Voices For Suicide Prevention
Voices For Suicide Prevention
Pedaling for Purpose: The Ride for Hope Story
When COVID-19 forced the world into isolation, four friends with beat-up bikes started riding around their neighborhood to escape cabin fever. Those simple rides evolved into something none of them expected – a movement that's changing how people talk about mental health and suicide prevention across Ohio.
"We just started riding bikes together," explains Josh Snead of Ride for Hope. "One trip turned into two trips, turned into 'let's do 20 miles'... and then this idea of 'what if we rode our bikes across Ohio?'" That wild thought, born during pandemic restrictions, has transformed into a registered nonprofit that hosts an annual 340-mile journey from Cleveland to Cincinnati, along with community rides throughout the year.
What makes Ride for Hope special isn't just the physical challenge. It's the conversations that happen along the way. Sam Woodward recalls a defining moment when a man pulled his work van over after seeing their jerseys: "He's holding back tears and says 'I want you to know that I lost my daughter to suicide. This means so much to me that you guys are willing to do this.'" These encounters happen regularly, revealing how many people carry silent grief related to suicide.
Beyond fundraising for suicide prevention organizations, the team creates spaces where people feel safe discussing mental health challenges. "Reducing the stigma, erasing it, getting it out of the way and saying we all have this shared human experience that includes struggle and hardship," says Mariah Woodward. "You are not alone in that."
Ready to join the movement? Visit rideforhope.org to learn about upcoming community rides, volunteer opportunities, or to register for their signature Cleveland-to-Cincinnati journey happening this September.
Welcome to our August episode of Voices for Suicide Prevention. As we like to say, our conversations are real talk, real honest, real life. I'm Stephanie Bucher.
Speaker 2:And I'm Scott Light. So, to our listeners, we are going to get you motivated by this episode and by our three guests today. They have taken a passion for helping people, for mental health, suicide prevention, plus health and wellness, and they are making a terrific cause a real movement. Let me introduce you to Sam and Mariah Woodward and Josh Sneed, all from Ride for Hope. Welcome to all three of you.
Speaker 3:Thank you, we're glad to be here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, yeah, thank you. All right, where to begin here with you guys? Why don't we just do a little recent history We'll call it a level set here for our listeners on how this whole thing got off the ground. Ride for Hope began five years ago and it began during COVID and, as you say on your website, you are dedicated to preventing suicide, erasing the stigmas around mental health and building community through cycling. So who wants to start? How did all this begin?
Speaker 4:I can start In 2020, our roommate, devin Gonzalez. He's not with us today. That sounded bad.
Speaker 1:He is alive.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:He's just not in the room.
Speaker 4:He's not in the room here, devin and I were just like we were going on bike rides and we were chatting and we're just trying to like figure out, uh, what to do during covid and, um, it was my wife and I and then devin was our roommate and so she's like you guys, just like I need some space, you guys need to get out of here go do something.
Speaker 4:And so him and I just started riding bikes together and we both had these like really like beat up bikes and we would just ride around the neighborhood or we'd go a little longer, like, oh, let's ride into downtown. And then, kind of like, one trip turned into two trips, turned into like let's do 20 miles. Oh, we've never ridden 40 miles before, let's try that. And uh, from there we just kept like going. And then this idea of like what if we rode our bikes across ohio? Like that would be fun, just a wild adventure that neither one of us had ever like embarked on or done anything like.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 4:Devin was friends with Sam, and so Dev pitched the idea to Sam, and I'll let Sam take over.
Speaker 5:Yeah. So it was 2019 or 2020, like the start of COVID, and I wasn't working a lot because stuff was the world was shutting down and I was training, actually for triathlon and all the races I signed up for got canceled. I was like, well, I've got all this time. I'm really loving riding my bike, I'll just keep riding. And I kind of fell in love with cycling at that point, was riding a ton and I kind of got the idea of, like I want to do something like bigger than myself and bigger than just cycling.
