Miles For Miracles

Day 57 Palatka to Daytona "Finish Line"

2011-04-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Today will be the last day of our trip. We are leaving from Palatka and riding a short day of 47 miles into Daytona. There are a lot of emotions floating around this morning. We are all so very happy to reach the end of the ride but there is another part of us all that will miss the bus we have lived on the past 57 days. We will miss pleasure to ride our bikes everyday all day. We will miss our crew that has made this all happen up until now. I don't think that we could have made it this far without each and everyone of us. So there is a lot on our minds this morning. The ride was slow because we couldn't get there early. We were supposed to be at the track at 3 for the news. This was good. It afforded us a lot of time to talk about the day and tell each other how we were feeling. The main things that we had been talking about up until this point weren't even a factor today. There was no wind, it wasn't very hot, the roads were smooth, and we didn't need to ask the girls about the GPS. Haha inside joke. The day passed in a blink of an eye. When we saw the Welcome to Daytona sign we knew we were there. All we had to do at that point was take a lap around the track and get some pic's in Victory Lane. This would be the icing on the cake for our long and very hard trip. Jimmy's face lit up as we went through the tunnel and onto the track. Besides some reporters we were the only people there. It was amazing. without him knowing it we all let Jimmy take off on his own to cross the finish by himself because this was his day to shine. He has worked harder than anyone on this trip. He has also amazed everyone here with his drive to push through pain. For those of you that weren't there aren't words to describe what has happen these past 57 days. With the three crashes and the surgery. A normal person would have packed it up and gone home a long time ago but Jimmy stayed and pushed himself everyday. There were a lot of days that I was in a lot of pain and I had no idea how he was still peddling a bike but he was. I have said it many times on this trip but Jimmy you are inspiring and you are my hero and my best friend. We have also used this T.S. Eliot quote before but I can't think of a better way to sum up the entire trip "Only those willing to risk going to far can possibly find out how far one can go". After the first day Jimmy told me that he truly thought that he was pushing himself to the point of possible death. He had never pushed himself that far past his comfort zone. He continued to push himself everyday on this trip and we all gave him everything we had to support him. There were so many amazing things that happen along the trip that will never make this blog but the bond that all of us traveling together have made will last a lifetime. We would like to thank all of you for helping and supporting us on our quest. Please continue to pass along the information about the site. We will continue to raise money for SCI Research and we will have a24 hour event in the last summer. Please check back and go to www.qualcomm24.com for more info. Thank you again for all that you have all done.

JB & Cory & Crew
Eastbound and Down/DONE!

Day 56 2 da Go

2011-04-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

This morning was a little questionable if Jimmy would be able to start the day but once again He rises to the occasion. It was a slow start while he struggled to get oxygen into his lungs. We rode pretty slow for the first half hour but then slowly started to speed it up from there. Jimmy was in a lot of pain but was hiding it well. We rode through Gainesville and headed southeast. Today the wind is gusting up to 30mph at times. So we have got to stay on our toes. We've only got today and tomorrow to go. So we decided to slow it down and take it easy for most of the day today. Big thanks to Jim, Red Dog, Billy, and Megan for all of the help today. At the end of the day we had ridden 67 miles and Jimmy is pretty beat up but we are ready to get to Daytona. If nothing else "Just to prove it to those guys that thought that Jimmy couldn't do it".

Day 55

2011-04-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today we were excited to get on the road because Tim "Red Dog" Ferry and Billy Wood were joining us. The road was supposed to be flat and the wind wasn't supposed to be very bad either. On mile 28 though the day would take a substantial change. Jimmy slowed down to take a drink and ended up riding into my back tire and crashing pretty hard. It seemed that the ride may be done with only two and a half days until Daytona. Jimmy was in a lot of pain from hitting the ground. He had scrapes on his hands, hip, and ribs. He has also broken another helmet. His elbow seems to be ok because he was wearing a skateboard elbow pad. We think he has cracked or broken ribs though. Much to all of our surprise Jimmy wantedto get back on the bike and ride. He is determined to finish this thing. Although the rest of the day would be ridden at a much slower pace we got it done. Jimmy is in a lot of pain and needs to have some wounds cleaned. He is in good spirits and hopefull about tomorrow. We will all go to bed tonight after we say a prayer for Jimmy. Jimmy & Cory East Bound & Down Crash Video: http://youtu.be/ivjm5Lp8Caw

Day 53-54 Time Catching Up...

