Kelly McGarry ???

I found a couple gems in comments from other sites:

From Wypler at pinkbike: "Kelly really had the biggest heart, he never let his fame and status in the mountain bike world get to his head. In November 2015 we were riding in Queenstown at Wynyard - a 12 year old German girl was riding through the park trying some jumps and slipped off the trail on some loose gravel. She was all banged up, bleeding, concussion, etc...Kelly picked her up, carried her out of the park, then drove her to the hospital and waited in the emergency room with her until her parents arrived. Absolute class act."

From Thom9719 at vital MTB: "This morning has been a whirlwind of emotions. Trying to fight back tears and sadness, while simultaneously laughing at some of the adventures and stories. Kelly was an amazing person and I'm fortunate enough to have known him for a number of years.

One of the Kelly memories that came up this morning was from 2011 at the US open. To make a story short, we were done for the day and heading back to the hotel. The area Raleigh rep's wife, was hanging out with us and told Kelly she had a big growler waiting for Kelly back at the hotel. The look of shock and confusion on the big guys face will never be forgotten. It took a few more minutes before we found out that the only definition of a growler that Kelly knew was a euphemism for lady parts!

Kelly, you were one of a kind and won't ever understand how many people you've inspired through your life. Cheers Bruh, I hope you're in a better place and the memories never be forgotten."



He sounds to have been a truly remarkable human being. Condolances to his friends and loved ones for his passing.

djjohnr said:

I specifically said "high heart rate endurance". We are definitely not.

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I dunno exactly what you're referring to by "high heart rate endurance", but I can assure you dudes running marathons in 2 hours are maintaining a damn high heart rate by most standards.

Also - http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2012/06/long_distance_running_and_evolution_why_humans_can_outrun_horses_but_can_t_jump_higher_than_cats_.html

I guess if you're saying we're not so good at "sprinting" for a relatively long distance, then I get it to some extent, but grinding up a hill usually falls in line with jogging rather than an all out 100 yard dash.

But back on topic, totally sucks to lose someone so young and such a fine person by all accounts. Huck In Peace

a friend of a friend passed away in this same fashion on one of the trails I ride (and ski) regularly. There's a memorial "plaque" made from a crank where it happened. father of 4. It kinda freaks me out. As far as I know, I don't have any medical pre-conditions, but my dad passed away from a massive heart failure, and his sister has had two strokes.

As far as I'm concerned, it's as good a reason as any not to race to the top of the hill. Who cares who's first to the top?! It's who's first to the bottom (and the beers) that matters!

As for Kelly, I think I see Electric City's point: it's unfortunate that his passing away has brought him more publicity than his riding or his personality, because both of those were off the charts. I will miss reading about him, seeing him in a few edits here and there (wouldn't it have been awesome to see him in a Fest video?!?!). It's a sad time for our sport.

jackalope said:

I dunno exactly what you're referring to by "high heart rate endurance", but I can assure you dudes running marathons in 2 hours are maintaining a damn high heart rate by most standards.

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There's a big difference between what the body can do and what it does in it's natural state. The human heart makes specific adaptations when confronted with stress - think about this - your heart doesn't make these adaptation unless under repeated stress for very long periods of time. If you have already have a heart condition it can cause issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_heart_syndrome

So yes, lots of people engage in endurance events for decades, but that doesn't change the fact that it's not something the human heart expects to do out of the box (unrelated to the heart - but look at the number of marathon runners that piss blood on occasion, that's not an activity that the human body considers normal).

Right but I am sure McGarry's heart was properly adapted, he was a professional athlete.

This is an interesting discussion that kind of hits home for me. I had a couple issues with heart palpations over the past year or so, the hypochondriac in me was worried I would fall over dead on the trail so I went in for some tests. Had a 48 hr holter monitor, stress test, and some other smaller tests done and got a clean bill of health, that said I still sometimes worry I'm hitting it to hard.

