Several days ago I saw a post on the River City Bicycles Instagram account that showed all the employees receiving CPR training. At the time, I didn’t think much of it — other than noting what it says about shop owner Dave Guettler and his commitment to having a well-trained staff. River City is a Portland institution, one of the best bike shops in America, and Dave is its beloved leader.
Then through the grapevine I began to hear about a recent heart attack Dave suffered while on a ride. I figured I’d get the full story soon enough, but then yesterday, a press release from the American Heart Association dropped into my inbox. “It was supposed to be an ordinary Sunday bike ride,” the press release begins. Here’s more about what happened:
“Dave Guettler and Tia Sherry, owners of River City Bicycles, had pedaled nearly 25 miles into Oregon’s scenic Gorge, chatting about lunch plans and soaking in the beauty of quiet country roads lined with towering trees and fields. For two lifelong cyclists, this was bliss.
Then, in an instant, everything changed.
Dave’s bike began to drift left. At first, Tia thought he was pulling over for a break. But then he went off the road into a ditch and somersaulted over a six-foot wire fence, landing in a cow pasture. When Tia finally reached him after clawing her way over the fence, Dave was gray, his lips blue, his eyes rolled back. He wasn’t breathing. He had no pulse.”
Thank god Tia (a former co-director of The Street Trust) was there and was trained in CPR! Dave is out of the hospital and on the road to recovery (it’s his second trip to the ICU from a bike crash since his run-in with a truck driver on NE Sandy back in 2023). And in typical Dave fashion, he set up a training for 75 employees and friends recently at River City Bicycles.
“We want everyone to learn CPR,” Dave told the American Heart Association. “If Tia hadn’t known what to do, I wouldn’t be here.”
Read more via the American Heart Association.