Seems mountain bikers don’t just help out equestrians. Check out this story from Keith about how on a recent ride the group helped reunite Diesel the doberman with his owner Herb.
Last week as we started our ride at the transmission tower we found out about a lost dog (phone number on collar, Doberman, no mention of friendly, if you find him please call) and we said we would keep our eyes open and took the cell phone with us.As we rode through the fence into Walker Woods and headed south who should we see but a Doberman all by himself trotting towards us. For whatever reason he seamed comfortable enough around the three of us that we could get his phone number off his collar and contact his people. Soon we discovered that spare tubes make great dog leashes and we convinced Diesel to walk with us out to the concession road and the reunion. Another rider rode past us (Lapdogs jersey, not making that one up) on the way out who had been keeping his eyes out for Diesel too so there were a few of us mountain bikers were looking out for him.We reunited Diesel with Herb about an hour before dark which was great news. It turns out Diesel had been lost for 7 hours after he ran off after a deer and hadn’t eaten before his morning run. Herb was really worried about coyotes and his dog spending a night alone in the forest and was obviously happy to have his dog back and warm in his own house that night.
“Remember kids mountain bikers don’t just ride bikes on dirt, they’re nice people too.”
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Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThe above narrative prompted me to recount my own story of my first ride in Durham Forest.
You guys are a great bunch!!! I wanted to post a thank you to all the riders who helped me find my 10 year old son 3 weeks ago on a Wed night ride (Sept. 8th). David and I are completely new to mountain biking (we are both roadies that have discovered the absolute joy of riding dirt) and this was our first foray into Durham Forest. I came prepared with a compass, and a map-tacked map of the trails, after reading reports of how easy it was to get lost in the extensive trail network. We had a great 2 hour ride and were starting to head back to the parking lot when we decided to check out the dunes area at the north end of the Forest. I was going hard up a dune and stopped to rest behind an island of trees near the top of the dune. David was behind me but did not see me go on the other side of the trees and continued down a path that went off the dune thinking I had gone that direction. After waiting for him I retraced my path in the direction where I had last seen him but he was no where to be found. At this time it was about 6:20 and starting to get dark as it was an overcast night. Initially I started yelling out his name but quickly realized with the undulating terrain that this was futile. I can’t describe the feeling of helplessness I felt at that moment. I had spoken to David on our previous ride and mentioned that if we ever got split up that we were to meet at the last place that we had been together. He did not do this…
I decided that my best course of action was to head to the parking lot in the hopes that he would be able to find his way there. Of course when I arrived at the parking lot he was no where to be found. What I did find was a group of 20 or so riders that were just assembling for a group ride. When I asked them to help me locate my 10 year old son, there was no hesitation and they split into groups of 2’s and 3’s armed with cell phones and scattered into different directions to help me find David.
I can’t tell you how relieved I was to have this group of willing helpers to try to find Dave and about 15-20 minutes later one of the guys in the group located him cycling down a path. Dave was a little shaken up and we both learned a very valuable lesson that day. We are now sporting whistles on our Camelbaks but more importantly are much more aware of how easy it is to get separated out on the trails. David was only gone about 40 minutes but I can truthfully say that those were the longest 40 minutes of my life.
I can’t thank you guys and gals enough. I am not sure what I would have done if you had not been there to help and your willingness to spring to action at the expense of your group ride was truly impressive. Sorry to have messed up your ride that night!
I owe those of you there that night a debt of gratitude and thank the good Lord that he brought me a pack of 20 angels to help find David.
David and I will be joining your ranks next year and intend to sign up as members of the DMBA.
Many thanks!
Garry B.