Friday, June 21st, 2013 @ 9:29PM

Total Time: 6:47.57 (About 8 hours total)
Miles: 100.59 miles
Avg Speed: 14.7 mph
Max Speed: 33.1 mph
3 days without a flat tire
8 flat tires in
Status: Completed

We originally had a 97 mile day for today???s ride but yesterday our project manager asked if anybody was interested in cycling 2 miles up and down a hill to give us another century day to cycle. I raised my hand based on a leadership meeting we had prior. After raising my hand I felt I made a huge mistake.

The ride started with all the cyclists moving toward NV for the 4 extra miles then they all went 7 miles toUtah. Upon arrival all the cyclists began to take pictures on the Utah state billboard. I took a couple and it was a great feeling to go through another state as well as go through a different time zone. Its crazy because I was getting used to Pacific time and being 3 hours away from my family. I guess I have a better opportunity to call them now.

I digressed so I???ll return to the commentary of the ride. For the most part, the ride was standard route 50 ordeal. Only desert, seeing the same types of mountains, going through passes, fairly decent descent, road kill. Going through this road since leaving Carson City begins to be really tedious and it affected me and some other cyclists mentally. To add on to the boredom, we all had to cycle 100 miles and there were no cities between the terrain we road through.

The ride today was one of the rides which I personally was not too pleased on. I felt like I slowed my pace line down and I feel terrible on that. In addition my pains on my lower back and right tendon became worse and more frequent. With the lower back, there was a cold tingling sensation on my left leg and I had trouble lifting up the leg when I rode as if I was pulling dead weight. With the tendon there were to we I could not bend my knee fully. Cycling through the pain and having the fear of damaging my leg even more clouded my mind and I wanted to be safe but not quit at the same time. I could not quit because there was one guy on my team who does as much as he could with a broken pelvis. That???s a trooper right there. I believe this trip truly builds character for all of the members of the team if they set their mind to this and I am doing my best to become an example of these changes.

Over time my lower back stopped being a problem but mentally I feared that it would return and wanted the ride to finish. 3/4 in felt like forever. Eventually we arrived to Delta and it was a relaxing feeling. We finally finished and the team got food at a Mexican Restaurant. The food was phenomenal and I also got a chance to watch a little bit of Game 7 since I couldn???t watch tv since starting JOH. The day ended with a Carwash and it was pretty funny because we were doing a bad job.

The next 2 days will be 80 miles and then a 60 mile and then we will finally have another day off. Cycling all these days has truly been a challenge both physically and mentally and I cannot stress that any more.

Posted by Reggie Quaye
Categories: Journey of Hope, Philanthropy