Speaker 5:And I got on Facebook one day and I saw that Devin had posted on his story about this ride that he was calling it the ride for hope. And so I reached out to him. I had talked to him in a couple of years. We were close, kind of like in high school and college, hadn't seen each other in a while. I was like, hey, man, like long time no talk. What's this ride you're talking about? And he shared with me the kind of the vision hey, we're going to go from Cincinnati to Cleveland. The first year we did it we went South to North. It's like we're going to. We're going to ride across Ohio. There's like an established trail. We're going to be bike packing, camping along the way, and we're doing it for a suicide prevention. We're partnering with OSPF, we're going to raise some money and you know, I mentioned it to Mariah I was like hey, what do you think about me doing this? It kind of checks all these boxes for me. She was on board and the rest was kind of history from that point on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's 2020? 2020.
Speaker 2:That was 2020, yeah. So, Mariah, what did you think about the idea?
Speaker 3:Yeah to say I was on. There was a lot going on, as we all know, in the country, in our own lives, in the world, and so him getting on his bike with friends, that I didn't know super.
Speaker 2:I didn't know josh at all devon.
Speaker 3:I had met like on facetime and you know anyway. So obviously the mission behind it, super cool. But I I didn't. I never heard of bikepacking before and I was like are you guys gonna be safe? Is this dangerous? You're gonna be gone for four. How long are you gonna be gone just on your bike? Are you sleeping on rocks? What's going on? So I didn't know a lot about what it was gonna look like, which made me nervous. But, like he said, it checked a lot of boxes that he had been talking about. He had been falling in love with cycling but wanting to do something bigger with it, and so they all teamed up and it was cool. Once it, once it came along, I got more on board, but I wasn't just like, yeah, do it, babe, cool.
Speaker 5:Actually, the first year there was four of us. My good buddy Jake Jacob Jones he still has participated every year to some extent. Um, he's doing the full thing this year thing this year, which he hasn't done since the first year. But yeah, it was the four of us. It was um four dudes riding bikes that had no idea what we were doing or where we were going. We knew we were going north.
Speaker 4:It was like the the most complete, wildest adventure. I came from the background of like long distance backpacking and, uh, hiking, and so I was very familiar with like just going out and following something and seeing where it goes and you'll just like figure it out, and being out in nature and then kind of like roping these guys into it and I was like, oh, it's fine, like I have all the gear for like camping and backpacking and like I can, we can figure it out it'll, it'll be fun and turns out like we didn't need any of that stuff because as it wasn't like we were backpacking in wilderness, we were dry, or like riding our bikes through towns like two or three times a day and we had packed five days worth of meals that we didn't need to carry, like all this food, water, extra camping supplies and then to just like stop at gas stations the whole time and coffee shops and just like grab whatever we needed.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So definitely a learning experience from that first time. Oh, yeah, oh definitely.
Speaker 5:Yeah, just a funny image. My, in my mind I'm like oh, bike packing, I have a, I have a backpack and I had a hiking backpack that I loaded down with about 50 pounds of gear and I wore the whole, the whole five. The first year was five days. That was miserable. It was All stuff I didn't eat. Like Josh said, yeah, wow, wow.
Speaker 2:How did not to take a serious tone here, but we're talking about when COVID kicked off. We all have our memories of all of that, back to 2020. How did COVID affect your respective mental health?
Speaker 4:For me, covid. It opened a lot of doors. I didn't see it. I mean I did as like the things were turning off in the world and just kind of seeing like everything that was going on yes, it was. It was hard to like see and just like know that people were out there like hurting and dying and kind of like suffering from something that no one knew what it was or how to handle it. But on the other end I felt like there was so much growth from it because it opened up this huge chunk of time that I didn't have before.
Speaker 4:Before I was, you know, in work, 40 hours a week just doing day to day. But during COVID I had gotten furloughed from my job as an automotive technician and it just opened up this time where I was outside, I was taking my dog for walks every day and we were just like hanging out, spending quality time together and just being out in nature and kind of just like being able to reflect and see and know like whatever is going on right now, this is only for like a moment, it's temporary, this isn't going to be like life forever, and through that it just kind of I got to see this new growth in myself, just from being able to, to be out in nature and self-reflect and just have a more open mind and not be just way down from the stressors of life and not be just weighed down from the stressors of life.
