On the 21st of August 2021, myself, James, and Will will be attempting to ride 376Km in a day.

We're all doing this for the same reason, to try and raise awareness for HUMEN, and to highlight that you're not any less of a "man" to talk about how you feel.  

This is quite a personal subject for myself. This year will be 5 years since my old man passed away. I had quite a complicated relationship with my dad, which meant I tried to distance myself from him. He suffered from alcoholism and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was a teenager. Regrettably, I used to think this was just an excuse for him not wanting to change his ways, or for his constant mood swings. Sadly he was never able to open up about his mental health, and I never fully understood the struggles that he went through. When he did pass away I was devastated and I had so much guilt that I didn't try harder to understand him, yet I didn't feel I was allowed to feel this way. After all, I was the one that tried to distance myself from him. I kept all of this locked up inside and didn't properly grieve for him. I thought I didn't deserve to feel the way I did and that people might judge me if I shared these feelings. Doing this just put me in to a deeper depression and started to affect my relationships with my partner, my family, and my friends. I'm in a very lucky position though where no one gave up on me and after many months I was encouraged to open up more about how I felt. I really struggled with this to start, and I couldn't see how talking to a stranger was going to help, I just felt very vulnerable. However, over time it did start to feel like a weight was being lifted from my shoulders. 

Now, I'm nowhere near perfect; I still struggle to open up completely, and will often keep stuff locked up for too long, but speaking out about how you feel does help. I'm sure it would have helped mine and my dad's relationship; it has definitely helped my relationships with the people who are close to me. 

We need to change this stigma about men opening up though - far too often it gets to the point of no return. There needs to be awareness about male mental health, and I personally believe HUMEN are making really positive changes for guys like me to know that it is okay to ask for help. Things do get better!

If we can raise £5,000, that will cover the costs for one of the HUMEN Spaces to run for a year.

HUMEN

On average 1 man dies by suicide, every minute of every day, globally. Besides the virus, mental ill-health will be the single biggest crisis we will be faced with as a result of COVID-19. The latest ONS figures have shown that depression has doubled during the Coronavirus pandemic. HUMEN is the charity leading a movement to prevent men from suffering in silence and dying too young by improving and maintaining men's mental health, through The HUMEN Space. Anonymous and non-clinical spaces across the UK for men to talk, listen and connect on a regular basis. HUMEN had to close all of their Spaces across the UK but quickly transitioned online to continue to provide this lifeline to men all over the world. Since the pandemic they have continued to provide this vital support every single week, despite being significantly impacted by the £4billion the charitable sector has lost as a result of the pandemic.76% of all UK suicides are male that's why we need to Challenge 76. 

The Route
We would love it if you did want to join us for any of the journey .  Whether that is for 7.6Km, 76 minutes, or just for however long you would like to get a bit of headspace.

You can view the route here: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36058945 , and on the day we will be sharing our live Strava routes so you can find us.  If you would like rough estimations on when we're hoping to be at certain points, shout out :)