Cyclist dies on Blue Ridge Parkway south of Asheville; medical emergency suspected

A cyclist died May 4 while riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Asheville, according to a news release by the National Park Service.

The Parkway Communications Center received a report at about 3 p.m. of a cyclist in a medical emergency, near Milepost 430, north of Richland Balsam, which is near the Haywood-Jackson county line, the highest point on the parkway at just over 6,000 feet elevation.

"National Park Service law enforcement rangers and area first responders arrived to find one male in cardiac arrest. Stewart Parsons, 65, of Midhurst, Ontario, Canada, was pronounced deceased on scene by responding EMS personnel," the release said.

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Parsons was cycling with a group at the end of the rider line when he fell to the road shoulder. Motorists came to his aid and administered CPR until medics arrived.

The parkway winds and curves along some of the highest peaks in the Eastern United States, stretching 469 miles from its start at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, passing through Asheville, and ending at the entrance to the Great Smokies in Cherokee.

It is is the most visited unit of the National Park Service, with some 15.7 million visitors in 2022.

Parkway spokesperson Leesa Brandon previously told the Citizen Times there were 13 deaths on the parkway last year, most attributed to suicide and motor vehicle accidents.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Cyclist dies on Blue Ridge Parkway; medical emergency suspected