Speaker 3:Yeah, for me it was an interesting thing happening, not necessarily for me specifically, but also I had probably four friends pregnant at the time, including my sister, and then, along with just the political, social, racial unrest. I am a very compassionate person, very empathetic person, and so I found myself in a place where I was just completely fatigued just from caring, you know, about all the things happening to people. I loved their anxieties about the unknowns happening in the world and then even my own fears and anxieties about that. So I think, for my mental health, I was in a place where I was very exhausted and not really feeling like I knew what to do about it. But, to go off what Josh said, I also found myself with a ton of free time, which it is very life-giving for me to be outside, and so there was a ton more time to be outside, to be with Sam, because again things were shut down. To be with Sam because again things were shut down so he wasn't working as much. To be with family, which was a gift.
Speaker 3:So there was a lot of like both and happening. A lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, a lot of I don't know how to help these people who are going through really difficult, scary times, and it's overwhelming to even think about how to do anything about that. But then also, while the world is kind of paused, there is an opportunity to take a breath here and be with people I care about and be outside and, like, lay in the grass and ride my bike, and so it was like for a lot of people, it was just a very weird, strange, difficult time, with a lot of good in it too, though, yeah, I kind of agree with both of them in the sense that there was so much time to not be working and to kind of be outside and pausing, and I think learning to pause and to meditate is really beneficial to mental health.
Speaker 5:And so we the world, was just sort of forced into that and some people responded differently than others, but I think for me it was really good to experience the benefit of pausing.
Speaker 5:I think another experience that I had is I really grew, I think, in empathy for other people, you know, having grown up, when I did, I experienced several influenza scares, you know Ebola, and when COVID first came up, I, like a lot of people was like, oh, it's just another one of those It'll pass.
Speaker 5:And there was a, there was a while where I kind of was like, okay, this is like, why are people still taking this so seriously? And then when I finally realized, oh, this is real, like the things that people are experiencing, it's not just propaganda, it's not just on the news, it really opened my eyes to wow, there really is like a crisis sweeping the nation, not just with COVID, it also opened the door on a lot of mental health issues and, you know, realizing, like I said, some people responded differently and some people were feeling isolated and stuck and alone and so I feel like it really helped open my eyes to kind of what the Ride for Hope is is. We're advocates for mental health, specifically suicide prevention, but understanding you know you have to start at the base, which are these other mental health issues. So for me I'm really I'm grateful for that experience for COVID, because of how it opened my eyes and kind of enlightened me to the power of empathy and just, I think, helped me kind of see others more than I saw myself.
Speaker 1:So, with the tie-in of mental health, mental wellness and cycling, like, how do you, what kind of release and what do you feel when you're out there cycling, when it comes to the mental wellness, your brain health when you're out there, For myself it feels kind of like a reset.
Speaker 4:So, whatever's going on in the day, I know that I can get on my bike and I can just ride and pedal and for however long I'm out whether it's 30 minutes or it's five hours it's just cycling.
Speaker 4:It's like one stroke after the other just keep going and kind of you're slowing down to a sense of maybe like 15 miles an hour where you're seeing the world at this different pace and you know, in your cars and your day-to-day you just drive by everything so fast that you don't pick up on the little things. And when you're on your bike you can really like check in not only on yourself and like feel everything from like your hands to your feet, to your legs, your knees, your back, like your whole body. You're doing this self-check as you're riding and just connecting and feeling the environment around you and then also being able to see the interactions of nature and life and just like, oh, there's kids in the front yard kicking this ball, this person's over here fishing at a pond like just seeing the world at a slower pace than what you usually would it is very grounding like which is, you know, a tool in therapy that you know my therapist will give me name that five things.
Speaker 3:You can see five things. You can hear five things, you can smell five things. You know that is very easy to do on a bike, you know, when you, you can't be distracted really by anything else than what you're doing. Also, just to go back to covid, everything's happening. You're hearing about everything happening on such a grand scale, whether nationwide or globally. When you're on your bike, it's just what's in front of you. Like I said, you are seeing your neighbor, you're seeing the person riding next to you, you're seeing the stores, you know's just. It's a good way to be present and I'm speaking about this. Like you know, I was in love with cycling at the time. I certainly was not. So I don't I don't want to lie because that was not what was happening for me, but since then, now I'm kind of going on what cycling has become for me.
Speaker 5:On what he was saying about, you know things you're noticing, feeling, sensing, connecting with cycling is so great for that, for me too. Another benefit is it's a. It's a really good opportunity for me to get out some energy, and sometimes that's like an anxious energy, you know you just you kind of feel your body start to tense up, whether it's the stress of relationship or work or whatever it may be. Getting your heart rate up, getting all your muscles activated, getting a good sweat on and on top of all of that, you know you put in a really hard effort. There's a sense of pride of like wow, I really accomplished that.
