Carrying your gear - how often?

[Scythe13]

I just went on a walk with the wife and our dogs. I regularly enjoy these walks and carry a bag with me. It could be a GHB, BOB, or just a backpack with first aid kit, waterproofs, food, water, etc.

I find that whether we do 3 mile or 15 miles, the walks are a great way to gauge how much gear you can carry, and how fresh you feel afterwards.

Quite often I'll run a lot of it, if I'm just carrying a GHB, like today.

How often do you test your gear weight and how well you can cope with it?

[Straight Shooter]

TBH S i have not done this for ages....i know i would struggle a bit ...for sure....a part of getting old mate...but my determination would carry me a fair way !

[WHB]

I take about half my carry weight out quite often actually.
My bag of choice, based in practicality and comfort, is a 50 Lt military style pack. It is similar to the NI patrol pack but 15 Lt larger.
My grandson and myself go out to meet others in my local radio society and I end up lugging the lads flask and packed lunch with me.
I would love to have an 80 Lt plus bergen but the buggered back and neck would protest
I can wear my pack for quite a long time but believe me, and of this I'm sure you all know, you can't beat a good lumber belt and chest strap on ye olde pack.
Truth be told, I would say the correctly adjusted straps make the pack feel like half the weight it actually is.
I'd say my bergen gets taken out once every 4 to 6 weeks depending on what gatherings I can get to.
I don't drive anymore as the meds for pain are on the list you can't drive whilst taking. Once I get off the bus then I usually am on foot over woodland and common ground until I get to the venue for the meeting.
Last year I did a 3 day folk-camp with only what I had in my bergen and a light 1 man tent strapped to it and did rather well methinks.

WHB

[Mortblanc]

Back pain meds and an 80 liter pack?

[CharlesHarris]

Not exactly "high speed and low drag"......

At age 66 I'm not humping full combat approach loads anymore.

My basic kit is a light 10kg ruck, and anything heavier gets packed in panniers on the mountain bike and is moved covertly, at night, as if I were running the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Golf bag trolley or two-wheeled jogging stroller would also be a good option.

[WHB]

Mortblanc,
Yep, my bergen is only 50 Lt but pain or not I'd give a larger bergen a go if I did not have a very large builder son and a quite able son-in-law and I really, really had to.
3.5 years ago at 48 I'd carry an 80 Lt packed bergen with little worry, sadly an 18 foot fall from scaffold flat on my back damaging my neck and spine in 3 places I tend to take up the offer from other family and friends to take the heavier bits of kit.
I was always strong and taught Shotokan karate. I take 19 pills over the course of the waking day with a few of them to help me sleep.

Mortblanc & CH,
What makes a survivor ?
I would say personally it is a person that is prepared to push the negatives to the background, grit the teeth and say sod it let's have it !, let's be honest, we are crazy for even daring to prep for survival in most the sheeples eyes !
A bergen is a luxury because it has straps, I'd willingly carry one of my family as far as I could if I had to so they could have a chance to survive.
So, why should I push myself then ?
Well I believe that if I don't make a show of what a chap that is hurting CAN do in the direction of survival then I have absolutely no right to direct the young and even younger to invest time in what, as I said above, is something most people will think we are crazy for doing.
As I've said in my introduction (I think) I lead my family and close friends in prepping and survival, better to lead by example I think.
Until I get a letter from all the world leaders saying the world is not gonna go boobs-up then I'll keep on keepin' on, btw, my physio thinks my er camping hobby is pushing it

WHB

[Mortblanc]

I have to say as a long term spine patient, having had three surgical procedures over the past 25 years and been diagnosed with degenerative disk disease...

That if you can grit your teeth and bare it through any of the circumstances you describe...

You don't really have a bad back.

If you did the pain would lock you up and you would not be able to walk, talk, lay down, sit up or stand, you would need help walking and if your butt was on fire you would need help putting it out.

Anyone here that has had a severe spinal problem knows the same.

---

Yet you are receiving pain meds that prevent your driving.

Perhaps that is why it is easier to ignore it and push through.

How long will those meds last post event?

[WHB]

Mortblanc,
I'm glad I'm not suffering back problems as you say, it must be all in the imagination lol.
OK, a bit more for you then.
I have advancing osteoarthritis in my mid-back and lower spine caused by the damage when my back slammed into the scaffold boards 18 feet below me.
I also have problems caused by the osteophytes encroaching between the joints of my cervical spine, the cervical spine damage what caused when the rear of my hard had caused my head to snap forward.
I was offered the surgery whereby they put a dog-bone shaped bit of steel into the neck to keep it semi-locked in place but I didn't fancy that.
If I showed you a picture of me from 4 years ago you would find it hard to believe that I am the same person today.
I am not sitting here for fun during the day, what I earn a week as my father's carer I could earn in the first 5 hours working on site laying bricks.
I rather think I know when I have back issues, my doctor also, the specialist without a doubt and my wife would deffo say some things are very painful for me to try
Still never mind, you are entitled to your opinion.
part of my meds are controlled drugs and I can only get 1 months at a time, in fact none of them are over the counter.

WHB



WHB

[Devonian]

Come on MB, you're the first to complain about the lack of moderation on the forum, so less of the mine is bigger/better/worse please, particularly with new members.

As for pain, we all have different pain thresholds, what one persons considers to be crippling, another may simply call an annoying niggle.

[bigpaul]

I don't often agree with MB but he has a point about the pain meds. how long would your/anyones stock of painkillers last post SHTF and what will you do when they run out??