Paratrooper In the House!

Actually...this was taken in my office yesterday. I got a chance to test how a couple of things yesterday by having Mrs. PJ drive me part of the way into the office and riding my new Paratrooper the rest of the way.

We bought the Paratroopers http://www.montaguebikes.com/paratrooper-folding-military-bike.html, one for each of us, because we needed mountain bikes. I am a firm believer in having bikes to be able to bug out on if it should come to that. And, it doesn't have to be an EMP strike to have it come down to NOT being able to use your vehicle to bug out. I recently listened to radio traffic of an incident that happened a little while ago where an LP delivery truck wrecked and was leaking gas. Everyone in the area had to evacuate ON FOOT. So...it could and has happened.

The Paratroopers, beside their near cult status in the survival community, just made sense to me. The ability to fold them up makes them easy to just throw in the back of the vehicle. No rack to carry them. Plus, I'd really rather have them locked up in the vehicle if we are on the road as opposed to sitting out on a rack where everyone can see them. Or worse...steal.

I did look at a lot of other folding bikes. I wanted full-sized bikes. No little 20" wheeled things. And they had to be able to carry a decent load. Montague seems to be one of the few folding bikes with a decent load bearing capacity. I did entertain the idea of buying a couple of their road bikes. But, I wanted to be able to take them offroad if I needed to. No, they're not the most efficient of bikes on paved surfaces. But, at least you CAN ride them on paved surfaces. The same can't be said for taking a road bike offroad.

The pack is my newly assembled GHB(Get Home Bag). I've been toting around my BOB for years now. But, I wanted to come up with a lightweight pack I could use just to get me home from within short distances. IE within my normal AO. Lightweight being a relative term compared to my BOB. I wanted to be able to move quickly with it. There are no provisions for hot food or long term shelter.

I simply took my normal EDC pack and beefed it up a bit. I added a poncho and small tarp for shelter. Some zero-prep foods like Cliff bars and jerky. And put my previously posted "Pocket Survival Kit in the pack as well. The idea was to keep it light and mobile.

I also added a couple of tools along the lines of Nutnfancy's Urban Survival Kit. I can certainly see where a small pry bar and a couple of hand tools could come in handy in an urban environment. My office is JUST inside what I consider "urban". I can be "out in the country" fairly quickly. I do like the idea of being able to open a locked door if I absolutely needed to take shelter though.

The GHB was a little heavier than what it normally would be since I had a change of clothes for work in it. But, it still wasn't too bad carrying it on the bike. Between the pack and the mountain bike, I didn't set any speed records getting into the office. But, it was definitely do-able. Even in my horrible physical condition. And, it was still a whole lot faster than walking.

My plan is to carry both the bike and my GHB in the vehicle pretty much all of the time.

I'll give my review of the Paratrooper once I get a few more miles on it. So far...I'm really liking it though.

PJ