Speaker 5:I really pushed myself. You know I fought against the nature of wanting to be sedentary and just kind of sit and wear my situation. I think there's a lot of correlations between cycling and life as far as mindset goes and perspective.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I feel like for me it's the cheapest form of therapy that I have, and so I love being able to get the wiggles out, as I like to say On that health note, we now know that the sociologists, the anthropologists out there say if we're closer to green space, if we're closer to nature and if we're closer to blue space water, then our health, is better. That's a fact. That's just data that we now have.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I mean just kind of reiterating on what Josh said to your point. When you're on your bike you notice so many things that in a car you just fly by. He mentioned kids in the front yard in a picture from the first year he did the Ride for Hope. We were out in Amish country and we were going through these rolling hills and it's beautiful out there. People who don't say Ohio is beautiful need to bike through it, because it's really beautiful and it's Amish country. We're getting passed by horses and buggies and we we came up over this hill, we were coming down and there were these Amish kids playing baseball in the front yard. I'm like man, this is just a. The sun was shining and there was no clouds in the sky, the grass was green. I was like this is just a cinematic moment and I just get to experience it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean every year we go past it's it's in amish country as well, kind of like on the north side of ohio and we pass this huge sunflower field and we're always really late in the day when we're going through it and so the sun's kind of like hitting that golden hour or else this or the sun's starting to set and you just look around and you're going through these rolling hills and then you look to your side and there's, like you know, six foot sunflowers and it's just acres and acres as far as you can see, and they're all just facing one direction, facing the sun, and you're just out there.
Speaker 4:There's no other cars, there's no people, it's just like five of us on our bikes just riding by and taking it all in. It's insane, that's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really cool. So how did the idea come up about making this a nonprofit movement, basically dedicated to mental health and suicide prevention?
Speaker 5:Yeah. So if you guys have ever met Devin Gonzalez you know he is big picture to the moon kind of guy, and so when Devin started I think there was never a doubt in his mind that this was going to like blow up and be a nonprofit and I'm also pretty big picture kind of guy, and so there was always the idea of becoming an official nonprofit. But early on it was just kind of clear that we didn't really have the time or the resources or the understanding of how to make that happen. And it's actually interesting because the beginning of this year, end of last year, one of the ideas we had had for the Ride for Hope was to start a podcast and our thought process was this will give us content that we can kind of have more of a presence throughout the year, because we were, for up until the beginning of this year we were an annual event. That's what we were and we wanted to have more than that.
Speaker 5:So I met with a friend of mine in Cincinnati who runs a nonprofit and has run multiple podcasts, and I got together with him to pick his brain on starting a podcast and as I began to share with him what the Ride for Hope was and where we wanted to go. He straight up told me he's like you guys need to table this podcast idea and you need to focus on becoming a nonprofit. He kind of walked me through the steps of the paperwork and getting registered and it kind of reignited the fire and the passion for me and I came home and shared with Mariah I will let her kind of share her perspective because she is definitely the Devin and I are the big picture visionaries. She is definitely the rock that keeps us on pace and keeps us grounded and keeps us on those baby steps that help us get to that. So I shared the vision with her and she really came on board and I'll let her share now.
Speaker 3:I think you're giving too much credit. So Sam came home after talking to his friend who runs a nonprofit, and I had been seeing the Ride for Hope growing and could see the potential of it growing into a nonprofit, but we wanted to pitch the idea to Devin and could see the potential of it growing into a non-profit. But we wanted to pitch the idea to Devin and our friends in Columbus. So I made a powerpoint and, just you know, developed a small. You know this is what our mission, vision, statements, core values. This is why we would benefit from being a non-profit versus, you know, just this annual event. But it wasn't. I mean, you may be giving me too much credit here. I I do, I do thrive in the small details and like administrative tasks, but I mean Devon, josh, sam, this is their, their vision, their passion. That you know started back in 2020 and you know I, I'm helpful, but I'm not, I'm not, I'm not all that.
