Life Support on the Mountain Bike Trails

Today we got wrapped up in an attempt to save a life of a mountain biker on the Afan Argoed Trails. We believed at first that he must have fallen or crashed his bike on the singletrack and been knocked unconscious but in fact he was just cycling along the flattish bridleway when he suffered a heart attack and just collapsed off his bike.

So what happened... well we headed out to Afan on Friday night and stayed in the Llynfi B&B. We had a late breakfast and set off at about 10am, after debating which trail to take we decided to head off on the Wall trail first. We were pretty mellow chatting away and relaxed as we pedalled the easy going doubletrack route at the start. We lifted our bikes through the gate at the Rhyslyn car park and started to pedal into the valley when a runner was coming towards us with a panic look on her face and arms flailing. Out of breath from her sprint she told us a biker had fallen off his bike and we could hear the ambulance sirens on the road across the valley, heading the wrong way. She asked us to go and intercept the ambulance as we would be faster on our bikes than her running. So we started off and I looked over my shoulder and said is he unconscious to which she said "Yes". 

Adrenalin kicked in and I sprinted back to the gate, threw my bike over and cycled down to the road and back up to the junction of the A4107 and B4287 at Pontrhydyfen. Of course I did not know any of that detail at the time but as I cycled along I took note of all the signs ahead and behind me.

No sign of the ambulance so I rang 999 and spoke to the call centre to get the Ambulance back to us. The forest warden arrived first and Ken went off to direct him and I stayed for the ambualnce. When that arrived I directed it up and cycled after it,  then I heard the 2nd ambulance so I turned around and pedaled back to them and told them where to go on the bridleway.

Only now did I pedal up to where the casualty was and it was pretty clear to me he had had a heart attack and 3 paramedics were doing CPR. I immediately worried for his survival as it seemed such a long time since we first met the runner and he was still in need of CPR.  

Watching from the side it suddenly brought back memories of the first 2 CPR casualties I had ever dealt with and I welled up with emotion before I quelled it again, feeling helpless now I'd done my bit. I hoped they could revive him but felt it was hardly possible to do so.

The helicopter ambulance came to take him to hospital and suddenly all was gone from the trail and we pedalled off to continue our ride in silence.

Later that day we were able to find out that he never recovered and our mood was very sombre thinking about his family and what he had left behind.

The whole incident has made me revisit my first aid skills and equipment. I am planning to renew my CPR and 1st aid skills and carry a resusci-aid to give my buddies a chance if the same should happen.

This was not an incident caused by mountain biking per se, but the remoteness of mountain bike trails just make it much more important that we mountain bikers can take care of our buddies if an accident or illness arises. I will urge those I ride with to get the skills too.

Here is a checklist of things to be aware of -

1- If an accident happens evaluate the full situation , get a history of what happened

2- Carry a mobile and contact emergency services asap

3- Pay attention to where you are at all times, even mountain bike trails signs have numbers on it that help the emergency service locate the casualty.

4- Carry a first aid kit and know how to use it.

5- Learn how to do basic CPR- you are the ebst chance your buddy has until the emeregency services can get there.

6- Send someone for help but make ure they know where you are excatly and what the incident status is.

I think the guys here did the right things, they sent runners to get help, they called the ambulance, they started CPR. I did the right thing in calling the ambulance again and telling them where to go because I'd look at all the signs around me. I was worried I might be interfering calling again but the more accurate the information I could give the quicker the services can respond. I should have asked for more info from the runner before I rushed off though, as I was unable to answer all the ambulance call centre questions. Easier to think that in retrospect of course.

My thoughts and condolences are currently with the family of this mountain biker, who ever he was, I'll probably never know.