On today's ride, about 45 minutes into the ride, we saw a cyclist who turned out to be one of my group's riders riding the course in reverse to meet us, yelling "get up there, they need a doctor!"

About 300 feet beyond, there were two cyclists on the side of the road. One was down, on his back, getting CPR from the other. I ran up and verified they had called 911, and asked if the guy doing CPR was trained in it. He said no. I suggested I could take over. We did hands-only CPR (which is now recommended) and waited for the ambulance to come. It took seemingly FOREVER (we were on a back road and not exactly in the boonies, but not in town). After about 20 minutes, I was getting quite tired so another friend took over. A few minutes later the ambulance FINALLY came. The guy had no pulse and was doing what is called agonal breathing, which is a brainstem reflex.

I looked up the guy's name via google and found out he works for Vanguard and another cycling friend (who was NOT on the ride) knows him.

I called the ED and asked if the guy made it, they told me he was alive and in the ICU. I hope he does ok.

My other friends were great, they waited patiently and we resumed the ride. It was a sobering reminder about how lucky we all are, and how tomorrow is never guaranteed.