In addition to being cycling friends, these two fellows share a special bond due to a serious cycling accident.  

Matt grew up in Tucson and attend the University of Arizona.  His current profession involves the sale of medical products.  Not a cyclist as a young man, he started his mountain biking in 1995 and took up road riding in 2009.  

Dr. Lonnie Loutzenhiser is a spine and neurosurgeon, originally from Ohio, who practices at Panorama Orthopedics in Golden.  The two had coincidentally met when both happened to be on a trip to the College World Series on Omaha, Nebraska. They had become friends and cycling companions prior to the following.  

On a mountain bike outing on the Government Trail from Aspen with other friends, Matt was coaxed into riding the single track trail.  When he did not join his companions after a period of time, they tried to call his cell phone.  He did not answer because he had taken a header over his handlebars and crashed head-first into a rock.  The only movement that he could even manage as he lay on the trail was curling a couple fingers.  Fortunately after “the longest twenty minutes of my life”, other cyclists found him and called for emergency assistance.

The video showing his crash and recovery is documented for you by entering https://vimeo.com/382539919 in your browser.  For me, it is the one of the worst cycling wrecks (right up there with what happened to Greg Johnson recently) that I have heard about.   Dr. Loutzenhiser even shows emotion when he thinks back that his friend could have been quadriplegic for the rest of his life had it not been for the surgical attention that Matt received from his neurosurgeon/cycling companion.  

The video speaks for itself.  I certainly recommend that you watch it more than once.