But before that bike ride was over, Sarah Uhlenhopp's determined fiancé had found the ring, and the pair were married the following day.

The story started four years ago when Kevin Boldt, a sheriff's deputy, met Uhlenhopp while training for the Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

Cycling was a shared love for the pair, and the 2013 ride was their fifth together. They planned to get married near the end of the ride, during a stop at a church in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

"We ride together a lot," Boldt said. "What better to do than get married on RAGBRAI?"

But on the eve of the wedding, about halfway through the 7-day, 468-mile ride, Uhlenhopp took off her engagement ring so she could apply sunscreen. She tucked the ring into the elastic band of her bicycle shorts and continued to ride. At some point, she lost the ring.

When Uhlenhopp and Boldt figured out the ring was lost, they reported it to the Iowa State Patrol. The couple believed the ring had been lost near Monroe, Iowa, and so a local sheriff’s deputy gave Boldt a ride there to search for it.

Boldt walked along the highway, in the hopes of finding the ring before the couple's wedding the next day.

"I walked probably about three miles," Boldt said. He then turned around and started walking in the other direction.

By this time, other bikers had begun to stop. They offered to help him search.

"I was out there for probably four hours," Boldt said. Then, just when he was about to give up, he heard someone call out, "We found it!"

"I couldn't believe it," Boldt said.

Upon Boldt's triumphant return, he offered Uhlenhoppthe ring once again.

"I got to propose to her a second time," Boldt said. "She was very happy, and obviously, she accepted."

The next day, the two continued on the ride and were married in Oskaloosa.