The Blogger

Five doctors and a practical nurse couldn’t save him, that’s what I heard this morning. I was bicycling in the park, before work. Finishing up my miles, I was doing one more Muny mile before I headed home. Another cyclist passed me then he paused and coasted back to me.

“Is that Mark”, he asked? I assented, though I did not know his name. My residual fame is a legacy of riding all winter long for many years. It causes one to standout among a crowd of winter runners. With concern he asked, “I don’t see you riding in the mornings much anymore?”

“I mostly ride with my wife now-a-days and she’s not a morning person”, I lamely explained.

“Well, that’s a good thing, riding with your wife”, he said not really buying it.

Then he laid his bombshell on me, “I saw a man die in the park here on Saturday. He was riding up Skinker Avenue on a bike like yours, only not quite so nice.” [I kid you not, but that is what he said.] “He had a seizure and collapsed. There were five doctors and a practical nurse there trying to revive him, but he died in the fifteen minutes it took the ambulance to arrive.” [If he had had a better bike, he might have lived?]

Speechless, I could only manage an “uh” in reply.

Having unburdened himself of his news he decided then to depart. “I gotta go now, Mark”, he said as he kicked up his pace, “Have a nice day!” 🙂