2011-04-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

Day 53,
Today we woke up to Jimmy not feeling well. So it took us a little longer than usual to get started. We finally got on the road around around 1pm. We had to start out slow because Jimmy's stomach was upset which led to a lot of other issues with his body. We ended up stopping at a store in the middle on nowhere to get him some ginger ale to try and settle his stomach. After a 15 min break we got back on the road and JB slowly started to feel better. The good thing is it isn't as hot as it was the past few days. We got into Tallahassee around 5pm just in time for traffic. We are staying in the awesome Wal-Mart motor home park tonight. Let's hope Jimmy feels better tomorrow.

Day 54,
Today once again JB isn't feeling 100%. His back is pretty tight which threw his entire body into spasm. I worked on him for about an hour and he also took a warm shower to calm himself down. We finally got on the road about 1pm once again. We started out slow again today. The road out of Tallahassee is pretty hilly. Which is hurting his left hamstring. The good thing is the road is pretty smooth and it is a lot cooler today than yesterday. I saw a few snakes on the side of the road today and Jimmy didn't see any of them. Big E stopped us today to give us Jimmy's elbow pad because we grabbed the wrong one before we left. Jimmy was feeling tight and need to get started pretty quick but I had to do a nature break since the bus was there. It took about 5 minutes and JB was out of sight. Big E suggested that I draft behind the bus to catch back up. I said ok and I'm glad I did. It was a lot of fun because I was riding at 42 mph with little effort. Big E could see me on the camera as I motioned him to go faster. When we finally caught back up to Jimmy I. was peddling at 53.3 mph. That's pretty fast on a flat road. We were almost half way done around this time. We stopped for a quick break and got back on the road. After lunch Jimmy was finally feeling a bit better. So we picked up the pace on our way to Perry. We are excited to stay in a KOA tonight. We will have hook ups and maybe be able to do laundry. We ended up doing 60 miles today. Which is about 10 miles past the RV Park. Billy Wood and Red Dog are already there waiting on us to show up. They will be riding the last few days with us.

Day 52

2011-04-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

It rained pretty hard last night which worked out in our favor because it helped cool the temperature and humidity significantly. The road was straight and not very hilly. We only climbed about 500 feet which is a lot for Florida but not a lot compared to the last two months. The majority of the ride today was done on HWY 20 which except for one incident with a truck had much nicer drivers. We ended up doing 72 miles in just under 4 hours.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 51 "Bad Drivers"

2011-04-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today started out with a grudge match between Big E and Cory at Emerald Coast Dirt & Vert BMX track, where the RV has been parked for the last 3 days. Big E won!!!! After the friendly competition Jimmy had an interview with the NWF Daily News. We set off on to HWY 98 where we found nothing but hostile drivers that were obviously in a big hurry. We got swerved at, honked at, cut off, flipped off and cursed at more today than we have in the last 50 days. Although we had bad experiences with the drivers today we did encounter one of the prettiest beaches when we rode through Destin, FL. So far the 2 worst things about Florida are the drivers and the humidity, hopefully they both will be better tomorrow.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 49

2011-04-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

Robertsville, AL to Oriole, FL

We had an early start today even though we were up until 1:00 am trying to figure out why the LP gas detector alarm kept going off. We had a large group riding with us again today. The Charlotte group and Greg came back for another day and we also had Andre and Jody join us. The humidity played a big factor the day today. It was hard for Jimmy to regulate his temperature, we had to keep pouring water over his head to cool him down. The Florida state line sign was so small some of the group rode right past it, we had to back track to take our photo. Reaching this sign was so significant to the two of us, now we can say we rode bikes from California to Florida!!! We still have a week left but the end is in site!! We stopped for lunch at the bay park right before the three mile bridge in Pensacola. The shade and the breeze coming off the water was a welcomed change. After lunch we rode over the 3 mile bridge where there was an accident on the other side. This worked out to our advantage because the traffic was stopped on both sides which made it easy for us get across safely. As we came through Pensacola the drivers weren't as nice as we have experienced, we got a few fingers and a lot of horns. We reached the 54.5 mile mark to end the day. We are taking a much needed rest day tomorrow after riding 11 straight days. We are heading to Barber Motorsports Park to watch Jimmy's client, friend and fellow M4M rider race his Indy car. Go JR!

JB & Cory
East Bound

Day 48

2011-04-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

Grandbay, AL to Roberstville, AL

Today I was excited because we had a few new people join us on the ride. Actually they were some of my good friends from Charlotte, NC, Jared, Betsy, Billy, and Paul (Cory writing). Greg was also on the ride with us again today as well. The ride started about four miles past the Alabama state line at a gas station, which was the first debate of the day because Kristi said it was a Chevron Station and I thought it was a Shell Station. JB pulled into a Chevron Station that was the wrong one and Greg and I both said we weren't at the right spot. It was good for a laugh before we even got started. The first half of the day was easy going, the roads were pretty good and the wind wasn't a factor. It was a good time talking to the guys about home. We stopped at a park in downtown Mobile where Betsy was waiting for us. We enjoyed lunch across from the Marti Gras Museum. After lunch we had to pack up the bikes and drive through the tunnel. On the other side we got to ride across a causeway which had water on both sides of us. This specific causeway usually has lots of alligators in it but with the water being rough unfortunately we didn't see any. After the causeway the 90 headed inland and to our surprise there were a significant amount of steep hills. This ended up being pretty hard on some of the group. Aside from the heat and hill, the group did awesome! Thanks to all the guys for coming out to ride with us!!

