He was biking with a friend to raise awareness of and funds for
cancer research
Gilroy resident Michael Henry Mathiasen, who was biking cross-country to help raise awareness for cancer, died Tuesday from a heart attack just east of Eugene, Ore. while crossing over the Cascade Mountains. He was 59.
Tuesday afternoon, the fifth day into the trip, Mathiasen was en route from Leaburg, Ore., where he had spent July 4. He was crossing Sam Tiam Pass in Sweet Home, Ore. when he suffered a heart attack on his bike. Mathiasen’s riding partner for the trip and long-time friend Bill Pritchard of Alameda, a slower rider, had set out the night before on the same route and was not with Mathiasen at the time of the incident.
An acquaintance Mathiasen had stayed with July 4 found Mathiasen still alive, but attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 1pm. Mathiasen had no history of heart problems.
Mathiasen and Pritchard, seasoned bikers who made a similar cross-country trip in 2001 through the South, dubbed themselves the “Biking Vikings” and were riding to raise money for cancer research because Mathiasen’s wife Kathy is a cancer survivor with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The two were chronicling their 4,300-mile journey and trying to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through their Web site, www.bikingvikingsforacure.com. Mathiasen and Pritchard, both retired, started in Cape Blanco, Ore. and planned to finish the trip in mid-September in Quoddy Head, Maine.
