RIDING WITH PURPOSE

As someone who quite openly discusses my own battles with mental health, I have always found cycling as a whole to be quite saturated in individuals who have deep mental health struggles, of which many struggle to discuss.

Whether spoken or unspoken, the way the group supported one another is just one illustration of how support can be so influential in one’s life.

On Saturday 19th Dec 9 crazy humans undertook one crazy task. In the 3rd ‘official’ iteration of a ride which really should not exist, these crazy humans undertook one super human feat.

They rode 500km in one day.

Why? Why not. Most logic would tell you this is a pretty stupid and useless test of the human body and spirit. A task which not only draws, but completely bypasses the line between one’s physical and mental capacity. From a training perspective, any idiot could tell you that riding 500kms is not really helping your physiological status… in fact, it’s going to take you a bloody long time to properly recover from a crazy feat such as this. We could go on for days showing research and explaining how detrimental a ride like this can be for your physiological system, however that’s not what we’re here to talk about. It is the mental strength and resilience required to complete a ride like this which is pretty indescribable.

Every single rider will tell you that they could not have completed this ride without the assistance of the team on the day. Which brings us to the real reason for the undertaking…

The beginnings of this ride date back to 2008, when founder, Steve Aitken decided it would be fun (granted, type two fun) to ride from Strahan to Swansea. His biggest takeaway from this experience was the importance of working together to tackle the mental battles every individual faced throughout the day. This quickly escalated to marking this somewhat unofficial tradition with a nominal figure of riding 500km in one day while raising awareness toward mental health.

"There is something quite special about the bonds formed in a group that has been through shared adversity." - Steve Aitken

Having worked with SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTy in his day job as a teacher, Steve had seen first hand the amazing and valuable work that they do in the mental health space. He thought they were the perfect fit for what these riders were trying to achieve. SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTy works to promote positive mental health and prevent suicide by normalising conversations about mental health and encouraging people to seek help when they need it.

This ride is as much about raising funds and awareness for SPEAK UP! Stay ChatTy as it is about making a direct impact on those involved and the small but tight community in which they’re involved in.

Every rider had their own takeaway from the day and what the ride meant for them. For many, they were unsure they would be able to ride the distance. For someone like professional rider, Nathan Earle, it was about sharing an experience which meant so much to those involved. For me personally, it has been amazing to see the impact this ride has had on the riders on the day as well as the community as a whole. From friends and families of riders, to those watching along on the sideline.

That’s enough of the serious stuff. Here’s how the weekend went down…

9 riders, plus two support people met at Steve’s place on Friday afternoon to pack up the van and drive to Bicheno, our start location for the ride. The nerves were high. Dare I say it, but I had not seen so many of these guys quite as nervous as I saw them on this day. As we drove up to Bicheno, there was both quite a bit of nervous laughter as well as plenty of excitement for what was to come.

With a 3am start, I think most riders had a pretty restless and nervous sleep. Steve called for a 3:30am roll out time. Based off how much faffing about went on on Friday, I wasn’t too optimistic everyone would sort themselves out by 3:30am. On the road by 3:37am, I was happy to be proven wrong.

Before we knew it, the sun begun to rise. I’m not sure whether this came particularly quickly because I was enjoying life in the bus, or whether the riders felt the same. Regardless, a happy Tassie sunrise was enjoyed by all.

…then the riders worked their way up into the hills and back into darkness.

but it wasn’t long before the sun came out to play again and the mood seemed to lift.

Fo someone like Emma Flukes, riding 500km is not a particularly new or novelty thing to do. For those that know her, she will regularly depart on some ridiculous weekend mission running of a few hours of sleep and basically pedalling until she can’t pedal any longer. However riding 500km at a pace she is not at all used to, with a bunch of guys that regularly punch out massive watts at the drop of a hat, riding that distance, or for that long is an entirely different mental game.

"It's humbling to watch people oscillate from hero to zero to 6ft under, then somehow rebound back to whole new heights. The stats are irrelevant - it's the process that matters, and it's really special to witness personal goals being nailed and memories etched in stone."

Emma Flukes

Sofia Tsamassiros 22.12.20