After finishing a recent cycling race in North Carolina, Sarah Arant hopped back on her bike for a cool-down ride around the park. That’s when she noticed a tiny black kitten crouched in a bush, all alone.
At first, Arant assumed the little one belonged to someone nearby. She asked around, but no one claimed her.
A groundskeeper explained that, sadly, people often abandon unwanted pets in the area. The thought of this helpless kitten being left behind broke Arant’s heart.
Determined not to leave her, Arant scooped up the kitten. But there was a challenge — Arant lives in a van with two dogs, and she wasn’t sure she could provide the perfect long-term home.
So she decided to show the kitten around the race grounds in hopes of finding someone who could.
Her only problem? Transporting the kitten by bike.
“I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s go for a little bike ride,’” Arant told The Dodo. “The only way was to tuck her into my jersey.”
Arant worried the kitten wouldn’t enjoy the ride — but to her surprise, the moment she started pedaling, the little cat curled up against her and began to purr. Every time Arant stopped, the kitten meowed in protest, eager to keep moving.
“She was just cuddling in and purring,” Arant said. “I actually think she was enjoying it.”
The unlikely duo biked around together while Arant asked people if they’d consider giving the kitten a home.
Before long, a man approached and offered to foster her with his wife while Arant continued her search for a permanent family.
But the fostering didn’t last long.
“Probably within an hour of him taking the kitten home, he texted me and said, ‘Yeah, so this was a foster fail,’” Arant recalled with a smile.
The kitten, now named Ryder, had already won over her new family — and her new cat siblings. She settled right in, proving to be just as adventurous and easygoing as she seemed on that first bike ride.
“I had no doubt in my mind,” Arant said. “She was just such a cool cat — always down for anything, always down for a good time.”
From a bush on the side of the park to the comfort of a forever home, Ryder’s story shows that sometimes, the right ride leads you exactly where you’re meant to be.
