[Konabumm]

Hey Monkeys,

I wanted to take a moment and share a sad story. Last weekend while riding my local trail with a buddy we came across another rider laying in the trail unresponsive, after calling emergency services and doing CPR for over 30 minutes the paramedics were finally about to get the rider out of the woods. Unfortunately the rider didn’t make it – I’m pretty sure he had passed before we found him.

I didn’t know Matt, but after this happened I’ve reached out to try and get to know him better – turns out he was a hell of a guy that enjoyed road biking and was just getting into mountain biking. He was a husband and father of two – a 6 and 3 year old. But I think the saddest part is he was only 37 years old.

I guess the reason why I am posting this is just to remind everyone that every day is precious – remember to tell the ones you love how much you love them every chance you get.

I know some of you have huge hearts so I’ve included a link to Matt’s obituary and a link to the family’s gofundme page.

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/1117/-matthew-thomas-farasy.html

https://www.gofundme.com/farasy-family-education-fund

 

[JohnE]

RiP Matt...at least you went out doing something cool and harmless.

 

[Adventurous]

Always tough to make sense of something like that. Did it result from a crash or just a health episode?

 

[Konabumm]

Always tough to make sense of something like that. Did it result from a crash or just a health episode?

Health, sounds like it may have been a heart attack.

 

[Pesqueeb]

37 years old.

Oof.




Are you and your buddy doing okay? Stuff like that can be pretty hard on people, even professional responders.

 

[KenW449]

RIP Matt

 

[KenW449]

Wow, Raised 11.2k over their goal in just 3 days. Some faith in humanity restored.

 

[TN]

oh man. sorry for all involved.

I had a buddy who had a heart attack on a ride. I wasn't with him but still scary.

 

[Konabumm]

Oof.




Are you and your buddy doing okay? Stuff like that can be pretty hard on people, even professional responders.

Yeah we have both been pretty messed up over this - buddy is 39 and I'm 40 both with young kids. It really hit home -

 

[canadmos]

Damn. RIP.

Its kind of scary reading about these types of things. It could happen to anyone at any time. I do a lot of riding by myself and would hate to have someone else find me like that.

 

[slyfink]

A similar situation happened to a friend of mine. He was out riding with another friend of his, a bit of a fitness obsessed guy, father of 4, in his late 40s. Before the ride he complained of feeling weird. On the ride he had a heart attack. It was in a section of unofficial trails called "the maze". My buddy tried to administer CPR while trying to call first responders and explain to them where they were. Took them over an hour to find them. Buddy didn't make it. My friend made a plaque out of a crankset and attached it to a tree at the intersection.

I'm reminded of how fragile and precious life is every time I ride by.

RIP to the rider, and all the best to his family. Hope you're holding up too.

 

[canadmos]

A similar situation happened to a friend of mine. He was out riding with another friend of his, a bit of a fitness obsessed guy, father of 4, in his late 40s. Before the ride he complained of feeling weird. On the ride he had a heart attack. It was in a section of unofficial trails called "the maze". My buddy tried to administer CPR while trying to call first responders and explain to them where they were. Took them over an hour to find them. Buddy didn't make it. My friend made a plaque out of a crankset and attached it to a tree at the intersection.

I'm reminded of how fragile and precious life is every time I ride by.

RIP to the rider, and all the best to his family. Hope you're holding up too.

Crazy. One benefit of using TrailForks is the quick and easy access to the GPS coordinates. Though I guess even with that, getting the EMS people to navigate to the spot is still difficult.

 

[junkyard]

thats a super bummer

 

[slyfink]

Crazy. One benefit of using TrailForks is the quick and easy access to the GPS coordinates. Though I guess even with that, getting the EMS people to navigate to the spot is still difficult.

That's what he thought too. Why can't they just lock on to his cell phone's GPS signal? I guess it's not as simple as they make it seem in the movies. And there was also the fact he didn't want to stop CPR, not even for a second to call first responders, let alone stop to look at a map and provide instructions. This was about 5 years ago I think, so before Strava and Trailforks etc.

 

[canadmos]

That's what he thought too. Why can't they just lock on to his cell phone's GPS signal? I guess it's not as simple as they make it seem in the movies. And there was also the fact he didn't want to stop CPR, not even for a second to call first responders, let alone stop to look at a map and provide instructions. This was about 5 years ago I think, so before Strava and Trailforks etc.

In theory it should be easy (now). Give the coordinates to the EMS people and they can simply input them into any map service. But this of course is relying on the people on the other end having the knowledge to do something useful with the coordinates and to not get lost trying to get to the location.

Google also has a neat (or creepy) feature that allows you to share your live location with another person. Though, its not something that I'd want to setup and share while in panic mode.

 

[stoney]

Came across a bad step > back of the head hit by a rider about 10 years ago. My friend and I split up, one to the main trail head, the other the fire access trail. I don't think I've ever done a ride down the that trail to direct the medical staff to the right place so fast in my life - dry heaving after pedaling down China Camp for the SF guys. Really shitty feel for a while. @Konabumm you might wanna talk it out with somebody, because that kind of experience can mess with you long-term.

 

[Westy]

Crossed paths with a group of teenagers on borrowed bikes a few years back when I lived in Cleveland. Gave them some direction advice. A few seconds later I heard this horrible crunching sound. I just knew something bad had happened and turned around to see what the hell happened. One of the kids went off the trail, instead of stopping or bailing out he rode his bike down a steep gulley. Went OTB when he hit the bottom, bike was broken in two and his face was messed up. He complained of severe neck pain and couldn't feel his legs. Kept him calm and still and gave my phone to one of his friends to call 911.

EMT's called me back asking for directions, rode to the trail head and guided them to the injured kid. Had to bite my tongue when one of the fat EMT's kept complaining that he had to walk so far. They got the kid on a backboard and had a helicopter pick him up from a nearby field. Never knew how it all ended up. I called the kids parents while sitting with him, had their number and thought about following up but I was afraid the news wasn't good. Never saw any information in the local newspaper.

 

[Pesqueeb]

Crazy. One benefit of using TrailForks is the quick and easy access to the GPS coordinates. Though I guess even with that, getting the EMS people to navigate to the spot is still difficult.

It's probably been pretty close to 10 years, but I was once out on a solo ride in Cheyenne Canyon, coming down #667. I heard motorcycles coming up, which wasn't unusual, its a pretty popular spot for the dirt bike crowd. I stop as they come around the corner, lo and behold, its El Paso County SAR. They stop to ask me for directions. Seems someone had collapsed hiking another nearby trail and the call had gone out and they were trying to assist. They had also over ridden the trail this poor schlep had collapsed on by almost 2 miles, and god only knows, by how many minutes. I told them they needed to turn around and where to find the trail, so they did, and I followed them down the trail to the turn they needed to take. I wonder if the victim survived sometimes, but given the time it must have taken for help to arrive, I don't think the odds are very good.

 

[eric strt6]

one of the worst feelings I ever had was driving away from an incident on hwy 35 in the rescue unit and looking back in my mirror at the CHP standing next to the bike and the SPD covered feet sticking out from the yellow tarp we had place over the rider. Essentially if you are not there with an AED and drugs within the first 10 minutes all the CPR in the world will not make a difference