A 62-year-old man is recovering after suffering a heart attack during Wednesday's RAGBRAI route and being helped by fellow riders.
Medics told the Iowa State Patrol the Washington state man would not have survived if not for automated external defibrillators used by a trooper,Sgt. Nathan Ludwig said. He was on the route about 15 miles northwest of Centerville.
A group of firefighters on the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa saw the man go down and quickly performed CPR. He was alert and talking by the time he was flown northfor treatment, Ludwig said.
"Trooper Bob Conrad was able to activate his AED and successfully get a pulse on the man," Ludwig wrote in a text message.
The man was taken to a hospital in Centerville by ambulance and then transported by helicopter to a Des Moines hospital.