The week has started off well, and there’s a lot to keep working on this week.

Rider update: As well as the 3 of us, we now have 4 additional riders: Garry, Allan, Robert and Micha! All are keen supporters of the cause and the ride. Micha will also be coming along as a photographer/videographer.

Upcoming Gigs: We’ve been invited to address the next Monthly meeting of the Hills Branch Ulysses club on July 21st – all of us are stoked to be able to present this to such an audience. From initial discussions, there is a surprising show of interest in both joining the ride and donating to the Black Dog Institute.

Promotional material: This week sees us working closer with Paul from The Printing Company to help print some flyers as well as creating some t-shirts. We’ll keep you posted on the designs and outcome of both of these items.

Launch event: We’re finalising the Breakfast send-off ride from the Deus Ex Machina in Camperdown on 5th September. If you’re going to be there, please let us know!

— Andrew

Today, Andrew and I to visited @karenmorris (from Inscriptions Media), who works with Paul Boxall from The Printing Company. They are based in Sydney’s first ‘eco-friendly’ building at 23 Narabang Way, Belrose NSW.

Support

Karen and Paul had a conversation last week about one of the boys from Paul’s sons’ school, who recently committed suicide. The topic of depression came up, and Karen (whom Andrew and I met through Twitter), told Paul about our project, Riding4aCause & the work we’re doing to raise the awareness of Male Depression.

I received a short email that day, saying, quite simply:

As The Printing Company has a huge range of products they can print, we didn’t know where to start! We decided to visit Karen & Paul in Belrose top have a chat about the project and how they can help.

We had a lovely chat with Karen & Paul (complete with coffee/hot chocolate [+ marshmallows for Andrew]), hearing about personal experiences with depression and suicides. We all have sons (11 between us!) and discussed many topics related to raising boys – anger, stress, anxiety depression and suicide. We discussed opportunities for speaking engagements with schools, especially with the HSC coming up for senior school students, there’s a good opportunity to reach out to teenagers. We also discussed the motivation behind this project and how it all started with ‘a single tweet’ and blossomed from there. We accepted Paul’s offer to provide printing and promotional products for Riding4aCause, and Karen also offered to manage our breakfast  send-off event at Deus Ex Machina on 5th of September!

Testing equipment

During the ride, Andrew and I tested our new Scala Rider system (Sponsored by Strike Group) – Just AWESOME! The moment we turned them on we were talking with each other very clearly, with virtually no setup – it just worked! Very clear communications during commuting speeds (up to 80km/h), minimal background noise, and acceptable range (150-200m). We’ve chatted most of the way (about 20 minutes) until we lost contact when the distance was too great.

At faster speeds (90km/h+) it is difficult to hear a complete conversation due to the wind noise (most likely from our helmets), but we found by sticking together and talking in short bursts it was OK. It was a great addition to the ride because we could share observations about our trip, the traffic, which direction to take, etc. We ended up chatting almost the entire journey! It’s an absolutely fantastic device! Thanks Chris Ryan!

To top this all, a Bartercard directory arrived in the mail today, courtesy of @waynemansfield, as he donated $5000 in Bartercard money. I’ve already contacted some people from the directory, who can help us spend the Bartercard money along the way

That’s it for one day – how was yours?

One more milestone reached! Yesterday I rode to meet Peter Lucas from Kenma. What a pleasant experience! I merely popped in to say G’day, and meet our new sponsor…

I left there with a BIG smile on my face, as well as a Ventura rack and bag; a tank bag, & 3 puncture repair kits. I’ve learned that there are many (too quiet) supporters out there, and that gave me a reinforced belief that what we’re doing is essential!

On the way home I stopped at the post office to find a parcel from Strike waiting for me. It contained a new GPS and a Scala Rider (bluetooth communications between riders, which also works with mobile phones, and the GPS). I was just so happy I had the Ventura bag to fit the parcel in!

Today Andrew and I caught up to:

1. Finalize our itinerary (to be published in the next day or so). We were planning where to stop and why (i.e. why would we stay in place X instead of Y?), weighing up camping vs. cabins (logistics, weight, equipment, and laziness ) and debating whether to do a side-trip to Yulara (Uluru). We’re still discussing this one.
2. Work through the group ride rules
3. Update the website (being done as this is being read)
4. Discussing various options on how the trip will pan out.

As we were sitting at Blip Coffee (Rushcutters Bay), we received an email from Jaselyn, our lovely PR girl, From (ParkYoung Strategy & communications, Melbourne) with our well-crafted PR and Media plan. Did you know June 14-20th is Men’s Health week? No, then head on over to http://menshealthweek.com.au/ for more information! We’re going for a “soft” launch this week and more PR activities over the next few weeks.

Later today I received another email from Steve Andrews (Black Dog Ride) to let us know that Matthew Johnston (a creative consultant for the Black Dog Institute, and the author of I Had a Black Dog and Living With a Black Dog), showing his support, and offering to help out – I’m sure he’ll be able to help!

A very eventful day – what will tomorrow bring??

Taking action. That’s what this is all about. Not just sitting at home, dreaming about things, wishing, whinging, and hoping that something would happen.

Nothing just happens. Someone once told me

If it is to be – it is up to me!

So, the idea started on twitter, one day, late September 2009. Everyone ever watched (or even heard of) the movie Easy Rider, With Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson & Henry Fonda, from the late ’60, had the dream of riding across the US on a motorbike. Oh,  The freedom!! It is a lovely dream, isn’t it?

Like anything else, if you don’t do it, it’ll never happen. You place your dream in a drawer somewhere, and bring it out every now and again, when the subject comes up.

And here is the big difference: I’ve decided to go for it! To get the guys, and go for the ride, the experience of a lifetime, something we may or may not be able to do in our “retirement” – whenever it will come. We’ll do it now. when we’re young, and able, and can enjoy it!

But that’s selfish, isn’t it? We’ve got commitments – wife, children, family, jobs… We can’t just leave it all behind and set sails (or saddles) for the adventure!? or can we???

Most people will just “get on” with their lives. Go to work, provide for the family, try to be a good husband/father/partner/son/employee – you get the drift… I want a bit more than that. I want to be able to lie on my death bed, and don’t look back and say – “I wish I would have done….”.

So I’m doing it! I am trying to be a good – all of the above, and more. But I also want to do some good to society while I’m at it, and help other men do the same.

Mid life crises is a horrible thing. You get to a point in which you think – “what’s the point??’ “am I missing something here?” . “Is this me, for the rest of my life?”

Well – it is up to you. Henry Ford said:

If you think you can, or you think you can’t – You’re right!

Got it? Now do something about it! Just do it!