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 47 - "Sweet Home Alabama"

2011-04-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

As we were getting ready to leave this morning we realized that Jimmy's carbon fiber handle bars were cracked. We had to change out his bars and re tape them before we could start the day. Today we had a rider join us, Greg Looney from Mobile, AL came out to support! We headed back toward the beach, as we got closer to the beach we realized the wind was once again going to be a problem. The wind was about 20-25 mph in our face. We stopped by Suzuki City in Biloxi, MS to say hi to Michael. Shortly after we left, the 90 headed inland and the wind wasn't as bad except for when we were exposed to it on the bridges. Although there was no climbing to speak of, the day was hard on Cory because of all of the wind. He even bonked and had to drink a coke to continue on. We had a very nice welcoming committee at the Alabama state line. Greg and Elaine Looney's family were waiting for us with a welcome sign and an American flag! We finished up about 5 miles past the state line with a total of 56 miles in 4 hours.

Big thanks to Greg & Elaine Looney, they have been so hospitable!! Plus they gave us Moon Pies, which the Chase Chicks especially liked!!

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 46 New Orleans to Long Beach, MS

2011-04-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

After we got out of the Big Easy we got to ride through the Upper Black Bayou today. The trees shaded the wind today which was nice. There were a lot of pretty cool old bridges as we came into Mississippi. We saw a huge dead Bore on the side of the road that JB and KB thought was a bear. :<)We saw some more gators today as well. The views were amazing as we rode into the beautiful beaches of Mississippi. We would have never known that it was so beautiful here had we not done this ride. The bus driver was stoked today because our campsite had a dock that was on a little pond.

JB and Cory

East Bound and Down

Day 45 Amelia to New Orleans "The Big Easy"

2011-04-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

Things are quite a bit drier today. I didn't think our stuff was going to dry in time to leave this morning but it did. We got to ride through a swamp today and we saw our first gator on the side of the road. The hills are all behind us now and we are hoping the roads stay as nice as the ones we saw today. The ride into New Orleans was pretty nice and we were all excited to be able to shower and sleep off the bus tonight. We had another awesome host family here in New Orleans that hooked us up with hotel rooms and took us to dinner. Thank you Justin, Bob, Melena, and Donna Hatcher, we really enjoyed meeting you guys. We also need to get you and the Newman's together. After dinner we all went to Cafe Du Monde with our friend Andy Harrington for some tasty treats. Stay safe brother. Then our bus driver took a late night trip to Wally World for some cart racing. The video may be on youtube.

JB and Cory

East Bound and Down

Day 44 Riding Dirty

2011-04-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

New Iberia, LA to Amelia, LA

We awoke to the sound of the howling wind and once again knew weather would play a big factor in our day. We made the decision last night to take the 138 to shield us from the wind. This ended up being a good decision because the roads were someone pothole free. For most of the day the wind was coming from the right front with an occasional dead wind. By taking the 138 we got to enjoy the beautiful plantation homes and other nice scenery. Jimmy's arm and back were feeling better today due to the fact that the road conditions were better. About half way through the day we started to get a slight mist which was welcoming because it cooled us down but the slight mist quickly turned into a complete downpour. We rode in the rain for approximately 2 hours until we finally got to the town of Amelia, LA. We rode a total of 61 miles and it felt great to get in a full days mileage again. Hopefully Jimmy's body will continue to and improve and we can continue to stay on track with our daily goals.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 42 & 43

2011-04-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

Day 42 Lake Charles, LA to Crowley, LA

Yesterday we started the morning with a TV interview with KPLC, the local NBC Affiliate in Lake Charles, LA. Then we got on the road with Chad Canter and headed out on the 90. The first few miles of the day started out a little rough but quickly turned into smooth flat roads. The weather was a hot and humid 85 degrees. Hello Louisiana!! We had a great time riding with Chad, it's always good to ride with a local. Jimmy's elbow felt a little better today but his back and hip were starting to bother him because of the way he has to compensate for his left arm on the bike. We ended the day in Crowley, LA at 50 miles. We are hoping to put in some longer days as Jimmy's arm continues to get better.

