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Junior Devin Talbot stands outside the Golden Gate Bridge in triumph of completing a 4,000 mile-long bike trip from June to July this past summer. The trip was a way raise money for cancer awareness and prevention.

Junior Devin Talbot and Eric Ahnmark '07 along with junior Sandy Shrago (not pictured) traveled across the country to raise money for research.

Junior cyclist treks across the country for cancer

Baltimore to San Fran ride dedicated to father

By: Bree Tracey

Posted: 10/2/07

It was the end of junior Devin Talbot's senior year of high school when he heard the bad news.

His dad, 63-year-old Fredrick Brian Talbot, was diagnosed with terminal sarcoma cancer. It was a level three, which meant a low chance of survival and a high possibility that the deadly disease might return.

This incident inspired Talbot to take a trip across the country that would change his life. And he did it on two wheels.

Talbot participated in the Hopkins 4K for Cancer, a 4,000-mile bike ride across America from Baltimore to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco this past summer from June to July. The two-month long ride is a dedication to spreading awareness of cancer, raising funds and fostering hope.

"Everybody has been affected by cancer either directly or indirectly," Tablot said. "Anybody can get it and it doesn't matter how healthy you are."

Junior Sandra Shrago was the first to tell Talbot about the trip. Shrago's aunt died in September of ovarian cancer and her older sister participated in 2003.

"It's not what you prepare for," said Shrago, who described riding through the Appalachian Mountains as boot camp. "It's hard to imagine riding that far."

The six months before the trip was used for training and fundraising. Each student was required to raise at least $3,500. This past year, participants raised over $103,000 and Talbot raised over $12,000.

The donations are divided up between the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge in Baltimore, education and preventions programs at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at John Hopkins and the Carolina Panthers' Keep Pounding Foundation for cancer research.

The journey that these bikers took was one full of mental and physical challenges. Talbot described his experience as an emotionally charged ride.

"It changes you as a person," Talbot said. "You beat yourself up so much, but you get so much back."

The bikers came from different schools all over the country, but each person was there with a similar goal: to make a difference.

"These people are driven," Talbot said. "We experience a small amount of pain compared to people going through cancer."

When it came time to rest, the bikers stayed at churches, colleges, hotels and even got the chance to spend the night at the Excalibur in Las Vegas. If there was nowhere to stay, they camped outside.

Of course, all the physical exercise did not stop them from having a little fun. Multiple riders mooned him during the trip, Talbot recalled. On the way, he and the other bikers caught a Goo Goo Dolls concert in Red Rocks, Colorado, but for Talbot, the most rewarding aspect of the trip was meeting all the new people.

"Some of these people have nothing," Talbot said. "You become a humble person.

They biked through deserts in Utah, cornfields in Kansas, back roads in Nebraska and the Rocky Mountains.

"Devin told me that he biked through snow in the middle of July," said junior Rachel Bokelman, Talbot's girlfriend, who was waiting for him as he crossed the finish line at the Golden Gate Bridge.

But there was also another person at the end of the bridge waiting for Talbot when he finished. It was his father, with tears in his eyes.

To learn more about Hopkins 4K for Cancer you can visit their Web site at http://www.hopkins4k.org/.