He could have an adapted heart but also have an underlying hidden heart condition that leads to sudden cardiac death. That's the scary thing. There's some history of congenital malformed aortic valves in my family; I've never had it checked out but I do think about it now and then (like now).

slyfink said:

a friend of a friend passed away in this same fashion on one of the trails I ride (and ski) regularly. There's a memorial "plaque" made from a crank where it happened. father of 4. It kinda freaks me out. As far as I know, I don't have any medical pre-conditions, but my dad passed away from a massive heart failure, and his sister has had two strokes.

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you should get your heart looked at closely, 10-15 years ago my dad was having heart problems and eventually they figured out he had a genetic malformed aortic heart valve that needed to be replaced. His dad had a massive fatal heart attack a few months before I was born, and others in his fathers family had heart problems. After they figured it out his 8 brothers and sisters have all been tested and half found to have the same defect requiring surgery, a couple of my cousins also have to have the surgery done sometime in the future....luckily it looks like I'm all good, but it's scary shit.

djjohnr said:

There's a big difference between what the body can do and what it does in it's natural state. The human heart makes specific adaptations when confronted with stress - think about this - your heart doesn't make these adaptation unless under repeated stress for very long periods of time. If you have already have a heart condition it can cause issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_heart_syndrome

So yes, lots of people engage in endurance events for decades, but that doesn't change the fact that it's not something the human heart expects to do out of the box (unrelated to the heart - but look at the number of marathon runners that piss blood on occasion, that's not an activity that the human body considers normal).

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While I don't think we're going to agree on this point, I would add that if you read the article I linked, it basically says we're designed by Jeebus to be long distance dreadnauts. As in run any ungulate on the planet into the ground. Hell, people were practicing this hunting technique thousands of years before Jeebus was born (clever that one), and likely for distances and paces that would make wolves say eff this and head to the nearest White Castle. Perhaps newborn babies aren't primed to run a marathon, but I would bet you even hyena cubs are pretty sluggish when they fall out of mom.

In McGarry's tragic case, I'd guess he had an undiagnosed heart issue, similar to what we've seen with otherwise very fit athletes (e.g. basketball and football players) collapsing on the the court/field out of nowhere. Its always terrible, and unless it happens basically in the ER, its usually fatal.

jackalope said:

While I don't think we're going to agree on this point, I would add that if you read the article I linked, it basically says we're designed by Jeebus to be long distance dreadnauts. As in run any ungulate on the planet into the ground. Hell, people were practicing this hunting technique thousands of years before Jeebus was born (clever that one), and likely for distances and paces that would make wolves say eff this and head to the nearest White Castle. Perhaps newborn babies aren't primed to run a marathon, but I would bet you even hyena cubs are pretty sluggish when they fall out of mom.

In McGarry's tragic case, I'd guess he had an undiagnosed heart issue, similar to what we've seen with otherwise very fit athletes (e.g. basketball and football players) collapsing on the the court/field out of nowhere. Its always terrible, and unless it happens basically in the ER, its usually fatal.

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I did read it; however no one knows how long and at what max heart-rate we ran at. Some of the activities we do as humans now move beyond jogging for 20 minutes with the occasional speed burst. I understand where you're coming from, but if you look at what happens to the heart physically it's pretty clear that in many cases we are pushing past our current design specs.

It's almost certain he had a congenital heart defect or some other mitigating factor.

Just went to a wake for a friend last night. 39 years old. She went out to walk her dog and dropped dead. It was an undetected heart condition. You just never know. Something like that can go undetected forever.

Tribute video:

http://dirtmountainbike.com/videos/148075.html#G14qF1pFUVRv2iSq.97

I volunteered at crankworx in whistler in 2008 and one day I was walking through the village and coming towards me was Kelly with a massive smile and his face all lit up like he had just seen some old friends behind me. But when I turned around there was no one there and I realised that Kelly was just stoked to be heading up the mountain to ride and that super happy look was just how he was. That memory always stuck with me and its a small consolation he was riding when he passed away and would still have been stoked about it.

What a horrible week! Now it's the BMX legend Dave Mirra that was found dead. Suicide apparently...

So sad...