Day 43 Crowley, LA to New Iberia, LA

It didn't take long for us to realize that there was no escaping the heat as we got hit in the face with it the moment we stepped out of the RV. The wind once again would not be our friend. The roads were nothing like the roads we were on yesterday. Jimmy couldn't find a comfortable spot on the bike because of the rough roads. Every bump and hole in the road felt like he was getting stabbed in the elbow. We were stopping every hour for a short break and to ice the arm. He was also having trouble stabilizing his bike in the crosswinds because he needed to be able to put more weight on his hurt arm. This all played a factor in us only being able to ride 44 miles in 3. 5 hours. Once again we are hoping tomorrow is better than today.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 40 & 41 - Back on the Road

2011-04-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Liberty, TX to Beaumont, TX

Yesterday was the first day back on the road since the surgery. Emotions were very high for the whole crew. As Jimmy was getting ready to clip in, he said he was more scared at that moment than he was on the first day of ride. Jimmy was uneasy because he wasn't sure how the vibration of the road would be and the strength of his arm. He had only been on a stationary bike since the surgery, this moment became a true test if this ride would go on. He clipped in and headed to the road, Jimmy's pain level was high and his arm felt very weak. Before the ride we had decided not to set a specific mileage or time for the day, we would just see how far Jimmy could tolerate the pain. We took a small break at the 1 hour point and iced Jimmy's left arm, we had gone about 17 miles at this point. We re-wrapped the arm and put his Proctec elbow pad back on and set back out to see how much further we could push it. As we headed toward Beaumont the roads were smooth and the wind wasn't bad. Jimmy's pain level was still very high but he was able to ride one more hour. We ended the day at 43 miles in Beaumont Texas. This day was very hard on Jimmy both physically and emotionally.

Beaumont, TX to Lake Charles, LA

We had a really late start this morning, every part of Jimmy's body felt sore plus we had to say goodbye to what had become our second home and family. The whole crew was sad to be leaving the Newmann house hold but they were excited to finally be leaving the state of Texas! We felt like VIP as we started our ride through the city of Beaumont, Joe and Roxanne Newmann had set us up with a full police escort. This was very helpful as the police blocked every intersection which meant that Jimmy didn't have to clip out at every red light. After we made our way through town we headed back to the 90. We stopped in Orange for lunch and also to ice Jimmy's arm. Jimmy was feeling better than yesterday but still wasn't feeling good. Today was one of the hottest days of the trip so the large trees and shade came as a relief after our lunch break. After we crossed into Louisiana the roads got a little rougher than they had been and the pain in Jimmy's arm intensified and his right hip started to bother him as well. We ended our day in Lake Charles, LA at the L'Auberge Casino. Big thanks to Chad Cantor for arranging our RV site and dinner.

JB & Cory
Eastbound & Down Once Again

On the road again....

2011-03-31T07:26:00.000-07:00

Jimmy was just released from his doctor this afternoon and he will be flying back to Texas today. His plan is to get off the plane, drive to Liberty, Texas, where he fell, and ride into Beaumont, Texas. The ride will resume in Beaumont on Friday.

We are putting together a tentative schedule now and will have it out today after we see how Jimmy does from Liberty to Beaumont. He’s just not sure he can do 60 miles a day until he rides. He might have to cut back on the miles for the first few days to allow his arm to get stronger, but he should have a better idea once he rides.

We will be updating the schedule as soon as he finishes the ride today. Thanks for all the well wishes and continued support.

JB & Cory

East Bound & Down (Once again)

Day 30 - 33 “Houston-Liberty-Surgery”

2011-03-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

Day 30 started out as one of the most inspiring days we’ve had to date. James Marshall came out to ride with us for the first part of the day. For those of you who don’t know who James Marshall is, he was a young up and coming Supercross racer who also encountered a life changing spinal cord injury due to a crash at Qualcom Stadium in San Diego, CA. He gave an inspiring effort today. We were all so proud of him for coming out with us. Cory helped him some today by assisting him a bit. Cory couldn’t hold back his emotions either by his amazing effort put out. He found himself crying while riding behind him. This reminded us all what this journey is about and we all feel so privileged to be a part of the entire M4M project. James’s muscle tone was acting up a bit today due to his SCI and his right ankle was getting a small abrasion. So he made the decision to end his ride. Due to the lack of circulation with people with an SCI even the smallest abrasion can take a long time to heal. It’s usually a good idea to avoid anything that could cause complications. We would all like to thank the “Outlaw” for coming out to support us today.

