ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A leisurely bike ride through the bosque trails turned into a near-death experience for one man.

“We actually saw him, kind of, collapse,” said Dr. Brandon Behrens.

It all went down during an event celebrating the Day of the Dead.

“We all kind of checked him out, and we’re like ‘Oh, like this does not look good,’” said Kelsey Turk, a nurse practitioner. 

Last weekend, the Day of the Dead had cyclists dressing up for the Day of the Tread – a miles-long ride.

For cyclists Brandi Thompson, Kelsey Turk, and Dr. Brandon Beherns this was a first.

“If you’re a mechanic, and you see somebody with a flat tire, you pull over and help out. Well, we’re emergency medicine people. So we saw somebody having – maybe – a medical emergency. So, we pulled over to see what happened,” said Thompson. 

All three are UNM hospital medical professionals. 

“Dr. Beherns, our colleague, was there trying to get a pulse,” Thompson said.

“We knew that his heart wasn’t pumping blood,” said Beherns.

“It’s great that there were so many of us that recognized, you know, somebody in distress knew, like, what to do,” said Turk.

They took turns doing CPR on a downed cyclist for nearly 15 minutes until first responders could show up with an AED. 

“I just got to thank him from the bottom of my heart, because it’s still beatin’ now,” said Nicholas Juskiewicz, a cyclist.

Juskiewicz’s heart is beating again.

“How do you even go about saying ‘Thank you?'” said Juskiewicz.

The CPR kept blood pumping and oxygen flowing to his brain – saving his life. Beherns got thanked personally.

“Thank you, so much!” Juskiewicz said. “You see, bike riders take care of each other.” 

Escaping with his life, Juskiewicz was still a little bummed his Day of the Tread jersey got cut off him.

“You know they got this nice zipper right down the front, and I said ‘Well, just unzip me!” said Juskiewicz. 

Surprised with a brand-new replacement jersey, Juskiewicz is humbled.

“I don’t think it’s the greatest story in the world, but I’m happy,” Juskiewicz said.

The three say what they did was not remarkable, anybody with CPR training can save a life.

“He gets to continue riding his bike and that’s what it’s all about,” said Thompson.