Sarasota deputies track down 'grateful, sorry' wayward cyclist

SARASOTA (FOX 13) - Ray Bouchard doesn't let obstacles get in his way.  He's a runner, a hiker, an avid outdoorsman and he does it all while battling arthritis.

"It's always harder and that's what makes it special for me," he said. "I like to show what people can do with arthritis.”

Thursday afternoon proved to be a bigger challenge than he expected.  He decided to hit the trails of Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County. With 90 miles of trails and more than 24,000 acres of untouched land it's a good place to get away from it all – in fact, a runner took a wrong turn at the reserve back in 2016 and was lost for nearly 12 hours after veering seven miles off her course. 

"I started just staying on the trail I was on and following it, which turned out to be a fairly long trail," Bouchard said.

After he passed the 13-mile mark, he figured he had made some wrong turns.  So he kept peddling and peddling. 

"I just tried to logically pick my way through it and follow a direction," he recalled.  "I just kept pushing my way through.”

After four hours of peddling and nearly 45 miles logged, he realized he was very lost. Worse, all of his water was gone and his cell phone battery was down to nothing. He spotted some power lines to use as a landmark and called 911 for help. 

"I felt really bad at that point. I didn't want people looking for me in the dark," he said. 

Shortly after that call, Sarasota deputies in Air 1 located Bouchard. 

"I kind of made some shade on my bike with a shirt that I had and some other things. I was kind of hunkered in that shade," he recalled. 

It took only minutes to spot his makeshift shelter and deputies on the ground were able to zero in on him. 

"This is what we are do. We are first responders,” said Caitlin Perez with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.  “We are humbled we had the opportunity to meet him and rescue him. Had we not responded when we did this could have had a different outcome.”

Bouchard feels nothing but gratitude for the help. 

"I'm very grateful, I'm very sorry I put them through it. I used those resources. It started out as a really good day, turned into a bad day and ended like a good day again."