Kevin's Khronicles

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Back in the 90s when I retired from cycling, I retired... I mean, I really retired. Hung up the bike and the helmet; packed away the uniform and never looked back....

Until now.

During the intervening years, I made many personal appearances for some organizations and charities, mostly local, that raised enough money to help those that were in dire need. I’ve always felt that if the Lord has blessed you, then you in turn should bless others when you can.

I can remember growing up poor; always having to struggle for even the smallest of things that I wanted; for a job; for heat in the Winter and a fan in the Summer; for some morsel that would stop the rumbling in my stomach; for a place to lay my head for just a few hours...

During my angry youth, when I solely concentrated on myself and my problems, I discovered that it affected my disposition and personality. All I kept thinking about was me and my problems to the point that I let the rest of the world go by. I had become so miserable that if someone I knew had a mite of success or any degree of happiness within them, I wanted them to feel and be as empty as I was. I mean, what right did they have to a better life than me?

I thought if I moved away, so would my problems, so I escaped to the city of New York, and soon found out that instead of running away from my problems they only increased ten-fold.

But it was in New York that I really saw poverty and homelessness, and people walking the streets that made my life pale in comparison. I became curious as to how these people survived, and would follow many of them when I could. Soon, I was spending nights down in the bowels of the city’s subway system (which later helped me secure the Guinness World Record for traveling the entire subway system in the shortest amount of time), as well as sleeping at places like Port Authority and Grand Central Station. I knew where to get food and what shelters were the better ones to go to.

Now much of this lifestyle was pure research as an actor (by day, I was attending classes at the various drama schools throughout the city), but getting to know many of these homeless people toughened me up for surviving the rest of the world during the 90s as an adventurer. It was one of the best educations I could have ever received. If you can survive New York, you can survive.

It was during my time in the city that never sleeps that I began to once again attend church after an eight year absence, and found that not only did I need some kind of spiritual guidance, but generally welcomed it as a great comfort.

Soon thereafter, I began to volunteer at some missions; to help feed the poor and do what I could to give comfort to those who were less fortunate than I was. I discovered that as you spend the time in charity, it actually becomes a cure for what ails you such as depression. You are no longer focused on yourself and your problems, but on others. You begin to develop a deeper compassion as well as peace of mind, and you find that God will give you the strength to carry on His work. As the famous theologian, John Calvin, once stated...

We now fast forward to the present time. I had been retired from the world of cycling for seven years, not even bothering to take the bike out of storage for a short spin up a mountainside. Many people would ask if I’d ever cycle again, and my casual response would be, What for? I’m bored with cycling. What more could I prove?

And in truth I was bored to death with cycling; with being on a bike 12 hours a day; six days a week. There really wasn’t anything more I could prove (of course, if you offer me the moon or Mars, I’d jump back on the seat ready to go), but there was always one thing I had wanted to do with cycling, but had let it go by the wayside; forgetting about the idea in the recesses of my mind...

And then several months ago as I was leafing through a magazine, I came across a full-page ad. It showed a child; young, innocent, with a deformed cleft lip and palate. The ad stated quite boldly that for as little as $250 and with a simple 45-minute operation, a child who has this deformity can be cured for life. The ad also stated that 100% of the donations go to the child’s operation and not on any overhead. They then invited you to visit their website, which I did.

And that’s how I got hooked on The Smile Train (www.smiletrain.org).

Charles Wang (from Wang Computers) began the organization in 1999, and has to date helped close to 150,000 children receive a new life (his foundation takes care of all the overhead bills). For it isn’t just being a social outcast these children have to deal with, but because of their birth defect, they can’t eat or drink properly and if the operation is delayed long enough, the child starts off with a speech problem. The average age of a child to be operated on is six-years-old and that is totally unacceptable.

Now I never had much to smile about growing up, but these children were starting out in life a lot worse off than I ever did, and it just didn’t seem fair.

At first, I thought about writing out a check for $250 and be done with it, but then I heard the Lord speak to me and tug at my heart, saying, Kevin, because of who you are and your past accomplishments, you are in a much better position to do more good than simply write out a check. I want you to go the extra mile for these little ones of mine.

