We had a nice twenty-mile ride Saturday morning. It had been a while and it was good to be back in the saddle again. There are no headphones when we ride as we need to be able to hear cars and trucks around us. Aside from the noise of the wind, and man, Saturday’s ride was windy, cycling is a very quiet sport. We’ll talk to each other about things in the bike lane and give hand signals but mostly it’s just the hum of the skinny tires on the road. Pedaling the miles away also allows for time to think. I sing songs in my head, always songs with a beat to match our pedaling cadence. I’ll meal plan, put together a grocery list and toss around blog ideas.
That’s precisely how this blog post came to be. We were riding into a stiff wind and even though I was tucked behind Mark in a great drafting position, it was still tough going. It was a “put your head down and power through it” stretch of road. That’s when I noticed my Road ID. I wear it on almost every run or ride, always when I’m alone. It’s become part of my exercise uniform. As we rode on, I thought about other activities that may warrant wearing it. I thought about how many times we’re out doing something fun and adventurous and I didn’t have any ID on me at all. I thought about my in-laws who are full timers traveling the country. They are always somewhere new and most times it’s just the two of them. They each need one of these.
I bought Mark his ID band when he started training for his first marathon. He had shorter runs during the week but every Saturday was a long run, his longest being 25 miles. That’s a long time pounding the pavement all by himself. I was recovering from shoulder surgery so I couldn’t join him. Many times I’ll ride my bike behind him on his long runs but I wasn’t even cleared for that so he ran alone. He needed something on him for identification should something go wrong during one of those long runs. I ordered one for me after I was cleared to fully exercise again.
Don’t think of this as that long ago commercial where the lady falls down and yells, “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” It’s more like the rugged version of the silver ID bracelets many of us wore as kids.
We have the Sport band. It’s made of tightly woven nylon that is comfortable against your skin. It loops around to fasten with Velcro and is so light that you don’t even know it’s there. You get 6 lines of text on the metal ID tag. I put our name, year of birth, blood type and contact numbers. The nice thing here is you can add whatever information you deem important. Think about all the places you’ve explored while on trips. For us, it almost always involves something the get your blood moving like hiking, biking, white water rafting, and so on. Maybe your exploring is walking around a quaint little town or a bus tour of a new area. Nobody plans mishaps, and those can be especially bad if you’re on a trip in a brand new place. Even worse if you can’t communicate. Having some basic information on those 6 lines can point the doctors in the right direction as they help you.
They do get a little stiff after lots of sweaty workouts but clean up easily soap and water. I rub my soapy hands up and down the band, give it a quick rinse then lay them out on a towel to dry. We’ve had ours for almost seven years and they show no signs of wearing out anytime soon.
I hadn’t been on their website in a while and my, how it’s changed. They’ve added a lot of new stuff, including pet tags. They have pretty bands and sleek bands along with our sport bands as well as necklaces. You can even get one to clamp onto your FitBit or Apple watchband.
This is one of those items that you never think you’ll need. Even though neither of us have had a medical emergency while on a ride or run, I feel better having that red bracelet strapped to my wrist.
Explore and wander safely my friends!