necessity for conditioning before you need to rely on a bike during an event. There are a lot of bikes out there gathering dust in garages and sheds because people bought them thinking that they could ride them around all day like they did when they were kids, and find out that is no longer true.

If you include bicycles as part of your preps you need to ride now, to make sure that your legs, butt, and heart can handle it.

Bracken noted that he switched to cycling from jogging because once he hit 60, his knees started complaining. In my case, my feet are so flat they may as well be flippers, so I've never been able to run much. Cycling is a good way to get in a cardio workout for those of us with similar physical limitations.

When I was young I did a lot of road biking. I still see cyclists on the road but I will no longer do so. IMHO, there are too many distracted motorists and I feel that it would only be a matter of time before I got hit by someone paying more attention to their cell phone than the road.

The good news is that many urban and suburban areas now have an increasing number of bike trails. Many of these are on former railroad beds and as such, are kept to a very minor grade. These paths are great for exercise and getting around. Bikemaps.org is a good resource for finding such trails.

Another article worth reviewing is from Greg Ellefritz at Active Response Training. "Your Tactical Training Scenario - Attacked on a Bike" raised a few points I had not considered, notably the ability for an attacker to use your bike helmet against you.

There are a few safety items that you should have:

1. Front and rear lights. These are for making you visible as much as lighting the way.  It's 2021 so we no longer need to power bike lights with big, heavy batteries or bottle dynamos. There's a wide variety of LED bike lights that run off AAAs, coin cells, or are rechargeable. I find that when riding on a crowded bike path that I appreciate it when other riders have their lights on, even during the day.

2. A helmet and gloves. Yeah, us Gen-Xers survived while not wearing bike helmets. Modern helmets are lightweight and will keep you from cracking your skull if you wipe out. I find that padded gloves make cycling more comfortable. Plus the last time I crashed my gloves prevented me from getting road rash on my palms, which would have really sucked.

There are some accessories you'll want to keep on your bike to keep running and make it more useful:

1. Patch kit and/or spare tube. Make sure you include a couple tire levers.

2. Pump and/or CO2 tire inflater. I use a floor pump at home. Many if not most currently made pumps will work with either Presta or Schraeder valves. If you must reinflate a fat tire in the field one or two CO2 cylinders will speed things up a lot compared with using a bike-mounted pump.

3. A rear cargo rack. I am happy with the Planet Bike Eco rack that I installed on my Trek 820 about 5 years ago. My Lectric XP came with a rack. A solid rear rack will also act as a fender to keep you from getting a racing stripe up your back when going through mud puddles. Use a little blue Loctite thread locker on the mounting bolts when installing a rack, to keep them from vibrating loose.

4. Bag to carry your toolkit. I like a trunk on my cargo rack because I can put my tools, a light windbreaker, snacks, and an extra water bottle in it. Another option is lashing a milk crate to the rack for bulky items.

5. Water bottle rack and bottle. Most bike bottles hold 20 - 24 oz. Zefal sells 33 oz. bottles, which are nice in hot weather. You can also get canisters that fit water bottle holders and can be used for your toolkit. Good for bike with more than one water bottle holder. 

6. Tool kit or multitool with wrenches to fit all the screws and bolts on your bike. Most bikes have used Allen bolts for the past 25 years but you may have one or two regular hex head bolts. Consider swapping them out for Allen head bolts. Otherwise, include an adjustable wrench. A pair of pliers and/or a Leatherman-type multitool may come in handy as well. If the bike multitool doesn't include a spoke wrench, get a separate one. I recently added this ratchet set to my bike kit.

7. In case something breaks, some zip ties and a roll of 1" wide Gorilla tape may come in very handy. I recently saw a forum post in which a guy was able to ride his mountain bike out of the woods after reattaching the front chain ring with zip ties.

8. Most importantly, the knowledge to use all of the above. Sheldon Brown's site is a good resource for all things cycling. Also, Park Tool's YouTube channel demonstrates many aspects of bicycle maintenance.

 

We're currently experiencing a shortage of new bicycles in shops due to increased demand and COVID-related supply chain disruptions. There are still plenty of bikes listed on places like Craiglist and Facebook Marketplace. Used bikes can be good deals. Older mountain bikes such as you'd find on those sites are especially well suited for prepper use due to lower cost and simpler construction, especially if you avoid bikes with suspensions. I do recommend avoiding any department store bikes, at least those made for sale in the past 25 years. Frankly, they are junk. Stick with brands sold in bike shops like Trek, Specialized, or Giant. Even low end models from these brands will be head and shoulders better than the crap you find at Walmart or Target.

To quote Freddy Mercury, "Get on your bikes and ride!"