After James left us we were having one of our best days as we headed toward Beaumont, TX. We stopped in Liberty for a snack. Little did we know what would happen next. While we were leaving the Shell Station in Liberty Jimmy fell over because he was unable to get his foot out of the peddle and landed hard with all of his body weight on his elbow. He still wanted to try and ride but quickly realized it wasn’t possible since he was unable to put any pressure on it. At that point we decided to go to the local Hospital in Beaumont for some x-rays. After about four hours of waiting we got the news that we were all scared of getting, Jimmy had a clean break at his left olecranon process (elbow) and would need to fly back to San Diego for surgery. At this point he was in a huge amount of pain but because of his SCI he is unable to take most pain medicines, we knew it wouldn’t be a good night.

The following morning we took Jimmy and Kristi to Houston to catch a flight to San Diego to have his elbow accessed by Dr. Murphy. He scheduled a 3 pm surgery to plate Jimmy’s elbow. This surgery wouldn’t have been Dr. Murphy’s first option but since Jimmy’s desire is to get back on the bike as soon as possible to finish the ride, this would work best. It will have a bigger scar and be more painful in the long run but it would be stronger in a short amount of time. After surgery Dr. Murphy said that things had gone better than he had expected and should heal faster and better that he had initially thought. Jimmy is at home now for a few days so that he can be monitored. He will see Dr. Murphy this weekend and then we are expecting to continue our ride at the beginning of next week. The rest of us are here waiting in Beaumont for his return. We have been very blessed to have the opportunity to stay with an amazing family here. Joe and Roxanne Newman have gone way over and above what most people would do to help. They are truly good people that have become a huge part of the success of our project. We could never repay their true Southern Hospitality. Please continue to support M4M and we will keep you all informed of Jimmy’s progress. He is still fighting to finish this ride and make a change for all people affected with a SCI.

JB & Cory

(Soon to be) East Bound & Down

Day 26 - Back on Schedule

2011-03-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

Last night the crew got to go out to eat at Tre's in San Antonio and it was amazing. We also go to take a pic in front of The Alamo. We were gangster style though, Big E left the car running at the curb and we jumped out and took it! I'm pretty sure the guy that took the pic thought we were crazy. We have gotten to see a lot of cool stuff along the way, this is truly a once in a lifetime experience.

(From Cory) On that note let me take a moment to let all of you reading this know how hard our days have been. This is the hardest most painful thing either one of us have ever done. This past week has been the hardest but these moments create life long memories. Not a lot of people get to spend 4-6 hrs a day riding their bike with their best friend seeing the country at 12-20 mph. Jimmy has worked harder than I could ever have imagined, I'm so proud of him. Unless you have a SCI or have a family member with one you will never know how hard the simplest things can be. Also, even though he looks fully recovered in some pictures he still has a long way to go and he is working at it everyday. So please don't assume because we always try to smile for the camera that we are just out here having fun. We are working our asses off and trying to raise money for much needed research.

Today we are once again just going to get on the bikes and ride. We started outside San Antonio on the I-10 Freeway heading toward Houston. The wind isn't totally in our face today and Travis is here again to help us push the wind for Jimmy. The roads are actually good today so we put our heads down and went at it. It was pretty hot again on the I-10. It was 42 miles to where the bus was stopped for lunch, we made it there in 2 hrs and 40 min. Travis is helping a lot today. After lunch we are going to try the 90 again because we heard from a local that it has been repaved and the trees may offer up some shade from the sun and wind. We were going to try and make up the time we lost this past week to get back on schedule again. The 90 was surprisingly smooth well, at least the first 20 miles were. Then it just went to crap again. There were 2-3 inch gaps about every 20 feet. So once again we hit the I-10. After 5.5 hrs we rode 83 miles and were back on schedule. Thank you all for following us and supporting our cause.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 25The Alamo

2011-03-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Today the ride began about 26 miles outside San Antonio. Travis joined us today from California and he will be here through Friday. We still had a cross wind but we did have decent roads for most of the day. It was nice to experience downtown San Antonio on a bike. We got to see the Riverwalk and the Alamo. The lunch stop for today was back at the bus. We had our usual fruit and Ryno Power "Carb-Fuel" shakes for lunch. Thanks Ryno for supporting us. The second part of our day was supposed to be spent on I-10 but I guess the truckers in San Antonia don't like cyclist. They gave us a lot of uncalled for honks. So after our wonderful Chase Chicks had taken all they could we made a jump back down to Hwy 90. It wasn't as rough as it had been the past few days but it wasn't smooth. We ended up being able to ride 62 miles in just under 5 hrs. This has been a hard week on our bodies and minds. The wind in your face all day everyday slowly wears on the spirit.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 24 Turbo