I had no idea what to do, nor what the Lord would want of me, but I have never shucked my responsibilities, especially when I am called upon by my Creator. For the last 25 years, my response has been, Here I am, Lord, send me. Now is no different.

The idea of what to do was there. How to go about it; the details, I wasn’t so sure. And with all my other projects I’m now involved in, couldn’t I just put this off for a year of two?

That was the problem. The other projects are mine; for me, whereas this one is for the Lord and His little ones, so as I saw it, I had no choice but to jump in and take it on faith.

I began making some calls to friends that had connections in various fields. Two of those friends were involved with major magazines. I also had my management team, as well as my past sponsors in the cycling industry, not to mention those famous friends in the various media that also rode bikes.

Soon, I was getting some ideas and plans were forming. One of my old managers from my cycling days suggested a couple of cycling venues. The name we would use would be, Celebrity Cycling Circuit, where we would pick some loops to bike, invite several cycling celebrities to the cause, and tell the public what we were about to do and join us in the ride.

Well, I thought it was a good idea, but never in my life did I imagine it would take off so fast. Soon, I was on the phone with a contact at The Smile Train’s headquarters in (where else) New York City laying out the foundation of what I wanted to do. I knew about half a dozen celebrities I could contact to get the ball rolling, and one of my magazine friends strongly suggested I do the event in the Napa Valley region just north of San Francisco sometime next Spring, and hold the event at Francis Ford Coppola’s winery.

Uh, okay, sure...

More calls and contacts were made to the point that I found myself taking several days off and heading north to the Napa Valley wine country. Once I arrived in town, I immediately hit the bike shops, telling them what I was about to do. They were very receptive to the idea, offering assistance once I got the thing going (we’re going to need plenty of volunteers for this event). The nice thing about local bike shops, is that they know the area and can tell you some of the routes.

By the next day, I had maps of the area and the three routes already laid out (at 30, 65 and 100 mile loops). What I had originally wanted had to be scrapped once I toured around Napa Valley, but it’s actually going to work out better because it’s so centrally located to the schedule. It’s either going to be a weekend in May or June, which will be determined soon.

And I already know the Saturday dinner with the celebrities (after the long Saturday bike ride) will be taking place at Coppola’s winery. I knew that shortly after the tour of the facilities began. Sure we’re going to be limited to about 200 people for the dinner, but at this point I don’t see a problem with a waiting list (or am I just being naive, and this event could really take off?...).

What I like about Coppola’s winery is not only the beautiful grounds and the ambiance, but the setting, as well as the mini museum that any film lover would crave. Just before being shown the dining room (set among old wine caskets), you have to walk past some movie memorabilia that included (among other items), some half a dozen golden Oscars, an original Tucker (from the film Tucker: The Man and His Dream), suits and props from the 90s version of Dracula, as well as props from the Godfather films, Apocalypse Now and Patton. Forget the dinner, I could spend my time just outside the door, so I knew this would be the place to host part of the weekend event.

Yeah, I’m scared. Scared about stepping out in faith. Scared that the whole thing will collapse like a house of cards...

But all of those thoughts are replaced by the overwhelming fear I have for the Lord, who will chastize me when I reach those pearly gates (knowing the Lord as intimately as I do, He won’t wait for me to arrive in Paradise, but take me to the shed now), and the fact that I am compelled to do this thing; I absolutely must in some way, help these children who can’t help themselves and I will personally drag anyone and everyone I can think of to join me in this endeavor.

So, yeah, I’m hot on this, because it’s the right thing to do. Right now, it’s finding a corporate title sponsor to underwrite the event to get this thing off the ground in the next six months, and then the celebrity cyclists come next. But my feeling has always been, if the Lord be for you, who can be against you? We’ve always been a team, and I see no reason why it should change now.

And I do realize I would be considered a nut and not even given the time of day to put on an event of this caliber, if not for who I am and my past accomplishments, thus I constantly thank God for leading me in the life that I have carved out for myself.

Where does it all go from here? I have no idea, but it’s going to be another one of those fun adventures I expect to see to it’s end. How thankful I am for the bountiful blessings I have received thus far. And what a perfect time of year to be reminded of such thankfulness.

Stay tuned. There’s more to come in the months ahead. Until then, may your Thanksgiving time with family and friends be a blessed event.

 Until Next Month,

Kevin