-----Original Message-----From: Mountain Bike Action [mailto:mbaction@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 10:07 Subject: Your story Hey Kevin. Hope you dig this...Jimmy Mac RIDERS WHO INSPIRE An Unlikely Guardian Angel Why Kevin Talbot knows he can end a lot of suffering ...
We met Kevin Talbot during practice for a Super D race at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, Nevada. While a number of competitors had driven from Colorado, Utah and California for the event, it is hard to imagine that any rider at this race had traveled as far as Kevin had to be there. You could say that Kevin’s trip to Bootleg Canyon started 11 years ago (1997) when he was arrested for possession and intent to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine. Hopelessly addicted to the narcotic, Kevin was sentenced to 42 months of incarceration in the federal prison system. “While in prison, I heard of the Residential Drug Addiction Program (RDAP),” remembers Kevin today. “I was out of my head. I didn’t know what I was doing. I wanted in the program because they’d knock time off my sentence. I didn’t want to get better, I wanted to do less time, get out and get right back into doing the same stuff again.” Kevin got a GED and met the other requirements for acceptance into RDAP. He was transferred to a federal prison in Minnesota where he began the program. It was during this time that an ex-addict spoke about how cycling helped him kick his addictions. This counselor spoke about those deep desires to start using again and how he could get on his bike and ride through the urges. “He made a giant impact on me,” explains Kevin about the encounter. “We had similar backgrounds, we had been to the same dark places and he was doing good. It may have been at that point that I no longer just wanted to get out, I wanted to get better.” Kevin was released to a halfway house program where he had to stay clean and hold a job or go back to prison. Kevin had the choice to be driven to work in a prison van or he could ride a bicycle. He chose the bike. Knowing nothing about bikes, he left the bike shop with a Diamondback mountain bike because, “I used to race motocross as a kid and this thing had a suspension fork and knobby tires,” Kevin laughs today. “I felt totally complete riding that bike,” continues Kevin. “I knew I could really get into it. I knew it would keep me away from the drugs. If I kept cycling,I knew I wouldn’t go back to prison.” Fulfilling his requirements to the halfway house program, Kevin moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he attacked the infamous Bonneville Shoreline Trail and quickly reached the limits of his commuter bike. Tim at "Wild rose mountain sports" got Kevin urgraded to a GT and he became totally addicted again. Not to drugs, but to mountain biking. Trips to Moab,Utah, helped him meet cycling friends who encouraged him to try some racing. He entered his firstcross-country race in 2003 and finished third. He won his next event and hits a podium nearly every time he makes it to a race. Today, Kevin only enters a handful of races a year, but 200-mile weeks are not uncommon for the rider who now lives under the shadow of Gooseberry Mesa outside of Hurricane, Utah. The recidivism rate for a methamphetamine addict is 87 percent in the first six months after release from aprogram. Of the 13 percent who make it past the six-month point, 90 percent start using again. Kevin and his mountain bikes have beaten these incredible odds.“I am not permitted to contact the counselor who first planted the cycling seed in my brain,” explains Kevin about the rules for anyone who has gone through RDAP.“I just hope he sees this story and knows that he saved a life.” Speaking of savings lives; Kevin sees the next step in his recovery as helping others who have fallen into similar situations. “I have a dream to go back to the prisons and speak,”says Kevin. “A program to get guys on bikes might not work for everyone, but if I only reach a few, it would all be worth while. I’m praying to God that someone will help me get to the prisons.” On a final note, Kevin’s addiction destroyed his family, but even mountain bikes have helped repair some of the damage. Kevin’s daughter, Kristy, who is no longer estranged from her dad, took the photos for this story. Photos by Kristy Talbot. Know someone who deserves to be featured in “RidersWho Inspire?” Send an email to Brad Roe atbradr@hi-torque.com
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