The stings from the ant bites didn’t feel so bad at all! I was laying down on top of an anthill and I didn’t even realize it. The chest pain was so bad that my only thought was how the 911 crew could get to me on time when I’m in the middle of a mountain bike trail! I was thinking, I’m having a brush with death!

It was after I celebrated my 55th birthday that I started feeling old. People told me that I sound ridiculous whenever I expressed this feeling out loud. They say that I am too young to be feeling old. It may just be the feeling of my unhealthy living. I was at that time overweight, ate poorly and didn’t exercise regularly. I knew that I had to do something about it.

Riding the bike was an easy exercise choice for me. It was, after all, something I enjoyed doing since I was in high school. My trusty, steel framed bicycle took me to places where I enjoyed hanging out with friends or where I can spend time alone by the beach. The choice of buying a mountain bike was born from the fear of riding down a roadway while sharing it with the heavy vehicles of traffic. I still don’t consider the motorists here as bike friendly enough and would rather bike the less motored trails.

The late afternoon sun on my face was warm despite the successive 100+ Fahrenheit/37 Centigrade weather for the past few days. I was early at the trailhead and biked around the parking lot to warm up. Soon, the others arrived and we even met a new rider. We rode down the trail at a brisk pace but just enough to exhilarate. The rest stops were uneventful until we reached the 1.7 mile/2.7 kilometer point. There, the chest pain burned through the middle of the chest and radiated to the neck and jaw area. I laid myself on the ground to mitigate the circumstance and to keep myself safe.

It’s difficult when one has accumulated enough knowledge to be aware when something critical is happening. Thinking ceases and reflex kicks in automatically. It’s like seeing a picture of a computer screen running through the start up script! Timely actions and clear minds brought about a good outcome to a grave situation. I will be forever grateful to my good friend Jay and the others, Jet and Mel, who stayed with me! My brush with death remained as it was and not with a handshake.

All photographs were taken from JJ Cruz‘s phone.