2011-03-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Today we are supposed to have someone join us for the ride somewhere close to San Antonio. Little did we know Jason "Turbo" Doyle would do a 76 mile solo trip out to where were staying in Uvalde, TX to turn around and ride back with us. Little did he know that we hadn't made it quite all of the way to the bus the night before. So we packed up and drove another 16 miles west on the 90 to start our day. Rumor is the roads get better today. We weren't shooting for a specific ending point today because we hadn't been able to make up ground at all this week. So our board just said "here to there, TX". It didn't take long to tell that we weren't at altitude anymore either because someone turned up the heat. We actually ended up making up 20 miles of our lost mileage today with the smoother roads and less wind. Notice I said less wind, not no wind but we will take it! We decided to stop about 20 miles out of San Antonio but not Turbo. He decided to finish it all the way in. He finished his day with around 160 miles in the saddle and that's why we called him Turbo. Thanks for the help.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 23 Gravel

2011-03-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

Del Rio to 20 miles before Uvalde

Today started out with overcast and a possibly of rain which made the temperature about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday. The winds were favorable for a majority of the day as well. The night before we were fortunate enough to meet a few fine people at the Holiday Trav-L-Park and when we rode by today they were all gathered on the street cheering us on! A big thanks to all of them and especially to Cindy for organizing it! On a side not everyone loved our Honda mini van and one of the couples even took a test drive with Big E. We had been in the desert for the past few days and it was a great change to be in civilization again. The roads today were the worst by far, we even passed by the Department of Transportation and wanted to stop in and file a formal complaint. It looks like they spread tar on a smooth road and then threw gravel at it sporadically, we have also come to the conclusion there are no steam rollers used in Texas on their roads. We are excited about a few riders joining us in the next few days and also the prospect of smoother roads.

JB & Cory

Eastbound & Down

Day 22 Same, Same!

2011-03-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

Middle of nowhere to Del Rio

Same rough roads, same wind, same hills and same heat.

Highlight of the day was passing the Pecos River and seeing the awesome rock walls around it. We rode into the wind all day again today. The good thing is we are supposed to be done with the hills but probably not the wind. We are both hoping the roads get a lot smoother as well. I guess we will just need to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

JB & Cory

Eastbound & Down

Day 21 Black Jack

2011-03-13T20:40:00.001-07:00

27 miles past Marathon to the middle of nowhere.

The day started out extremely hot, 87 degrees at 10:00am. Jimmy had major muscle spasms and stomach cramps. Some times the heat is unbearable for Jimmy’s injury so he had to ride with his shirt open the entire day.

We stopped in Sanderson, TX for lunch where we had to change a tire because of road debris. Immediately after lunch Jimmy’s left leg spasmimed due to the heat which forced us to slow down 4 miles per hour.

Once again the road was rough, which seems to be standard for Texas. The 2600 feet of descending we did was off set by the head wind that we encountered the entire day.

We are holed in Comstock, TX with no internet or phone service but we were able to get our TV to work after being out of commission for the last 4 days.

Highlights of the day:

Very courteous drivers today, an airstrip in the middle of nowhere and we met a fellow cyclist, Adam, who was riding from Ashville, North Carolina to Phoenix with his final destination being Seattle, WA.

JB & Cory

Eastbound & Down

Day 20 - Midway

2011-03-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

Day 20 was supposed to be our halfway point on the ride but it ended up being a rest day because of how hard the week has been. After we rested most of the day and did our laundry we took an easy 27 mile ride. We actually got to meet a lot of cool people at the camp fire here. We will get back at it tomorrow and are hoping for better wind conditions tomorrow.

JB & Cory
Eastbound & Down

Day 19 - Wind

2011-03-10T19:54:00.001-08:00

As we left the campground in Ft. Davis we headed toward Alpine, TX to get to the Highway 90. The roads were still rough and it seemed like we couldn't get away from the 18 mile a hour head wind. The 2 best parts of the day were the quaint little town of Alpine where we stopped for lunch and the sunset we watched from our camp site in Marathon. We are hoping for more favorable conditions tomorrow because we have some mileage to make up.

Jb & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 18 - Straight Up

2011-03-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Day 18 started out in Kent, TX on Highway 118. It started out slow because Jimmy's injury reminded us that his nervous system does not respond like the normal human body. He woke up feeling very fatigued and shaky but we probably should have expected this since he had pushed it to the 100 mile mark the day before. We weren't sure how far or long we would ride, it would all depend on Jimmy's body and today was expected to be a difficult ride due to 36 miles of continuous climbing up to 6200 feet in elevation. To add to the difficult climb the road was composed of loose gravel, at times it felt that our teeth were going to rattle out of our head. When we reached the top of our climb 3 1/2 hours into our ride we decided the day was going to have to be cut short. Rather than going all the way to Alpine TX, we descended 12 miles to Ft. Davis and found a campsite at the national park. Today was to be the second hardest day we had experienced so far. Although it was the toughest day it was by far the most scenic day, it included javelinas (wild pigs), cows, deer, elk and the prettiest landscape to this point. Jimmy said if the campsite had been one more mile, he might not have made it!

