You Might Want to Get a Bicycle Before The World Hits Tank Bottoms

And a bike trailer.

Photo by Thomas Jarrand on Unsplash

“The atmosphere went from nothing to the darkest red cloud of fire.”

That’s Francois Auroux, describing his harrowing escape from the Palisades fire in early 2025, one of the worst fires in California’s history. He didn’t escape on a helicopter or a motorcycle. He escaped on a bicycle.

His home burned to the ground.

Here’s the video:

The story prompted a flurry of interest among preppers, eager to explore the potential for bicycles and e-bicycles for disasters and emergencies. A few of our readers have suggested them as well, and it makes sense.

Wildfires don’t just pose a risk to the west coast anymore. With severe droughts now hitting the east coast on a regular basis, almost anyone could find themselves dealing with one at some point over the next few years.

Last year, we were astonished to wind up stalled in traffic one afternoon because of a wildfire. Then they closed the road altogether.

It took us an extra two hours to get home, following backroads. We watched the giant plumes of smoke from our house, trying to keep up with the news, and wondering if we’d have to evacuate. Fortunately, we didn’t. Still, it was a major wakeup call, yet another disaster to plan for. A few months later, another wildfire erupted one county over, burning thousands of acres.

So…

For my family, that now makes a pandemic, an F3 tornado, a hurricane, and a wildfire. All in five years. And people ask why we’re into prepping…

Trying to escape a wildfire in your car? It’s probably the first best option, but it’s certainly not without risks.

From Heatmap News:

And when people die in wildfires, they are often found in their vehicles. In Portugal, 47 of the 64 people killed during a 2017 forest fire were in their cars, trying to escape. At least 10 people were found dead in or near their cars after the 2018 Camp fire, the deadliest blaze in California’s history. And in Lahaina, Hawaii, this month, in what the Los Angeles Times has called “surely … the deadliest traffic jam in U.S. history,” the lack of advanced warning combined with inexplicably blocked roads led an untold number of people to perish in their cars while trying to evacuate, including a 7-year-old boy who was fleeing with his family; a man who used his last moments attempting to shield a beloved golden retriever in his hatchback; and a couple who were reportedly found in each other’s arms.

Look, conventional emergency advice still says you’re safer in a car than a bike during various disasters. But more and more people are seeing the liabilities of cars, especially in big cities, and they’re looking for alternatives.

Here’s Maylin Tu, writing in KneeDeep Times:

Transportation and urbanism journalists (including me) have fixated on that scene at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive — people abandoning their cars and fleeing on foot. When thousands of people try to evacuate by car at the same time via one of the only ways out, what you end up with is gridlock.

When I picture evacuating on my e-bike, cars are in the way, but I go around them. I’m wearing the P100 respirator I bought during the wildfires. Maybe I am carrying someone on the backseat. We move slowly but surely around stopped traffic till we reach the open road.

I’m sure a few trolls will flutter around in the comments telling you and me how dumb we are for not accepting the gospel and never imagining the problems inherent in making a car our only form of transportation…

Wildfires or not…

The U.S. remains on track for “tank bottoms” by early July, thanks to the war with Iran. Everyone has their own predictions for what that means. Meanwhile, some of us know the importance of backup transportation systems, regardless of what international crisis has everyone’s attention.

Fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, floods, and other disasters aren’t going to stop and wait for the Strait of Hormuz to open up again. We’ll just pile one disaster on another. Rather than sitting around trying to predict exactly what’s going to happen, it makes more sense to just go ahead and imagine the worst—not as a certainty, but as an exercise in logic. Let’s assume that the worst happens. Gasoline and diesel shortages hit us at home. Maybe there’s panic buying. Maybe we see severe disruptions to supply chains and logistics. Maybe another Helene hits us at the worst possible moment. Now think about what you’d do if that happened, and what tools you’d like to have with you. That’s what I’ve done, and it helps.

So, I’m researching bicycles.

Why?

Bicycles don’t need gasoline. They don’t need electricity. They can go places that cars can’t. They don’t get stuck in traffic jams.

Not everyone can ride a bicycle, but anyone who can pedal one is putting themselves in a better position during any kind of crisis or disaster, including prolonged ones. A human can move at about 3 mph on foot. They can carry a limited amount of gear. On a bike, a human can easily quadruple their speed. They can carry several times more weight with a wagon or a trailer.

You don’t need to get a fancy bike. In fact, the simpler the better. Simpler bikes are easier to repair, and easier to find parts for.

At first, I thought it was going to be difficult to find bicycle trailers. It’s not. You can find them at most stores, even hardware stores. Trailers. Carts. Wagons. Many of them are compatible with a wide range of bikes.

You’ll probably have to order it online.

If you’re working against early July as a deadline, you’ll want to order it soon. In a worst-case scenario, you’ll at least have some options. You won’t be stranded at your house or reliant on someone else with a drivable vehicle for everything. You’ll have a way to transport some basic gear around.

If other people in your area do the same, then you could even build a relay network to haul around goods and services.

How do you fix a bike?

I’ve spent the last few days browsing forums and sites. I’ve landed on a handful of good bicycle repair guides. Here’s a list:

• Sutherland’s Handbook for Bicycle Mechanics

• Zinn & The Art of Road Bike Maintenance

• GCN Essential Road Bike Maintenance

• The Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair

• UCSB Bike Shop Manual

• The Bike Book (Haynes)

You can find these guides online at sites like Archive.org and Scribd. You can print sections of them out, or you can order hard copies. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be reading through these and making a very simple, generic guide for doing some basic bicycle repairs like changing tires, etc.

If you predict hard times soon, I wouldn’t wait. Get these guides now. If you have a backup electricity plan, then go to YouTube and look up Park Tools. Download them for future reference during a prolonged grid outage. They put out the big blue book, and they have a reputation for providing one of the biggest libraries of bike repair videos on the internet:

There’s one more thing to think about:

E-bikes.

A standard e-bike costs more than a generic bicycle, but it gives you more options. They come in three classes: Class 1 has pedal assist up to 20 mph. The motor only works when you pedal. Class 2 has a throttle feature, up to 20 mph. You can engage the motor even if you’re not pedaling. Class 3 has a throttle plus pedal assist up to 28 mph. So, class 1 is the simplest. Class 3 is the fastest. You can buy trailers and wagons for e-bikes as well. Just check compatibility first.

E-bikes offer a good option for anyone who needs some assistance on the pedaling front. They let you make longer trips without wearing you out.

Francois Auroux escaped the Palisades fire on an e-bike. Of course, you might opt for a regular bike. It’s a judgment call. An e-bike will help you go faster with less effort, but if the battery dies, many brands are harder to pedal. The motor and battery become dead weight. So, that’s a consideration.

In a prolonged situation, like the one we’re walking into this summer, you might want a simpler bike with fewer things that can break.

Here’s the main point:

Even if the worst doesn’t happen now, it’s a good idea. Many of us believe there will be a day when fuel becomes scarce, regardless of what happens with Iran and Hormuz this year. A bicycle gives you options that a car doesn’t. A bicycle works no matter what happens to oil. A bicycle means resilience. It means community. It means getting places. It means transporting gear and supplies.

A lot of preppers out there are talking about gold and silver.

They’re talking about stockpiles of gasoline.

Today, I’m talking about bikes.