My birthday...like most other folks with birthdays...I wanted two things, gifts and some excitement. My lovely Amanda took care of the gifts part and even treated me to a flick, 30 Days of Night, which was pretty good...and gorey.

Excitement would come in the form of a mountain bike ride I had arranged for that weekend. I gathered up as many willing riders as I could from the mountain bike club and beyond and set off on an epic 40 mile ride on Iron Mountain.

The excitement ususally comes late in a ride on Iron Mtn. since there is a whole lot of hike-a-bike climbing, but the anticipation of rocky descents, lung busting climbs and possible mechanical and/or physical failure was replaced by a horse on the trail. About 3 miles into the ride, I and three riders behind me, noticed everyone up ahead were stopped at the crest of a hill. These spots are usually ideal for garnering speed to bomb the short downhills that lie ahead, but instead became a bird's eye viewing point of my buddy Nate and his newfound, and lost, riding partner....a horse. Although not completely out of the ordinary since there are lots of horseback riders on Iron Mtn, but odd that there was no rider or saddle on this lil' lady.

After a few minutes of getting to know our new friend, we decided to see if we could lead her to the nearest fire road and contact someone and let them know that we had found her. With the first pedal stroke, she got into line and joined our pack for several miles. She was a bit spooked at first and kept her eye on those of us behind her as she trotted briskly along the trail, but soon grew accustomed to the sound of our rattling chains and uphill grunts.

She eventually made her way between the rider up front and the rest of us, so for what seemed like days, she set the pace for the next few miles...a very, very, very slow pace. Nate, who was way out front became concerned when we hadn't shown up for quite some time at the next trail intersection, so he decided to double back and check on the rest of us. At this time, I was the third rider back from the horse, which Bob, right behind her, was following very closely. As Nate and the horse met up around a turn, she was surprised and rared up just like they do in the movies. Bob did his best martial arts monkey roll off the side of his bike and down the hill and the horse bolted up into the woods. She still followed us after that, but stayed in the back.

We made it to the trail intersection and had cell service, so Nate was designated as the caller. The 911 operator informed us that someone had in fact been looking for her and that her name was Lollipop. We agreed to bring Lollipop to the fire road and await someone to pick her up, but in true, I don't want to go home or be found fashion, she bolted on us when we learned her name and never got her to the road.

So, wherever you are Lollipop, I hope your safe.