Two men riding bikes to raise funds for mental health are expected to arrive in Olds.
Both are making the trip from B.C.
One is former Olds resident Curtis Ross, 37, who now lives in Kelowna and will be riding from there. The other is Ryan Phillips. He'll be riding to Olds from Vancouver where he lives.
Phillips plans to begin his journey on June 1. He's not sure yet when he'll arrive in Olds. He wants to tour the U.S. too. It's part of an effort to bike across the world to help others.
Ross begins his ride on July 4. He figures he'll be here on about July 9.
Ross is raising money for mental health via Alberta Health Services in Olds as well as the Canadian Mental Health Association in Kelowna.
He works in the oilpatch between Olds and Sundre and is also hoping to raise awareness about the effect low oil prices have had on workers in the industry.
Phillips is raising money for the Canadian Mental Health Association. He hopes to raise $100,000 during his trek across Canada.
A documentary will be made during the journey about his trip and the stories he hears from others suffering from mental health issues.
Ross's ride is called the Cycle2Change2019. Phillips' is called Spin The Globe.
Both men have launched GoFundMe pages.
"So far I've raised just over $5,000 in 13 or 14 days, so I'm halfway to my goal of $10,000, but I haven't even really scratched the surface to be quite honest. I think it's going to get a lot bigger than I had anticipated," Ross said during an interview with the Albertan.
"I'm a total amateur rider too. I've never actually ridden a road bike. I started training back in January, just on a spin cycle in the gym, but since then I've been going pretty hard."
Ross said in an effort to train for the journey, he's ridden his bike all over Kelowna, doing rides of 20 to 50 kilometres "up and down the hills and the mountains and stuff like that."
In one case, he rode his bike up to the Big White ski resort and back down, a total of about 120 kilometres to prepare himself for challenges like the Rogers Pass.
In 2012 and 2013, Phillips was part of a group of cyclists who cycled across Asia.
"Both years combined we raised about $300,000 US to build new shelters for kids and to combat child sex slavery and human trafficking," he said.
Phillips said his journey is driven by his own struggles with mental health, including PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
He's written and starred in a film and written a book as well.
"I am doing this ride to advocate for mental health awareness around the world because primarily I suffer from bipolar myself and my daughter, she suffers from schizophrenia, bipolar, anxiety — the whole bowl of mental health soup, I would say.
"I've seen so many people -- not just in my own community, but globally — who are suffering these days and they don't have the courage to ask for help. That was something that was definitely in my wheelhouse for some time," Phillips said.
"I was scared to ask for help. I didn't know what was wrong with me, I thought I was just going through a rough patch. But when I decided that I needed to reach out, I realized that there were people who cared and I'm very grateful to have a very loving family that supported me and still does. And people in the community as well.
"At the end of the day, every single human being on this earth has challenges and adversity and some people just have more.
"And some of the people who have more adversity than others, they just can't handle it in ways where they can just get up and be OK and get in their car and go to work and make a living. So a lot of people who have serious mental health issues are on disability. And my heart really goes out to those people.
"You've got to have faith, you've got to keep on keeping on. I know for myself, it was kind of ingrained in me at a young age just to never quit and keep going," he added.
"And that was hard when there were those days that I was in bed with the blankets over my head for three days at a time. And for a guy who didn't really cry a whole lot or show his emotions, next thing I know I'd have tears streaming down my face and I was, like, 'what's going on here?'"