Speaker 5:But we're really excited about becoming a nonprofit because it has given us that thing that we've been longing for, which is a constant presence, not just in social media, but in community. And so, now that we kind of have this restructure and vision of what the Ride for Hope is, we now have event calendars, we now have a much better website, we have merchandise, and so all of that is to help us achieve this idea of erasing the stigma around suicide prevention and opening up the conversation about suicide prevention.
Speaker 2:Well, and Stephanie and I were on your website. We also had a couple of pre-recording conversations between us here at the table, and you've already had some events this year, right? So give our listeners kind of the who, what, when, where and how of the rides, and then you've also got another one coming up in September, right?
Speaker 5:We are all about building community, and so one of the things that we're really trying to be intentional about as a nonprofit is hosting community events, community bike rides. So we actually just on Saturday morning, this past Saturday, we hosted our very first Cincinnati community group ride, and we're just trying to get people involved. We're trying to build a group of people who are willing to not only go out and enjoy time in nature with each other and exercise and experience all the benefits of cycling the physical benefits, but are also willing to have a conversation about suicide prevention.
Speaker 5:So these rides that we're doing, they're more than just a bike ride. We really want them to be a place where people feel welcome, that people feel safe, they feel like they can be vulnerable and cared for. And then the event in September that is the Ride for Hope. That's the annual event that kind of started this whole thing. That's the four-day ride from Cleveland to Cincinnati and it's a's uh, it's a bike packing trip, like we've said. So we'll drive up to cleveland, we stay in a hotel the first night and we have a nice little board meeting or a team meeting, which is a good time, and then we wake up super early friday morning, we do our back tire dip and lake erie and then we get on our way, we camp at night, we pack all our our stuff up and then, when we get to Cincinnati, we do the front tire dip. It's kind of like an iconic you know, but yeah, that's the September event.
Speaker 1:I'm just curious. So the first ride in 2020, four of you, how many last year, and how many do you expect this year?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so last year was a learning curve. We went from four riders to I think we had 12. So a lot of different dynamics, kind of figuring out okay, how do we facilitate a group this big. Also, there were riders that a lot of us had never met before, so new people joining the team. That was super exciting. This year we still have about a week left of registration but we already have, I think, 16 people registered. So, you know, still some more logistical things to figure out, but we're just super.
Speaker 5:The dynamic, uh, between last year and years before was just so much different. It was there's so many more personalities, so many more stories. We kind of started this campfire the last night. We were going to probably continue this, but the last night of the ride we had a big bonfire and everybody kind of went around just shared like funny stories or memories or kind of like how their expectations were different than reality when they got on the ride. And then we also got a little more serious about like what have you guys learned? How do you feel like this has helped you in this conversation about suicide prevention and mental health? I mean, it was just really special because you spend three or four days with these strangers riding bikes, you're getting baked in the sun, getting rained on, eating gas station meals, and then you kind of wrap it all up with that just really heartfelt conversation and vulnerability and it made that last day, that last like 60 or 70 mile push, really special.
Speaker 4:That's amazing. That is, yeah, you develop this. I mean mean, it's more than like a team building, it's just this kind of like camaraderie of everyone in the same mission, kind of together you're, you're doing the same purpose, you're all riding from cleveland to cincy and in that moment, everyone, you know whatever, whatever's going on in your life, you're just like mariah was saying earlier you get so focused in on the ride and the journey and what you're doing. At that moment you're just living it with everybody, and everyone's so real you're able to like break down these mental walls, and physical walls too, because a lot of these people are like I've never ridden over 60 miles, and our first day we did like a hundred miles and I were like whoa wow, like that's insane.
Speaker 4:I just did that yeah and you're there to like, we're there to like. Help lift people up, celebrate them.
Speaker 2:It's so much fun, I guarantee you. We have listeners right now who are thinking, all right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna dust off the bike. I'm going to the attic or to the garage right now, but they may be thinking this, so I want your perspectives here. If they're going, you know what? I'm not a great biker, I'm not a great cyclist. Can I do this? What's your answer to them?
Speaker 3:can I do this? What's your answer to them?
Speaker 1:Definitely yes absolutely.
Speaker 3:I feel very strongly about this. Hello, my friends, Again this is Mariah. I do not consider myself a cyclist. I would say now, okay, we're five years. She says that at this point more so. But when I first did the ride, and even back in 2020, not a cyclist love riding my bike, love doing things outside. A cyclist love riding my bike, love doing things outside. But what these guys?
