Monday, June 10th, 2013 @ 2:10AM

Total Time: 5:15 (About 7 hours total)
Miles: 75
Status: Completed

Today officially kicked off Journey of Hope. After nearly a year of anticipating this event, I was finally able to kick off and cycle through the Golden Gate Bridge. How could this disappoint? Well, there were some problems at the jump. The Golden Gate Bridge was very windy which makes the atmosphere chilly. To top it off It was also drizzling a little bit as well so me and my brothers were freezing. When it comes to the cold, I am not happy at all.

With all said and done, passing through the Golden Gate Bridge along with 27 other cyclists I felt a sense of pride and relief that we are all finally here and we will conquer this trip. By the time we were all at the end of the bridge, everyone was excited and other individuals were going to say their final goodbyes to their parents.

Going into the ride we learned that nobody in the North route was able to finish Day 1 in 6 years. That and being informed that we have to be at certain mile points at certain times (or we will be racked for the day) only helped motivate me to finish today.

The highlight of the ride today was that we all encountered many hills and they were physically demanding. The hills and other variables like cycling for 75 miles took a lot since many of us never cycled that amount or rode hills before. After yesterday???s ride, and seeing some of the hills??? I felt fairly confident that I can go through these hills today no problem. I really want to shoot myself in the foot for being naive. The hills today were a little steeper and a little longer so there there stretches of 5-10 minutes where I felt like dying since I was on my lowest gear. But the feeling of hitting the peak of the hills and picking up speed going downhill was receiving. The pains are only temporary. That???s what I kept telling myself and it helped me push through.

Descending down these hills also got me scared at times because the roads were constantly swerving and giardraills were not present most of the time. Also the control going downhill was difficult so feathering the breaks was a must.

The daily ride had us cycling in the city as well as going through the countryside. Again, this was a good opportunity for pictures taken but my camera died before I could do it. All I can say is that the countryside is very beautiful and I was able to ride througtttreeh the country, farmlands, and vineyards.

Another conflict that my hamstring got really tight on 2 occasions. After stretching, I felt fina and continued cycling

Overall, the kickoff was a success since we? made history by finishing today???s rou?? for the first time in 6 years. My body feels refreshed and not fatigued.

Afterwords we went to a park in Napa where there a was a cookout for an adult league softball league for people with disabilities. The food was fantastic and many of us were able to play volleyball with them and they were actually good. That and the basketball game on Day 2 for our first friendship visit, their abilities have to be recognized because they can do amazing things and quitting is not an option for them. Observing their mentality, their eagerness on introducing themselves to strangers, and having an optimistic mindset only serves as a rule of thumb on how I should tackle life. For the second visit, it was pretty fun.

Tomorrow is going to be a 60 mile day to Sacramento. I will do my best to take pictures of the scenery from here on out.

Ps: I???m really tired so there???s a lot of careless errors. I???ll might fix that later.

Posted by Reggie Quaye
Categories: Journey of Hope, Philanthropy