Mountain Biking Incident

This past Sunday, I was riding with 3 other guys up the Indian Truck Trail. One guy, named Dan Frei, in his mid-50's, suffered a massive heart attack and died right there on the trail.

We started at 6:00am to beat the heat. On the way up, we took a lot of breaks, drank a lot of water, and snacked. There were the usual complaints from all of us about being out of shape and a little about the heat, but nothing whatsoever about anything related to this.

Dan fell behind us like he usually does. Sometimes one of us road with him and other times he was alone. At this particular break, about 4 miles up the trail, the three of us waited a good 10 minutes before Eric headed back down to see what was up. Another 10 minutes went by before Rudy and I headed down.

After a half dozen turns I see Eric on the phone, and Dan just lying there on his back. I knew it wasn't good. I get closer and Eric says he's not breathing and doesn't have a pulse... and my stomach drops. He asks "Do you know CPR?" and my stomach drops further.

Surprisingly, neither one of us knew CPR. The person on the phone, who was from the Riverside Fire Dept, said not to move him since he might have broken his neck. And they couldn't instruct us over the phone how to perform CPR.

Eric was instructed to ride down to meet the fire department and Rudy and I were there... with Dan... lifeless... for what seemed like forever, but turned out to be a good 45 minutes before a helicopter arrived and landed near by.

About a half-hour into it, we got ahold of Eric who was driving up with the firemen, and they were able to instruct Rudy, over the phone, on how to give CPR. Rudy went at it like a champ for about 15 minutes, but it was really hopeless. The guys from the Mercy Hospital helicopter took over, pumped him full of adrenaline and other drugs for another 15 minutes, but to no avail.

They said is was most likely a heart attack, and the coroner, after hearing our descriptions, said it was a massive heart attack (or Sudden Cardiac Arest) and in these conditions, CPR was totally useless. Even if he had a massive heart attack in an Emergency Room, chances of him making it were very slim.

At the time we didn't know it was a heart attack. In fact, we had no idea what had happened. But sitting there with him for 45 minutes, being ABSOLUTELY HELPLESS, was the WORST feeling I've ever had in my entire life. It was the longest 45 minutes I've ever had to experience and I never, ever want to feel that again... I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone at anytime.

So, I set up an adult CPR and First Aid class for us with the American Red Cross at my house on Saturday, June 18. EVERYONE MUST ATTEND!

The only excuse that's acceptable is that you are already certified AND up to date. Nothing else.

If you can't afford the 50 bucks, let me know and I'll gladly pay for you.

Where
My House

When
Saturday, June 18th, 9:00am - 4:00pm (one-hour lunch break, lunch provided)

Afterwards
I was thinking we could do a little up and back on the Bedford Motorway, and hopefully NOT use what we've learned that day. Then back to my place for a Bar-B-Que (bring some meat to throw on the grill).

Let me know by June 3rd so I can get an accurate head count. All are welcome.

~D