Speaker 2:have been doing. You hear me, it wasn't. It wasn't happening for me um.
Speaker 3:So I would say absolutely you can do it. But I would say you can do anything that you put your mind to, and doing hard things together is always maybe not easier, like it doesn't necessarily make the hard task less hard, but when you know that you have people supporting you, you know, to push you, to encourage you, knowing that you're not going to be left behind like we are. We're going to finish together. We're starting together, we're going to finish together. Yes, absolutely you can do it. Now, preparing is important. You know there's some preparation, but you got to have a bike you know, dust it off or find one at a Goodwill.
Speaker 3:You know, it doesn't have to be fancy. That's another thing we're passionate about. Let's talk about that in a second. But of the list of things that you need, bike and the determination to do it is really, is really it, that's it, that's great.
Speaker 5:I'm very passionate about cycling is really it, that's it, that's great.
Speaker 5:I'm very passionate about cycling and one of my, one of our at the Ride for Hope, one of our sort of sub goals, if you will, is to make cycling accessible, and I think we were talking before the podcast that there's a certain stigma around cycling, a certain like arrogance of, well, you got to be super elite, you got to be super fast, you got to have, you know, a $300 Jersey and a $6,000 bike, and if you don't have those things, you can't ride with us or you're not a real rider.
Speaker 5:And I just think that I really hate that mindset and that mentality because it's so unaccessible. And when you look at, when you talk about the benefits of cycling, this is something I really believe that that everybody should be doing. It's great exercise. It that everybody should be doing it's great exercise, it's good for the environment, it's good for your mental health, there's really no downside to it. And so I'm very passionate about encouraging people who would come to me and say I've never rode my bike more than 20 miles. You know, here's kind of maybe, maybe, a hot take, but if you can ride your bike 20 miles three times in one week you can ride it from Cincinnati to Ohio.
Speaker 3:There we go it really is, if you can do that.
Speaker 5:You can ride it and you can ask anybody that's done the ride who went into it? Apprehensive, oh, I haven't been working out, I haven't been riding. This is my first time doing this. They get done and they're like wow, holy smokes, like I did that, I really did that, and yet did that. Yeah, and yet it's uncomfortable. Yeah, there's times when you're in london, ohio, and there's no shade and and the sun's just baking down on you and you're low on water and you're like what am I? What have I gotten myself into?
Speaker 4:but it is 100 achievable you're more capable than you think you are. Yeah, um, that you will find out during this ride it. It opens up this whole new like window in your brain and just unlocks this new level of what you're actually capable of, because a lot of people will have that thought and they're like there's no way I could ever do this. The other thing too.
Speaker 2:Again, I'll come back to a data point the physical fitness folks and Mariah, I know that you have a sports medicine background we know that if you are exercising with a buddy or with a team, the data says you'll stick with it. So you guys are creating a team and a community and you're just bringing more people in who, to your point, are going. I'm in, let's do this together.
Speaker 5:That's cool. Yeah, last thought to that because it's kind of a cool little one-liner that I heard when I first got into bikepacking. If you look up online and you ask the question what's the best bike for bikepacking, the number one answer is the bike you have. Perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, perfect, I can afford that one Exactly.
Speaker 4:And that's accessible and most people have a backpack.
Speaker 5:It doesn't have to be a hiking backpack, right, it's whatever Like.
Speaker 4:If you want to just do a quick overnight, which I've taken some buddies on that have never done bikepacking and I'm like you've got this, it'll be fun. We're gonna do 40 miles, we'll leave at noon and we'll be back home by noon the next day and it's like grab a backpack, a change of clothes, sleeping bag you can fit all that in there. We'll share a tent and then we're off.
Speaker 1:That's really cool so how many miles are we talking about? I'm just curious, if you start in cleveland, you go through columbus and then you end in cincinnati, like what kind of in four, in in four days, correct?
Speaker 5:yeah, in four days in total it ends up being right around 340, but that all depends on how lost we get.
Speaker 2:Some years it's been a little bit more than that.
Speaker 5:At this point, we are pretty good about not getting lost, but there's always things you can't account for, like detours and stuff like that Road construction.
