Our Story: A Ride To Remember

On June 16^th, four friends will venture out to do something Memorable for Mental Health.

Our goal?  To ride our bikes the length of Italy (top to bottom) in support of Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Depression. We (Chris, Scott, Greg, Dave) are each riding in memory of a parent who has suffered from these illnesses.   

For anyone who has had a loved one suffer from these illnesses, you quickly realize how cruel and challenging they are to live with. They literally rob you of the people and memories most precious to you. 

‘A Ride To Remember' is about the power of memories, and the loved ones we share them with. 

It is a tribute to the people, who's presence will never be forgotten.  

And it acts as a reminder for us all, to not just live our lives, but a challenge to live them memorably.    

In 2016, Scott inspired us by attempting to swim 24hrs across Lake Ontario in support of the cause.  

He wanted to use physical health as a tool to help mental health. It was an important idea, as physical activity is one of the best-known ways to foster healthy mental states, and delay the onset of disease. 

A Ride to Remember takes that spirit forward. 

We’re setting out to ride an average of 133km/day and climb over 17,000m in elevation until we reach our goal of 1,200km. We’ll be on the bike for 9hrs per day, for 9 days straight. 

It’s more riding than any of us have ever come close to doing, and in no way do we feel ready to do that.  

But it’s a cause we believe in, and a challenge we hope we’ll all remember too.  

Your Story: What Can You Do?

Mental Illness affects almost 70% of the population, which means it will likely affect you or people close to you at some time in your life. It can be caused by many things including Disease, Ageing,  Family  issues, Workplace Stress, Disability, Social Pressure, etc. 

So if you would like to challenge your own understanding of Mental Health, here are a couple of ways you can help:

1. Improve your Awareness

Learn about your own Mental Health by taking the quick Stress Test, Good Mental Health Test or read some of the insightful and practical content from the Mental Health Foundation here.  

2. Preventative Health

There are many ways to make your lifestyle healthier, whether it be diet, sleep, mindfulness, social activities or physical exercise; or you could try and combine them all into a crazy challenge with friends or family like we are! There are plenty of ideas get you started here. 

3. Get Help

If your mental or emotional state quickly gets worse, or your worried about someone you know, help is available here. 

Please don’t wait to talk to someone, sharing is an important step to any treatment. To help, encourage discussion we've chosen to share our Parents stories in the Tribute section below. 

4. Be Generous

We all have family ties to UK so we are supporting the work of the Mental Health Foundation. Helping others fosters good mental health, so if you feel inspired please join us by clicking here. 

Our Parents’ Stories: A Tribute

Talking about Mental Health has traditionally been a difficult topic; but talking about great people isn’t! 

So we decided to share the stories of our Parents and their battle with Mental Illness, and we hope this inspires others to start talking about it too.  You can find the in the Photo Gallery at the bottom of this page. 

Thank You. 

A big thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement over the year!

You can follow our journey on Instagram: #RideToRemember18 

Sincerely,  

Chris, Greg, Scott & Dave