By Phil LatzDaran and Josh haven't touched a bicycle for years, so why are they about to ride over 1,100 mountainous kilometres in nine days?
By Phil Latz
The Bicycling Australia Challenge will be a ride from
Melbourne to Sydney for 100 cyclists, with 2,000 others joining
in for the final day in Sydney. 98 of the 100 cyclists who line
up in Melbourne will be cycling enthusiasts who've paid good
money to be there, but Daran and Josh have paid much more.
Daran and Josh are students at a live-in drug rehabilitation
program run by Teen Challenge NSW. They are fit, strong and
confident. They told me their stories with clear, calm voices.
Joshua Davidson has just turned 18. He has been at Teen Challenge
for six months. "Like most drug addicts, there's normally a
root cause," Josh said.
"I was sexually abused as a kid between the ages of five and
seven. I was looking for love and I couldn't find it so I tried
to fill that hole with drugs. As I got older the hole lot bigger
and the pain got even worse, so I just gradually slipped into
more and more and more, it just snowballed. I found myself on the
doorway of death.
I had been smoking marijuana since I was 13. I'd been drinking at
a very young age as well. That's part of the reason my parents
asked me to leave home. I used speed for the last six months
before I was in here. But like most drugs that I tried, I was
becoming addicted to it quite quickly because of my sheer
personality.
"It's just the way that I was. I had quite an addictive
personality, which got me on to drugs in the first place. I'm
glad I stopped when I did. I didn't have to try anything harder.
I know I would have been a lot worse off if I had."
Having wasted away to just 65 kg on his 182 cm frame, Josh is now
a strong 78 kg and ready to ride. "I'm ecstatic," he
said. "I'm very excited in the first place that I was asked
to do it." "I've never been to Melbourne before, so for
me it's a first off even just going to Melbourne. So I'm really
excited about that.
"The training is good because I like a bit of structure. I
thrive on that. It keeps me busy and keeps my mind focused on
something, which makes time go a bit quicker for me. Being 18, a
year for me in a rehab is more than anyone would want to really
pay for what they have done. It seems like even longer when you
are my age, I swear that for these (older) guys it must go for
like six months but for me it's like 10 years! "I'm really
excited."
Beyond the ride and completion of his rehabilitation program,
Josh has clear plans for his future. "The first thing I'm
going to do is move back to the Central Coast if possible,"
he said. "I have a really big heart for kids that have gone
through what I've gone through and are fighting the battle that
I've now won. I want to be able to go back and I know on the
coast there are a lot of lost young people. A lot.
"I just want to go back and spend a lot of time with them. I
know that it's escalating. Every month it gets worse and I really
want to go back and be able to make an impact.
Next year I'm looking at coming back down (to Sydney) and doing a
creative ministry course, because I have a passion. "When I
was going through my hardships, real hard times, I was lucky
enough to have music that was able to impact me and it really
helped me spiritually. All these sort of areas, you know, all
your senses, it helps to calm them. I just want to impact the
world with the music that I write and relate how that music
impacted me.
"I know that if I can do that then there's going to be a lot
of people better off because of it. I believe that what I've gone
through, I've gone through for a reason. I'm here at this point
for a reason and the experiences that I've got, I can use for a
reason. That's what I'm going to do. "I want to be able to
write music and be able to pour out some of what I've got inside
of me to help other people through what they're going through.
That's what I have a passion to do, write music and sing
it."
"I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to get to my
destination of doing that but I know that in God's time it will
be the perfect way and it will be the perfect time. So that's
where I'm heading."
Daran Pratt has been addicted for drugs for longer than Josh's
entire lifetime, yet he is only 32. Like Josh, he shared his
story without self pity. "If it helps people, then even if
it's the only good thing to come from almost 20 years of drug
use, it's worth it," Daran began.
"I started off drinking alcohol, smoking pot. That was
around the age of 13, about the same age as Josh. I was also
sexually assaulted as a kid. I had a single parent family. My mum
and dad separated before I was born. Mum worked hard. I had two
brothers and a sister. There wasn't a lot of love, wasn't a lot
time in the family so I grew up pretty much by myself.
"I left school at 15 and did an apprenticeship and got a
trade. I had my life fairly well together up until 21 or 22 years
of age. Even though I was smoking pot, that was all I did. I was
in a successful band, I had my own automotive restoration
business and property and stuff and things were going good.
"At 20 I started taking LSD. At 21, 22 I started injecting
speed. By the time I was 24 I had a $900 a day heroin habit.
"I quickly went through my business and my property, my
furniture and everything else that I owned. The crux of that is,
when I ran out of money then I had no other option-well I had
plenty of options, but the choice I took was to start doing
crime.
"I've done time behind bars and extensive court cases and
rehabs, detox's, all of which didn't amount to much-didn't cure
the problem. "Most of the other places want to look at
curing the drug problem, without curing the person problem behind
the drug problem. Drug taking and drug addiction are symptoms of
a deeper problem and Teen Challenge, being a full Christian based
recovery, brings God into the picture and that's what made a
difference for me. Plus here they don't want to treat you as a
drug addict, they want to treat you as a person with problems in
their heart, their mind and their soul and spirit. That's where
the difference lies.
"We're looking at the issues that turned me into a person
that wanted to avoid reality and the way I chose to avoid reality
was to take drugs. We're looking at the issues that caused that
to happen and we're dealing with those issues, not just a sort of
bandaid fix of patching up the problems for six months and
staying off drugs for six months. That can lead to the next stage
of using drugs again. That's not what Teen Challenge is about.
Daran (left) & Josh at Teen Challenge.
"Teen Challenge is about shaping your life so that you're in
a position to make the right choices. From the time you arrive
here, the support is just unbelievable. The support continues as
the program finishes and that's where the difference is. We're
learning how to make the right choices and hopefully not make bad
choices and suffer bad consequences anymore."
Daran actually did a few seasons of road racing as a teenager, so
he is looking forward to riding the Bicycling Australia
Challenge. "It's a big commitment. The training is going to
be a commitment and the actual ride itself is going to be a
commitment, but spiritually for me, for my stage of recovery I
need to be pushed. I need to have those certain areas in my life
tested, because there's no point going through all this and then
establishing that I don't have commitment when I leave
here."When I'm finished the program, which at this stage
looks like probably being the end of October, I will be going to
study in a missionary organisation called YWAM. My plans are to
become a missionary and my first port of call will be Kazakhstan
hopefully, which is near Russia.
"After almost 20 years of what I call a professional drug
career, I've lost everything. The only thing I have is the
experiences I've lived through. If I can't put those to good use
then that makes the 20 years a complete and utter waste.
"If I can change just one person's life and give them an
answer to solving their drug problem then the last 20 years have
been worth it."
The Bicycling Australia Challenge will be raising funds for Teen
Challenge. Because of its Christian base, the program is not
eligible for most government funding, even though its success
rate is many times higher than the average.
We've already filled the 100 spaces for this year's ride, but you
can still be involved. You can sponsor Josh or Daran at any rate
you chose, for each kilometre that they ride. If you live in
Sydney, you could help out as a training partner. You could also
take part in the final day ride on Sunday 21st October.
To sponsor Josh or Daran, call Teen Challenge on (02) 9634 8800.
(From overseas, call 61 2 9634 8800) or e-mail info@tcnsw.org
We have set a goal of raising a million dollars for Teen
Challenge in the next ten years through the Bicycling Australia
Challenge. Here's your chance to help turn nightmares into
dreams.
Bicycling Australia would like to thank Avanti Bicycles
for becoming a major sponsor of the Bicycling Australia
Challenge.