Speaker 1:But it's right around 340. A lot of road construction. There's a little bit of that in Ohio.
Speaker 2:Yes, there's Ohio yes, so quick math 340-ish divided by four, so around 80 miles a day.
Speaker 5:Yes, but no. If it were a perfect world and we had stops at every 80 miles, we would love to do that, but it ends up being the first two days and this is actually a really cool. Unique part about the ride is that the first two days end up being right around 95 miles, which means that people who have never rode a hundred miles before we get into camp this happens every year we get into camp and someone's like wow, I'm five miles away from a hundred miles. It's being able to say that I've done a century, so they'll go out and they'll roll around a few extra miles and they'll get that hundred, and there are many, many.
Speaker 5:Every year we have somebody get their first century.
Speaker 1:It's really special, and then they get another one the next time. Then they refuel and do it again. Yeah, that's right. So we're talking about raising funds.
Speaker 5:The money for this goes toward where when devin started devin and josh started the ride, um, we partnered with you guys here at ospf. Um, you guys have been our partners from the beginning. This year, we're actually excited to announce that we will also be partnering with Ohio State University Suicide Prevention Program, and so I'll let Mariah kind of share about that partnership.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's been super exciting. Our friend Laura Lewis over at OSU, she has been great. I think something great about becoming a nonprofit even before that is just connecting with people who share the passion, recognizing that we are not inventing the will here, you know, in terms of trying to reduce the stigma around mental health challenges and suicide prevention.
Speaker 3:There are people who have been doing it, who are really good at it, who are really passionate about it, who have a whole team around them, and so we're looking for people for those people and you know, we've been partnered with OSPF for five years now and so, and looking at the different demographics that you know suicide is affecting, looking at the college population, that was something that we were really passionate about and wanting to find a way to connect with that population.
Speaker 3:And so we connected with OSU. And again, laura Lewis, she's been great that's just a shout out because she's wonderful, such a kind, beautiful, bright personality who's doing a lot of really good work at OSU. So we partnered with them. One of their events this year, the OSU Out of the Darkness Walk, we were present at, which was great. They allowed us to have a table and we got to meet a lot of good people, hear stories. So, yeah, that's been a really exciting part of this new year is bringing them on as a partner and again, what that means is the funds that we're raising. For the past five years it's all been to OSPF and now we're also going to be giving funds to OSU to help their initiatives on campus.
Speaker 2:Are there any deadlines coming up that our listeners need to know about for registration? Or maybe they want to volunteer or anything. What do they need to know as far?
Speaker 5:as volunteers go, we are always looking to bring people on to the team, whether it be day of event volunteers or people joining the team, anybody that has any kind of skills that they feel would be beneficial to a nonprofit, very much so in the infant stages trying to get its feet grounded. We are always looking for people to reach out. You can get a hold of us through Instagram, facebook, our website, many ways to contact us. But yeah, we're always looking for volunteers. There's not really a deadline for volunteers.
Speaker 1:Now that you've been doing this for five years, you have your new nonprofit, the new focus, not just the yearly event, but smaller regional touch points for cycling community. You know bringing people together on this, knowing what you know now, what is the best part of this whole experience for you or maybe it's from someone who has participated in a past ride that you heard from?
Speaker 5:I think for me something that started happening the very first year you know, the first year we mentioned earlier, it was just four dudes riding bikes. We didn't know what the heck we were doing. We were not even 10, 15 miles into our ride. We're on the road and a work van kind of flies by us and they're honking at us and I'm like, oh great, this guy's going to yell at us for being on the road and he pulls over and we're thinking like, are we going to have to fight this Like what's going on here.
Speaker 5:No clue what was going on and he's like hey, I saw your guys' story on the news, I heard about you guys doing this, and he's like holding back tears. And he's like I want you to know that I lost my daughter to suicide. And he's like this means so much to me that you guys are willing to do this for this cause, to raise money, to get the word out there. And that moment was kind of like if I wasn't convinced before then, there was, there was no going back after that moment. Because leading up to that, I'm like is this seems kind of silly? Like we're riding bikes, like is this really going to have any kind of effect or impact on people?
