After the 2020 Black Dog Ride was cancelled due to the pandemic for the first time in its 11-year history, the event will return to the Red Centre in 2021.
The BDR, which raises awareness and funds for mental health, was started by Steve Andrews after his solo ride around Australia in 2009.
Since then, most rides have been to the Red Centre with one ride around the country and even a ride across the USA.
For those who couldn’t make the epic annual trek, there were also one-day red events.
In its first decade, more than $3million has been raised by Black Dog Ride with funds passed on to organisations such as Lifeline, Mental Health First Aid Australia and the Black Dog Institute, as well as many many small community based volunteer groups and not-for-profits.
However, this year’s event in August was axed and registrations refunded in full.
Organisers say registrations are now open for the 2021 epic Red Centre ride.
“Of course, we want this ride to be all about mateship and fun, and of course, raising awareness of mental health and suicide prevention, as we stop and talk with people along the way,” they say.
The following ride groups are making the trek.
NSW/ACT through South Australia, and up the centre to Alice Springs.
WA through South Australia, and up the centre to Alice Springs.
SA around SA and up the centre to Alice Springs.
Vic/Tas through inland New South Wales and Queensland, then across to the Northern Territory and south to Alice Springs.
The Qld/NT ride group will travel through inland Queensland, then across to the Northern Territory, picking up Territorians before heading south to Alice Springs.
To find out more CLICK HERE to visit the Red Centre 2021 website.
From there you will also find links to the registration portal for each state/territory group.
Beyond 2021 the organisers say they have new destinations in mind for future years.
So the 2021 ride may be the last opportunity to travel with BDR to the Red Centre for some years to come.
She says it’s all got to do with chemicals in the brain.
“There are more than 10,000 chemical reactions going on in the brain every second,” she says.
“The chemicals that make you feel happy – oxytocin, dopamine, endorphin and serotonin – are produced by the endocrine system.
“Not all of these chemicals are released at the same time and each has a different outcome.
“However, more of these chemicals are produced when we look forward to doing something we enjoy, we get up early, we go outside in the sunshine and fresh air, we challenge ourselves, we meditate, we concentrate on an activity that requires skill and generally do things that motivate us.
“That pretty much sounds like motorcycling to me,” she says.
Sharon Ledger
Happy signals
“So when you get up early anticipating a good ride, already dopamine is starting to send happy signals to the brain.”
Different combinations of the chemicals come into play as you ride, she says.
“Add a bit of adrenalin and it’s like a happy cocktail for the brain.”
Sharon says an increase in serotonin can also reduce depression.
“You can increase your serotonin levels with fresh air, mild exercise and even morning sunlight, all of which you get on a ride.
“It won’t cure depression, but will help people cope.”
American dating service, BikerKiss, says Harleys, in particular, can even give women an orgasm!
The Southern California online dating service asked about 3000 members (1900 men and 1100 women) “is Harley your favourite motorcycle brand” and 31% of women said yes, compared with 19% men.
The most common answer to the question was that Harley motorcycles are “gorgeous and expensive”. One dating club member said: ”I love it when I am on a Harley. It gives you all the attention you want.” Another said: “it’s not about being pretentious or anything, or like I’m doing it out of vanity. I just love it deep down.”
But here’s the thing that Harley-Davidson and makers of big-twin motorcycles will love the most: some women are able to orgasmwhile riding a bike with a big twin-cylinder engine because of the bike and seat vibrations.
Could you be any happier?
Black Dog Ride 1 Dayer
The annual Black Dog Ride’s iconic annual 1 Dayer on 15 March aims to start a national conversation about depression and suicide prevention.
Black Dog Ride claim one in five Australians experience a mental health condition each year; three million Australians live with depression or anxiety and eight Australians take their lives each day.
The ride aims to build a community culture of awareness, inclusion, acceptance and breaking down the barrier of silence around mental illness.
If you are experiencing mental issues, we suggest going for a ride, joining the Black Dog Ride 1 Dayer, or calling Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, or Lifeline Australia on 131114.
Riding motorcycles has several proven mental and physical health benefits for riders and now we find the vibration of your motorcycle could also be beneficial to fighting mental illnesses.
Now, research by Dr Lee Bartel of the University of Toronto, has found that vibrations and sound can stimulate cells in your body and brain to reduce the impact of fibromyalgia pain, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, depression, and even increase blood flow.
“My research has been looking at how specific vibrations, frequencies and music can affect brain and body,” he says.
“I know of nothing specifically related to motorcycles, but in general it applies – both potentially the rhythmic firing of the cylinders as well as the vibration off the road,” Dr Bartel says.
