One Strange Nite

So I was on a nite MTB ride last night with a friend of mine – just the two of us on our regular weekly nite ride, nothing special to speak of. Until we got about 1 hour into the ride and we’re in the middle of the woods doing one of the longer climbs on the loop. I get to the top and wait a bit for my friend who is normally right on my tail – but this time he’s a bit far behind.

When he gets to the top he doesn’t look so hot – breathing really hard and not looking happy. He says he’s pretty tired and his HR isn’t coming down at all, so he gets off the bike and stands there for a bit – then says he’s going to be sick. Wow – what’s going on? Hands on his knees I’m expecting him to bring up a bad burrito or something like that, but nope, nothing. And he’s getting worse – his head is spinning and he’s not walking straight any more. He says he’s really getting dizzy now.

So I clear the snow off a bench and have him sit down – but that doesn’t help and he’s getting worse. Remove some more snow and he’s on his back on the bench now (if he passes out he won’t fall anywhere). So at this point I’m trying to figure out where the nearest road is (actually I would have gotten this test wrong!) and what to do if he blacks out: do I leave him and go for help or stay with him and monitor his vitals. Of course there’s no choice – I’d go for help immediately.

Luckily it didn’t come to that, and after about 5 minutes lying down he started feeling better and he was able to walk out to the road where we got on our bikes and spun home. We chalked it up to a sudden dip in blood pressure that caused him to almost faint: nice to have a theory on what it was, but what really caused it? No idea.

So it was a pretty weird ride to say the least. But when I got home I had a message from a friend of mine on the club I’m trying out for, so I called him back. Turns out there was some terrible news – the Belgian pro I rode with 10 days ago had just died of a sudden and massive heart attack. He was driving his car home from some track training in Amsterdam with a few others in the car with him when it happened. He was 26 years old. He’d had heart tests at the start of the season from his team doctors. He was in TOP form – he’s a cyclist who knows his body and he can read signs. But this one was too sudden to do anything about.

Just incredible – the guy was only 26 years old, in the prime of his life and now suddenly he’s gone. It’s incredibly shitty and really hard to believe it happened.

Life is short – you never know when something sudden might happen, and often you take life for granted. Don’t. Enjoy every day to the fullest – don’t waste any time.

“Yesterday is a cashed cheque; tomorrow is a promisary note; today is the only cash you have. Spend it wisely.” – Unknown.