Speaker 5:And that now, like, as we're onboarding new riders, part of the onboarding process is they have to go through a QPR training, they have to be prepared for these conversations. Because we tell them these conversations are going to happen on the ride. You might not think, you might think this is just a bike ride, but now you're wearing our merch, you're representing our brand, you're representing our vision, our mission. People are going to come up to you out of nowhere and be like I've lost somebody, I've struggled, I've been affected by suicide and and that, right, there is part of erasing the stigma, preparing people for those conversations and letting other people know that you're there for those conversations, and so for me, that has been like the most profound, impactful and inspiring part of this whole journey is getting to hear people's stories.
Speaker 4:I would second that. I mean every year we've had encounters with people that have walked up to us, whether we're just at a gas station outside refilling our water bottles, or last year we were at a fruit stand, like getting some fresh fruit just this little local market and a lady walks up to us and tells us about her brother and it's just insane how, how many people are one affected by it. But to go off of what sam's saying, like this started as just like an idea to have fun and just kind of get outside and and move our bodies and see what we were capable of.
Speaker 4:And with devon's just uh, gumption and determination, he, like full speed ahead, turned this into what it is today and being able to have someone like that in your corner that can advocate for you and advocate for, like, other people that might not feel like they have a voice or they, or they have the power to even, like, speak up for themselves, because they're in such a dark spot that this the purpose and the mission behind this helps, you know, carry the load of all of that, like you don't have to do this alone. And that also translates into the ride. You're not riding this ride by yourself alone, like we're all there with you, doing it day in, day out.
Speaker 3:I want to say two things that have been really impactful for me. One, the dedication to reducing the stigma. It's like, why is that so important? What I keep saying, reducing the stigma. The stigma is this like hush, hush, we don't talk about that or it isolates you. It makes you feel like you are the only one going through this, experiencing this.
Speaker 3:And, as these two guys have just shared year, on the bike ride, people come, say out of the woodwork sounds dramatic, but truly they see that 98 number or suicide prevention on our jerseys. And there's this suddenly it's safe, suddenly it's not in the dark anymore, it's in the light and we can talk about this. You approach a stranger and tell them that you lost your brother to suicide a stranger, and that is what. That is, something that just it lights a fire under me. It's like if, if we can all be in the light together. Right, reducing the stigma, erasing it, getting it out of the way and saying we all have this shared human experience that includes struggle and hardship and trial and pain, and you are not alone in that, and it may not be that you're sharing that with a stranger. But again, Devin, shout out our community builder, you, you build these communities around you, which takes energy and time and effort, which is hard for a lot of people. But that is something we're really passionate about is opening that door for conversation and having curiosity Right Not putting yourself in a seat of judgment where you're just assuming things about people, but asking questions and really listening to hear people's answers and being honest yourself.
Speaker 3:But another thing that is really powerful to me about this is all of the parallels in life that you find in cycling. We have to acknowledge that it is a privilege for us to. The Ride for Hope is fun We've talked about obviously we want people to do it. It's so fun. So you know we talk about it like you're going to have a great time, and that is true. It is also. It's difficult. It is a huge accomplishment to be able to ride your bike across the state of Ohio 340 miles in a couple days and it's a physical effort, a physical challenge, and it is a privilege to be able to choose to put yourself in a place of discomfort and there's so many times in life when you can't choose that.
Speaker 3:And I feel like one of the most impactful things for me is the parallels that I see and experience in the Ride for Hope is like I'm choosing this struggle, I'm taking this upon myself voluntarily, with people, and I'm finding myself every day the more that I, if I just keep pedaling with these people next to me, I can get there. Even though it's hard, it doesn't mean my body's hurting any less, but with these people united in effort and in purpose and in getting to the end, we can do it. And in life I feel like it's helping you build resilience, because you realize in times where I don't get to choose my struggle in life what that parallel is, make getting to the end of that like that much easier, that much more possible. Or it helped me believe in myself that much more that I can get there if I will invite people into that struggle to do with me. So that's been really meaningful to me in participating in the ride for hope.
Speaker 1:Sam, Mariah and Josh, thank you so much for being here with us today and talking about the Ride for Hope. We're so proud to call you a partner here at the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation. Your collective journey and individual journeys as well really truly an inspiration, Thank you.
Speaker 2:To our listeners. Thank you as well. When you listen to our episodes, you break stigmas, you break barriers, you care about mental health and saving lives. This is Voices for Suicide Prevention, brought to you by the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation. Thank you.