Good vibration
One of his recent studies looked at depression.
“The assumption behind this is that depression may be a result of brain waves that are our rhythmic sync – especially prefrontal cortex asynchrony and a thalamocortical dysrhythmia,” he says.
“If sound stimulation is at the right frequency these can be re-regulated.”
He also cites previous studies that show a connection between driving road vibration and treating Parkinson’s Disease.
Our view
In our experience, the various vibes and sounds of different engine configurations and mufflers can have varying effects on our mood.
We certainly don’t need physicians and researchers to tell us that riding a motorcycle is good for us.
But it’s comforting to know that there is science behind that great feeling we get behind the bars of our bike.
If you are experiencing mental issues, we suggest going for a ride, calling Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, or Lifeline Australia on 131114.
Does the vibration and sound of your motorcycle affect your mood? Leave your comments below.
Richard Brown of Black Dog Ride Australia says they are “focussing heavily on making sure that people who come on the ride feel very welcomed, and that they have fun”.
“Positive social connection/social relationships are very important when it comes to maintaining our mental health,” he says.
“We want this experience to be a good example of the spirit of mateship for all who participate.”
10 years on
Brian says the 10-year celebration dinner in Alice Springs should be “a real hoot”.
He says they don’t have the money for a “lavish” dinner, but participants will feel “a great sense of accomplishment for having made the journey”, formed “some really nice relationships” and “feel part of something really special”.
The following ride groups will join the Red Centre Ride:
The NSW/ACT ride group will travel through inland New South Wales, south through South Australia, and up the centre to Alice Springs.
WA and SA ride groups will both travel through their respective states, then meet up in Port Augusta to travel the rest of the way to Alice Springs as a combined group.
The Vic/Tas ride group will be travelling north through inland New South Wales and Queensland, then across to the Northern Territory and south to Alice Springs.
The Qld/NT ride group will travel through inland Queensland, then across to the Northern Territory, picking up Territorians before heading south to Alice Springs.
To register, go to the Black Dog Ride Red Centre 2020 page and click on the state or territory group you’d like to join.
Primary focus
Black Dog Riders head north
“Our primary purpose is raising awareness of depression and suicide prevention, so we plan to focus heavily on this,” Richard says.
“That means riding into towns and either attending a pre-organised community events, or simply parking down a main street and talking with community. Often people wandering by will ask ‘what’s this all about?’ or ‘what’s with the stuffed dogs?’
“So our participants literally get talking about mental health. Between all our state groups there will be just over 160 different town stops along the way.”
There is no fundraising target and participants are not required to raise extra funds.
Over the past 10 years, more than $3million has been raised by Black Dog Ride with finds passed on to organisations such as Lifeline, Mental Health First Aid Australia and the Black Dog Institute, as well as many many small community based volunteer groups and not-for-profits.
Richard says they have new destinations in mind for future years, so 2020 could be the last opportunity to ride to the Red Centre for several years.
Tickets are now available for the third annual Black Dog Ride to the World Superbikes at Phillip Island in 2020 to promote mental health issues.
Black Dog Ride Australia Victoria co-ordinator Bernie Garvey says riders get to see some spectacular scenery, participate in a parade lap of the circuit and promote mental health issues.
2019 World Superbikes at Phillip Island (Image: Jamie Morris/Geebee Images/2SNAP)
“In past years we had riders come from Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, WA, NT, QLD NSW and ACT,” Bernie says.
“Numbers build each year and we expect to offer 150 registered riders the experience this year.”
One of their more recent activities is the ride to the WSBK, costing $200-$440, depending on how many days you attend the event. Click here for the full details.
“There are two starting points at Marysville, Victoria, and Queanbeyan, ACT,” Bernie says.
Bikes line up in Marysville
“Both ride groups leave the Tuesday before the weekend and meet in Sale for a group dinner the Wednesday night before our group ride to Philip Island Thursday.
“The NSW group, takes a route over Mt Kosciusko through to Wodonga for a group and community dinner, and then over Hotham down to Sale. A wicked ride with some of the best roads and scenery.
“The Victorian group comes around Eildon, down through the King Valley to Bright.
“After a group and community dinner at Bright Hotel the next morning they head over the gap to Falls Creek, stopping at The Blue Duck Inn, before continuing down to Omeo, and then to Sale. Endless corners for the day.”
After lunch on Thursday at the Inline 4 Cafe, riders have exclusive access for a parade lap on the racetrack in the afternoon.
And who knows who they will meet!
Riders meet WSBK legend Troy Corser
Promote issues
Bernie says it is a “great mates’ escape” and fundraising is not their priority.
