Ishbel Holmes, also known as World Bike Girl, a Scottish-Iranian woman became a champion racing cyclist in spite of having been abandoned by her family. At just 16, Holmes was put into foster care, at 17 she was homeless. A key worker told her she would always be in the gutter and that was when she decided things had to change. She started cycling. Holmes was determined to cycle the world but her journey took a completely unexpected turn when, despite her initial instincts not to, she rescued a street dog in Turkey. Ishbel was lost and alone when she started on her epic trip, but in Lucy found a companionship never previously known. Between the two there formed a deep bond and their relationship was followed and supported by thousands of readers online, before becoming a media sensation overnight when Ishbel put out a plea for help to transport Lucy to an animal shelter three hundred miles away.