Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 @ 6:04PM

Total Time: 5:59.11(About 7 hours total)
Miles: 79.39
Avg Speed: 13.2 mph
Max Speed: 40.1 mph
2 days without a flat tire
8 flat tires in
Status: Completed

Woke up quick, at about 6, had to go and follow my daily fix/ I had to pack up before 6:30 or my project manager will punish me. That was terrible, kind of like how I began my ride this morning. The ride began with going up a summit and this was not fun since all the cyclists were still waking up. The climb to the first summit lasted about 3 miles and that took the team about a half hour to complete. Going downhill was great and that lasted about 8 miles. Even though we were technically still suppose to be in the desert, there was a lot of trees and vegetation growing that made the scenery feel somewhat like home (minus the highway signs, multiple roads and buildings). Too bad that terrain was short lived and I went back to viewing the dull scenery I was accustomed to for four days.

I pretty much had a better ride today than yesterday but thus ride had its fair share of struggles:
1) lower back was killing me and was close to locking out multiple times
2) headwinds
3) the steady climbs on the summits were tedious
4) feeling a strong tightness in my inner calves and knees
One thing that JOH has humbled me with was the fact that I will be in so much pain and I will have to fight through them and overcome. Everyone in JOH is experiencing the same hardships, some even worse. But we all have to use our abilities to overcome this. This did not really hit me until i was in so much pain in this ride until I looked at my right shoulder: abilities, teamwork, 2 of the 4 pillars that is part of Push America. This really motivated me and I had a surge of energy which gave me tons of strength towards the end of the ride.

The bigger moments of the ride were when my pace line had to go through the third and fourth summits. I led the third one and my lower back was in so much pain. Fighting through it was a struggle but the end result was really special. My team was able to push each other to complete the goal. The 4th summit had to be passed at a certain time or my pace line would be racked. We fought long and hard and eventually accomplished passing the summit by minutes. Afterwords, the terrain was flat but the crosswinds and headwinds were fierce. They made us expend way too much energy so there was another challenge in that.

When approaching Ely I was pleased to see an old mining area and entering a town that was not only flat, but also looked somewhat like an actual city. I never been so pleased to see a McDonalds on the road. Lodging was at another High School (why do all these high schools we visit look better than MHS?) and we later got tacos by the student council. The night ended with some of the team seeing Man of Steel and it was a decent movie. 7 bucks for a ticket and 3 bucks for popcorn with free refills I really can???t complain.

Now its time to prepare for one final full ride in Nevada.

Posted by Reggie Quaye
Categories: Journey of Hope, Philanthropy