On 2nd November I plan to ride 300 miles (480km) on Zwift in aid of REACH, a newly formed charity on the Isle of Man with the aim to help those who are suffering from their mental health and psychological well-being.

As many of you will be aware, I have personally suffered from mental health problems over the past few years with it throwing a variety of different challenges along the way. It’s fair to say that my journey has been a rollercoaster ride, with numerous ups and downs along the way.

What’s motivated me to do this charity ride? Cycling has played a massive part of my recovery for a couple of reasons. It’s acted as a distraction when I have been in a ‘dark’ time of my life but it has also allowed me to set goals, giving me something to focus on. The reason I have chosen to ride 300 miles as in short, it’s brutal. The ride will be both mentally and physically challenging which are the two elements that make dealing with mental health so hard.

Even to this day I feel that there is still a ‘stigma’ that surrounds mental health, especially when it comes to mental health in men. Although this ride alone won’t wipe out the stigma all together, I hope it will certainly help reduce it.

Overcoming a mental health problem isn’t easy, there’s no denying that. One thing I can assure you however is it does get easier. Exercise is one method that helps and by doing this charity ride, I hope to encourage many others to take part in some form of exercise, even if it’s something as simple as a 10-minute walk.

If you have a spare couple of minutes, please check out REACH's social media page where you can learn more about the charity, and what they do!