Originally Posted by
datlas
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.
I witnessed a situation like that during the first day of the MS 150 Pa Dutch ride. It was cold and wet. There was a volunteer responder’s car on the right side of the road and activity in front of it. It was the last little climb of the day. I figured someone had slid in the wet conditions and fallen. I went wide around the vehicle only to see someone performing CPR on a rider. My blood ran cold. Rode on a few hundred feet and stopped to collect myself. I learned later that the guy didn’t make it. The real kicker is that it happened maybe a mile from the finish at Kutztown University. He had been an experienced rider with a known heart condition that he refused to let sideline him.