She’s a little daredevil 😍
A few weeks ago, after finishing a cycling race in North Carolina, Sarah Arant was cooling down with a casual ride around the park when something caught her eye — a tiny black kitten peeking out from a bush.
At first, Arant assumed the kitten might belong to a nearby resident. But after asking around, it became clear the little one had been left behind. The park’s groundskeeper confirmed her worst fear: animals are often abandoned in the area. Arant’s heart sank at the thought of someone leaving such a small, helpless kitten alone.
While she desperately wanted to help, Arant wasn’t sure she could provide the right home. She lives in a van with her two dogs and wasn’t confident it would be the best setup for a young kitten. Still, she couldn’t just walk away — so she came up with a creative plan.
“I thought, ‘Let’s go for a ride,’” Arant told The Dodo. With no carrier, her only option was to tuck the kitten inside her cycling jersey. She zipped her in gently and began pedaling, prepared to stop immediately if the kitten showed signs of distress.
But to Arant’s surprise, the kitten didn’t resist — she started purring. “Anytime I zipped her up and started biking, she’d just cuddle in and purr,” Arant said. “She was clearly loving it.”
In fact, the kitten seemed so enthusiastic about biking that she’d start meowing whenever Arant came to a stop. “She was like, ‘Let’s go again!’” Arant laughed.
As she cycled around the race area, Arant introduced the kitten to anyone who might be interested in adopting her. “I was just biking around saying, ‘Anyone want a kitten? She loves riding bikes!’”
Eventually, a man approached her and offered to foster the kitten while Arant searched for a permanent home. She gratefully agreed — but it didn’t take long before she got a follow-up message. “Probably an hour after he took her home, he texted me saying, ‘Yeah, this was definitely a foster fail,’” Arant recalled.
The kitten had clearly found her forever family.
Her new humans named her Ryder — a fitting tribute to her love of adventure. Ryder quickly adjusted to her new home and has been bonding with her feline siblings ever since. Arant, of course, wasn’t surprised. “I knew she’d be fine,” she said. “She was just such a cool little cat — totally up for anything, just along for the ride.”