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 17 - Redemption

2011-03-08T19:09:00.001-08:00

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

Day 16 - Don't Mess with Texas

2011-03-07T17:46:00.004-08:00

El Paso to Sierra Blanca

Today was the first day back after a much needed rest. Jimmy went home for 24 hours to be checked out after his crash by Kenny Sheppard. This was to be our first full day in Texas and we knew the wind was going to be bad. We headed out of El Paso on the frontage road for the first 15 miles, at this point the wind wasn’t so bad. When we reached the I10 the wind really started to pick up and with that came the dust and sand. We tried putting on masks but they didn’t give up much relief. Our right ears and eyes filled up quickly with sand. At points it felt like we were being pelted by thousands of little needles and sometimes it seemed like we were sideways because of the cross winds. The wind was so bad we couldn’t take either hand off while riding and had to stop several times just to drink. Jimmy’s hands got sore because he was unable to move them around, this also contributed to stopping multiple times. Initially we had intended on riding 73 miles and were only able to ride 53 miles in 4 hours, at that point we decided to call it a day. So now we know why they say “Don’t Mess with Texas”. We are going to leave early tomorrow to make up the 20 miles we missed today and hopefully miss the wind. Don’t miss the picture of the tumble weed almost taking us out.

JB & Cory

East Bound & Down

Day 13

2011-03-05T16:36:00.000-08:00

Today started out a little slow because Jimmy was pretty sore from his fight with I-10. Which he lost! Once we got started we headed back to where we finished the day before and rode the 22 miles into Las Cruces. We had lunch and then headed out for our second part of the day toward the Texas border. We took back roads to try and see a little of the country side and stay off the Interstate. Little did we know what we were in for. The roads out of Las Cruces were amazing, and we had a lot of room to ride. The weather was perfect as well. About 11 miles into the ride we rode into a pecan tree farm that was beautiful.
The trees seemed to surround us from all sides and all we could see was the road in front of us. This was a much need change from the cars and trucks on I-10. We also passed three other guys doing the cross country trek in the other direction. Today was also a much needed mellow pace day. Big E came along for the ride with us today too. He's always good for a laugh and a smile. Thanks bro. We made it to the border of Texas, but I'm not so sure we weren't in Mexico for part of the day. We actually stopped in a gas station to ask how far the Texas border was and the old guy asked me if I wanted to know from Mexico or New Mexico. At that point we were only two miles from the sign. So we headed out and got our picture in front of it. Although we did have to finish the day once again on I-10. We are taking a much needed rest for the next two days so Jimmy can heal up. Have a good weekend and get ready for more adventures next week. I've got a feeling it will have cowboy boots and country music in part of it.

Jb & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 12

2011-03-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

As we left from Lordsberg, NM, Day 12 started out with the potential to be the best day so far. Early in the day we decided that with the weather conditions this would be the best opportunity to try a century (100 miles). Once again the wind was in our favor and we had very good road conditions, at least the first 70 miles. We reached our lunch destination of Deming, NM at the 60 mile mark in just under 3 hours and still felt really good. We headed out on the second leg of the ride to find that our good road conditions had deteriorated and we now had a cross wind. We were still determined to make the century but little did we know the cross wind would take Jimmy out. The wind blew Jimmy to the right and into the gravel where he lost control and went over thehandle bars. Jimmy felt like he had been run over by a truck, initially he was very scared that he had re-injured his spinal cord because he hit his head pretty hard. Thank goodness Bell makes a great product that helped cushion the blow to his head. After a few minutes of cleaning his wounds on the side of the road, Jimmy decided to solider on and keep trying to finish the century. We got back on the bikes at mile 88 of the century and made it to mile 93 where Jimmy decided that his pain level was to high to continue on. There will be other opportunities to do a century on this trip!

JB & Cory
East bound & Down

Day 9-11 Tuscon, AZ to Lordsberg, NM

2011-03-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

Monday was an active recovery day, we did a light 26 miles and happened to ride by a military airplane holding facility with 100's of fighter planes, bombers and transport carriers. This was a unexpected treat and one of the coolest things either of us have ever seen. This was the first day of the trip that it was just the two of us out on the road.