“Promoting a positive experience and facilitating an awesome group ride environment for riders is our goal,” he says.
“We also have a stand in the expo tent where we promote our rides and our charity message of raising awareness of depression and suicide prevention with positive messages and encouragement.
“We do a little tin rattling at the track over the weekend.
“Above all else, this ride’s priority is to promote positivity, an adrenaline injection, and a ride experience like no other.”
All riders on all types of bike are invited to take part in the third annual Ride Sunday on 10 November 2019 to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s mental health.
The event has been held in winter the past couple of years and had been scheduled for June, but it now moves to November which is apt since funds are collected on behalf of charity partner, the Movember Foundation.
Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and Ride Sunday founder Mark Hawwa
Last year, the event attracted 1300 riders to 239 events globally and raised almost $200,000 in funds for 59 charities.
Ride Sunday Pty Ltd kept 22% of donations as income in the first year, reducing to 0% over five years.
This year it focusses all fundraising efforts on the November Foundation and seems to be limited just to Australia.
2018 Ride Sunday in London
DGR praise and criticism
DGR has been immensely popular, raising more than $US25m for Movember since it started in 2012 and this year attracted 115,000 classic and vintage styled motorcyclists in 678 cities.
However, it is not without its critics who claim it is elitist because it restricts the types of bikes for the event, although many organisers still allow them to ride.
So the organisers started Ride Sunday which allows riders on all types of bikes to attend.
Riders can either join one of the flagship rides, host their own ride, or joining an existing group ride via www.ridesunday.com.
Participants can use the Ride Sunday peer-to-peer fundraising platform to connect to local dealerships and riders, to create, share, and view ride maps, and join fellow riders.
Ride Sunday incentives
There are also significant prizes such as a Yamaha R1 for the best fundraising participants.
Mark claims Ride Sunday helps to “positively change the global perceptions of motorcyclists by uniting motorcyclists around the world to collectively take to the streets for motorcycle awareness”.
He says the event “taps into the Australian passion for riding and is aimed to motivate those who own a bike to ride for a change”.
“Motorcycling is in our DNA. There is nothing else like it. No matter what riding niche you fall into, Ride Sunday is a day for you,” he says.
“Our vision is for every street in every major city to be packed with motorcycles. For one day, I want riders to be impossible to miss. For everyone in Australia to see our numbers, to notice us, and to see that there is more than just a rider beneath the helmet.”
To register to ride and make a donation, please visit the Ride Sunday website.
He says it is a world record for a motorcycle dog that may never be broken.
Bundy is the only dog in Australia with a Ministerial declaration giving her permission to ride on the front of a road bike.
Tex and Bundy training on the ‘Busa
The Australian stumpy tailed cattle dog is also the fastest motorcycling dog in the world at 283km/h on a Hayabusa.
“She’s now done around 30,000km since 2017 but has now retired from riding,” Tex says.
“I might add that her 1,030,000km has been without incident or mishap.”
Tex and his first dog Cash were inducted into the QBE national hall of motorcycling fame in 2006, the same year Bundy was born. Cash passed away in 2005 after being hit by a car, while crossing a road.
Time to retire
“Bundy is now 13 years old and has arthritis in her back from a farming accident when she was four and has cataracts in her eyes,” Tex says.
“Her vet is reluctant to operate due to a heart flutter and her age.
“She has officially retired from riding on the bike but is still carrying out work commitments as a therapy dog at the Prince of Wales Hospital (POWH) and other minor engagements.”
Watch this 30-minute documentary on Bundy’s 13 years or 91 “dog years”.
Hospital fundraising
Tex and Bundy have been working with the Sydney-based Prince of Wales Hospital for several years and Bundy is an Ambassador for their Delta Therapy Dog Program.
“I am particularly interested in the spinal injury unit and the motorcyclists that unfortunately end up in there,” Tex says.
“I have visited several patients in the spinal ward and have witnessed first hand how much difference it makes to the patients when they can talk to a fellow motorcyclist.
“I see the smiles on their faces when they spot a therapy dog, let alone a famous motorcycling therapy dog.
“Bundy and I cannot do this forever, we need to raise funds to train and obtain more therapy dogs and handlers to continue on with this work.”
The duo hope to raise $10,000 for the program and you can donate by clicking here.
“If you have been a hospital patient and have had a therapy dog visit you, I bet that made your day and took the worry and stress off your mind for a while.” Tex says.
“Those that have been fortunate enough to have seen a therapy dog and their handler at work in a hospital while they have been visiting would understand.
“Hospitals can be a lonely place for a patient, especially one with life-threatening or life-altering injuries.
