Third Highs & Lows Tour combines mental health with joy of cycling

PLYMOUTH — Does a bike ride of 24, 65 or 100 miles through New Hampshire’s rolling landscape sound arduous? It’s nothing compared to the challenge of living under the shadow of mental illness. A cycling event, now in its third year, combines the joy and challenge of bicycling through the Granite State with a mission of making that landscape friendlier to people seeking mental wellness, and it’s proving to be a winning equation.

The Highs & Lows Tour, a ride for mental health, was founded in 2022 by a group from Plymouth Regional High School. The ride has a four-pronged mission. It raises awareness of the prevalence of mental health and the need for suicide prevention, reduces stigma for those dealing with mental illness, raises funds for NAMI NH initiatives and fosters a community around the issue, using the sport of cycling as a way to bring people together. This year's ride starts in Holderness on Saturday, Aug. 10. 

Tom Dearborn first brought the idea forward.

“During the pandemic, there was a lot of talk about how mental health was deteriorating,” Dearborn said. Depression, anxiety or addictive behaviors that might have been ignored or hidden became apparent. Dearborn, who had participated in bike rides or similar events to benefit other causes, said he proposed it to some of his high school classmates, “What if we were do to something for mental health?”

Dearborn’s idea quickly grew legs. Not only did his friends like the concept, he got pledges of support from State Police and a bike shop in Manchester, Donna Hosmer offered to raise funds, and Alex Ray agreed to host the event at the Common Man.

By 2022, there was enough of an infrastructure in place for what Dearborn called a “beta test” of the event, and it proved to be an informative experiment. Dearborn’s initial plan was for a three-day, 300-mile ride that would encircle the whole state.

“My grand vision didn’t gel with what reality was,” he said. Far more popular that year was an alternate option, a one-day, 100-mile event known as a “century ride” in cycling jargon. That option attracted 40 riders.

For 2023, learning from the previous year’s experience, the event was presented as a single-day event with three different distances, and 120 cyclists showed up.

“We’re hoping to double that number” of cyclists this year, Dearborn said.

This year’s event, being held at Holderness School because of the increased crowds, offers four distances, designed to provide an accessible challenge to cyclists of all abilities.

Routes include a 26-miler with 1,325 feet of elevation gain.

“It’s a very easy-going, nice route along the Baker River, through Rumney, it’s a beautiful spot, not intimidating. For beginner riders, it’s an easy push” that will likely take between 90 minutes and two hours to complete, said Eric Skinner, one of the event founders.

Next on the list of distances is a 44-mile ride with 1,991 feet of gain, which will likely take around 3.5 hours. There’s a 65-mile ride, dubbed a “metric century,” with 3,493 feet of gain, and for seasoned cyclists, a 108-mile route with 5,373 feet of gain that could take up to 9 hours.

Skinner emphasized this event, regardless of distance, is a “ride” and not a “race.” Within each distance, there will be designated ride captains, with a fast cyclist tasked with leading the speediest riders, and a “sweeper” who will hang back with the riders more interested in the views than their speed. Support vehicles will serve each route, providing food, gear and other necessities.

While the cyclists are out touring the Pemi-Baker Valley, the Holderness School campus will host a climbing wall, bounce house and lawn games such as corn hole for whoever wants to climb, bounce or play. Food trucks, live music and raffles will add to the festival-like experience. Also on hand will be representatives and information about services available to people who are in need of mental health care.

The difficulty of the ride tends to evaporate as a result of the landscape, camaraderie with other riders, and, said Rob Cass, a resident of Virginia who got pulled into the effort through his athletic connection with Dearborn, the purpose behind the pedaling.

“I consider myself a bike rider, not a cyclist,” Cass said. “It doesn’t matter. For the right reason, you can climb Mount Washington 10 times. If the mission is in you, you’re going to finish that mission.”

For Cass, the event holds special significance, to a degree even his closest friends didn’t know until recently.

“I’ve known these guys since high school,” Cass said. “My whole thing is, take your fitness and turn it into purpose,” so when Dearborn asked him to join, he readily agreed. But it wasn’t until just this year that he opened up about how much the event meant to him.

“In 1977, my mother committed suicide,” Cass said. At that time, the only way to talk about it was to not talk about it. “My only escape was getting on my bike and riding from day until night," he said. “For me, this has been a lifelong process of healing. I’m one of nine children, and from 1977, we never mentioned our mother’s name until 2024. For 47 years, I’d never spoken to my siblings about our mother’s death by suicide until this year. The ability to have that conversation has opened up healing in a way I couldn’t fathom,” Cass said. The ride has provided a space where he was able to reveal pain he hasn’t been able to deal with for decades. “It’s a conduit between my trauma and my healing, it connects my pain to my joy, it connects me to my favorite people ... I’m now able to see [to] the other side of my pain in a way I didn’t think was possible. These guys are leading me to a place I have’t known since I was 9 years old.”

Cass’ story is one example of several where people have been brought together by the ride, and have found healing through community.

“We’re connecting a lot of people, maybe with anxiety and depression that they don’t want to talk about, and they get it out there,” Dearborn said. “It’s been really moving, way beyond what we’ve expected.”

Patricia Marsden, another of the ride’s founders, said she hopes the Highs & Lows will have an impact felt beyond the Pemi-Baker region.

“Our vision for the Highs & Lows Tour is to continue to be one of NAMI NH’s strongest supporters while increasing participation from cyclists and the community to help break the stigma surrounding mental illness such that one day, NH will have reduced suicide rates, increased health care options, and fewer Granite Staters who suffer in silence.”

To get involved with the ride, visit highsandlowstour.com.