Tuesday we left Tuscon and headed east towards Willcox. We had a lot of climbing that day and the scenery changed a bit with some nice rock formations on both sides of the interstate. The 2 major highlights of the day were riding through Tombstone, AZ and stopping to see THE THING. We still aren't sure what we saw.....

Wednesday was the hottest day of the trip so far, topping out at a sizzling 89 degrees. Some of locals told us these were record highs for this time of the year. The wind was at our backs most of the day which assisted in keeping an average pace of over 20 miles per hour. We reached the New Mexico boarder approximately 34 miles into our ride where we met Dan, a Canadian who was on his own personal quest of riding his motorcycle coast to coast for his 50 birthday after a life changing motorcycle accident. We hope this is the first of many great people we meet along the way.

Just a couple of days in The Land of the Enchantment and then onto the great state of Texas.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 8 Eloy, AZ to Tucson, AZ

2011-02-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a day!!! This was probably the second coldest day so far. Our ride started out from a cemetery in Eloy, we could see snow on the mountains and the wind at that point was in our face. We headed East on I10 until we got pulled over by johnny law, guess we weren't supposed to be riding on the interstate. He kindly advised us to take a frontage road which worked out to be a better option. The wind changed direction and was at our backs. As we got further into our ride we could we see a nasty storm front at the base of the mountains. We had brief moments of snow, hail and rain but we didn't let it stop us. The highlight of our ride was an exit sign we rode by as we entered into Tucson, it said Miracle Mile. A big thanks to Ryan and Matt for joining us on such a chilly ride.

We ended the night with an interview at a local Tucson new station, KOLD News 13.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

Day 7 Tempe to Eloy

2011-02-26T21:05:00.000-08:00

The day started off well, there wasn't a lot of wind and the temperature was nice. We had a great group with us and it was the first day we had a hand cyclist ride in the group.
As we got out of Tempe and into South Candler the wind started to get progressively stronger to the point that we couldn't see 100 feet in front of us. We also encountered a sand storm, the winds kicked up to 35 miles per hour bringing our speed down to 6 miles per hour.

Tonight I spoke at the The Neuro Institute, in Tempe, AZ. There were about 30 people in attendance, 1o of them having SCI (Spinal Cord Injury). It was such a great reminder of why I am working so hard everyday on this journey.

We are a little worried we might encounter rain tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed that it stays dry.

JB & Cory
East Bound & Down

One State Down, 7 to go!

2011-02-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

I've been riding with Jimmy and Cory since day one on Sunday and it's been amazing trip so far. We've climbed massive hills, rocketed down canyons, pedaled through snow and cruised on the side of little roads like the I10.

Jimmy has been absolutely amazing to say the least, and the crew involved in this ride is as well. I've watched Jimmy battle physical and emotional demons just to get through the first few days, and it's been inspirational to say the least. Most people will never know everything Jimmy has to do just to be able to ride every day, but just imagine having your worst day when you wake up, then riding a bike 80 miles. Welcome to many of Jimmy's mornings. It's a good thing he has Cory by his side to keep his body in the best shape possible.

Today was day 4 of the ride, and we crossed the border into Arizona 17 miles before the end of today's ride. It was a huge boost to say the least, and a sense of accomplishent for all of us. My part of the ride ends (for now) in my home town of Phoenix, but Jimmy and the crew will soldier on to Daytona. They have a long ride ahead, but we started singing 20 million bottles of beer on the wall, so we'll see if they can finish the song before Daytona. We're somewhere around 19,872,000 right now:-)

Pray for Jimmy and support this ride any way you can, you will be better for it!

-Ari Pace

Arizona

2011-02-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

Just entered into the great state of Arizona!! Not only was I born and raised here but most of my early rehabilitation was also done here. The first time I walked again after the accident was in Arizona and now I'm getting ready to ride my bike through the state. What an amazing feeling!!!

Day 4

2011-02-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

So far Day 4 has been the toughest to get going but we are back out on the bikes. Leaving the middle of nowhere and headed to Blythe with our final destination being Quartzsite. The weather is amazing, clear skies and 65 degrees.

Like the song says.....Slow Ride, Take it Easy.

Gearing up for Sunday

2011-02-17T19:48:00.001-08:00

Sunday is the Day!! All the hard work to put this trip together is almost hear. Jimmy has been training hard for months to prepare.

As well you can follow us at milesformiraclestoday.com

We will be updating the Blog often (probably daily to every other day). Check back a lot and see the adventure as it happens.

Gearing up for Sunday

2011-02-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Sunday is the Day!! All the hard work to put this trip together is almost hear. Jimmy has been training hard for months to prepare.

As well you can follow us at milesformiraclestoday.com

We will be updating the Blog often (probably daily to every other day). Check back a lot and see the adventure as it happens.