Day 17 - Redemption

Day 17 started at Exit 78 off the I10 where we had an early finish the day before because of the bad weather. On the ride back to the exit there was a lot of uncertainty about what the day would bring. The forecast called for more wind but we had no idea which direction it would be coming from. As we started out it became very apparent that today the wind was our friend. It only took a hour and forty minutes to make up the thirty miles we had lost the day before. At that point we decided to try and make it to the city of Van Horn which would have put us at 63 miles for the day. The roads were smooth and the wind stayed at our backs to Van Horn. We stopped there for our lunch break and were still feeling pretty fresh so we decided to ride another hour. At the end of the hour we realized that it would be possible to accomplish the century (100 miles) we weren't able to finish last week. We knew the century was possible but it was going to be hard because we had already climbed 1600 ft and ridden 63 miles but we charged on. Things fell in our favor unlike last Thursday and we finished the century on Highway 118 in Kent, TX. This was a first ever for Jimmy and it was a goal we set when planning the ride. We both felt redeemed after missing the century last week and the having to stop short yesterday because of weather. This was a very emotional moment for Jimmy because a year ago he could only ride a stationary bike for a total of 15 minutes and today he rode 100 miles and climbed over 2400 feet in 5 hours and 17 seconds!!!

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down