About two weeks ago I was riding one of the local trails in my area. I was about 20 miles out when I ran straight into a trail close/detour sign. As it turns out, the city had repaved some of the trails, and the one I just ran into was still pretty wet. I followed the detour and about 4 miles into the detour, the detour came to an end and rejoined me back into the trail system. I biked for no more than another mile when I ran into a guy who was standing on the edge of the trail covered from head to feet in blood. I stopped and asked him if he was alright, and he responded with a sort of grunt, “No,” and then collapsed right into me. He had a cell phone in his hands, but I had no idea if he had called for help or not. I grabbed his cell phone and dialed 911 and tried to explain the situation, and where I was. The operator asked me the usual, if he was breathing, etc, to which I replied that he seemed to be ok. I looked around and realized that he had obviously biked into one of the newly paved trails because the trail closed sign was face down on the side of the trail. He was also covered in road burns and the black tar. The police quickly found the location, and an ambulance quickly took him away. The officer who interviewed me asked me if I knew him, and told me that no ID could be found.

After everything cleared out and I headed for home, I realized that I didn’t have and ID or a cell phone on me. If this had happened to me, and no one had happened to bike by, I would have been in trouble. The next day I decided to pick up a RoadID. A RoadID is a company that gives you a few options to carry around an ID on your person when you are biking. You can either get one on your wrist, on your shoe, or on your neck. I picked up the wrist version and found it to be very lightweight, and unobtrusive. You can pick up your own wrist ID for $19.99, and $1 shipping at roadid.com.