Alcohol dehydrates you even more, so drinking it to re-hydrate won't work. But it might make getting dehydrated more fun, up until the point you get sick.

 

I knew there was something I was missing.

 

I have a couple of the soft sided Ozark Trail coolers from Wal-Mart. If you pre-chill everything and pack them full with food, drinks, ice packs, and ice they will keep the contents cold for about two days max in 80* temps. In 90*+ temps, you will get about 16 hrs max. So, good for a day ride and maybe overnight. I don't ride much when it gets over 85*.

I put my drinks in the deep freezer for a couple hrs in advance and I put the entire cooler in the deep freeze as well. I make sure it's level and then I pour about 1 inch of water in the bottom. That freezes into a solid block of ice. I also usually freeze a couple of bottles of water and a couple small bottles of Gatorade. That also helps keep the cooler cold for as long as possible. I also freeze everything I can safely freeze (like steak). That just adds more frozen stuff to the cooler to help keep it cold.

If I'm out longer than two days, I don't bother with coolers and just bring typical camping type food that doesn't require refrigeration.

If you are still using the cheap soft sided coolers, check out those Ozark Trail coolers. They have more insulation and are pretty well made.

The idea of fire starters is a good one. I may add some of those fire starter blocks. Of course, good old cotton ***** and Vaseline works pretty good too. Also, I usually carry a few of those heavy duty blue paper towels. If you need a fire boost, dip one down in your gas tank. Don't soak the whole thing. Just a corner of it. Wrap it into a ball and put it under your kindling and light it. I usually don't recommend gasoline for lighting fires but if you just wet a corner of the towel you actually don't have much gas on it and it lights safely and burns very hot.

 

I have a water filter with my backpacking gear and when I go overnight, I just take the backpacking gear as well. For day trips, I just bring enough fluids that I don't have to worry about refilling my water. I have a MSR Sweetwater filter and recommend them.

 

So forgot to mention in the OP that I also carry a tow strap. Useful for towing, of course, but I've also used it as a tree saver for winching.

 

How well do your ice packs hold up on the trail? Mine always got bashed and battered, and bounced around until they eventually leaked blue goo in my cooler and I threw them away. If I go to a gas station for a bag of ice for the ride, when it starts melting it splashes out and goes right down my butt crack. I know, TMI. I always end up putting ice cold drinks from my big cooler in the little one with no ice or ice packs. It stays cold for awhile but I have to make sure I park in the shade during breaks, and they still warm up later in the day.

I like the idea of dipping the corner of the blue paper towel in the gas tank. One of my friends seems to be wrenching on something whenever he's not at work and I'll bet he has those in his garage. I know he has room for some in his cargo box and I have room too. Restaurant supply stores have the little paper cups for ketchup and I read they make good fire starters when you fill them with sawdust and melted paraffin. Trioxane fuel tabs like the army used for heating C-Rations burn hot enough to get a fire going if your wood isn't soaking wet. I bought a bunch from a military surplus store but they also have them on amazon. They have hexamine fuel tablets for Esbit stoves too, which may be less toxic. You shouldn't be breathing fumes from anything burning in the first place, whether the label says it's toxic or not. Trioxane lights easily with just sparks. Hexamine is harder to light.

 

I have the hard plastic ice packs. Haven't had one leak yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Freez-Kollant-Cooler-Substiute-2Pack/dp/B00CKZ9DBK

I also have some of the smaller rectangular hard plastic types and they work well too.

I've used the fuel tablets in the military and they work ok. Not as good as a stove but better than nothing.

Try those Ozark Trail soft sided coolers. They are good for the money.

 

Those are the same as the ice packs my friends use in their six-pack coolers. Everything fits so close it doesn't bounce around.

I have a couple of folding stoves that I used the fuel tabs with and I have canteen cup stove that fits around the cup in its carrier made for trioxane bars, but they work as fire starters too. They make smaller ones now instead of the kind I had. This crazy Russian guy didn't know it was already burning and struck sparks on it again. My stoves are twice as big as his and I used to take a 2 quart aluminum pot from my kitchen when I camped alone. I mostly used it for cans of beef stew or chili. I don't take any of that stuff when I ride and I gave my friends all of my fuel tabs to start campfires with.

 

Never seen this before. Pretty cool.

 

Soo cool I ordered one. LOL

I'll probably never use it but just in case.................