“To be able to bend an ear, smile, pat a dog and more can make a huge difference to a patient and it certainly helps in the mental attitude to the healing process.
“I know only too well through the many hospital visits that Bundy and I have done the difference it can make.”
Rebel training
Bundy and Rebel
Tex is now training two-year-old cattle dog Rebel as a replacement. Rebel was a Rescue dog from South East Queensland.
“If successful, he will then take over the reins,” Tex says.
“If not, then he will go to a good home and the search for a suitable cattle dog will continue.”
However, he is now also looking for a replacement bike through sponsorship.
“I have pulled back from doing the big miles, but I will still ride for PTSD and selected charities,” Tex says.
He is a strong supporter of mental health and veteran health affairs having been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a few years after leaving the military.
Tex is also working on another charity venture, refitting an old yacht.
Charity trio
“I can work with veterans and EMS/First Responders suffering from PTSD by taking them out to sea on day trips on a wellness program,” he says.
“They can learn a whole range of different marine-based skills.Orthey can just come onboard, relax and do nothing.
“As a retired Veteran with PTSD, I understand what they are going through.”
The future of Black Dog Ride Australia (BDRA) events to raise awareness and funds for mental health issues is assured, despite recent staff, funding and cost problems, the organisation says.
“We have had three CEOs, three acting chairs and several changes to our board members,” the email says.
“These changes have meant that BDRA has been a little rudderless, and the organisation has incurred a rapidly growing cost structure that was not sustainable.”
However, BDR spokesman Richard Brown says they will still run the same events across the country.
“We are restructuring so that we can come back bigger and better,” he says.
“Previously there have been planning issues and communication issues.
“We are taking this as an opportunity to come up with better ways to plan, coordinate, and communicate.”
Here is the full text of the BDRA email.
Changes to Black Dog Ride Australia
Firstly, we wanted to acknowledge the range of reactions to the news that Fiona Duffield is no longer a paid employee of Black Dog Ride Australia (BDRA). We also acknowledge that our initial statement gave limited information, though we emphasis the statement was to ensure the community were informed of this change from BDRA and not indirectly through other sources.
We also acknowledge there was no statement on Erin Hope’s departure who after a short tenure is also no longer a paid employee of BDRA. Our statement was not meant to give an overview of staff member changes rather it was to let everyone know of the significant change surrounding Fiona as a long-standing member of the team.
As many of you will be all too aware, since the retirement of our founder Steve Andrews, BDRA has been in a state of flux, we have had 3 CEO’s, 3 Acting Chairs and several changes to our board members. These changes have meant that BDRA has been a little rudderless, and the organisation has incurred a rapidly growing cost structure that was not sustainable.
In fact, as of the start of May this year we were incurring approximately $22,000 per month in fixed operating costs (approximately $264,000 per annum). Of that, approximately $15,900 per month was going to wages and office rental costs combined (approximately $195,000 per annum).
At that level of expenditure, and assuming the Around Australia Ride and state rides hit their budget, we only had enough funds in the `operating’ account to run BDRA for 5 to maybe 7 months.
We do also have an entirely separate `gift’ account for the collection of donations and charitable fundraising dollars. As a registered charity organisation we are required to operate this separate fund which is primarily to be used to return funds to the community to support mental health and suicide prevention initiatives. The gift account can and will be used to distribute funds to deserving initiatives through our new community grants funding model. More news on that later in this newsletter.
However, with limited operating funds available, we took the difficult decision to make Fiona Duffield and Erin Hope redundant in line with the provisions of their award. This is never a good situation and this was not a decision we took lightly.
Redundancy arrangements were formulated in consultation with a Perth based Human resources consultancy. It is not appropriate for us to disclose details that are of a private nature (private to Fiona and Erin). But what we can say is that on the day (Tuesday 14th May) we had Richard Brown attend to represent Black Dog Ride together with the Human resources consultant, a Social Worker for employee support, an IT consultant to start working on IT changes, and a security guard to provide access for transport companies quoting on relocating merchandise and equipment.
Beyond the reduction in salaries and rental costs we are also reviewing the ongoing costs around bookkeeping, insurances etc.. We are also looking at the costs within the Around Australia Ride budget and areas this can be reduced/maximised.
Further on in this newsletter we will outline what operational changes we are implementing within BDRA and talk a little about the plan moving forward. Though we want to highlight here that prior to recent years BDRA has run a very lean operation, calling very much on the knowledge, skills and expertise of its volunteer community and we will be looking to get back there, as we should being a charity organisation.
It may not be apparent from the outside, but there has been a lot of work going on over the past 3 to 4 months with the new board in place. We could all start to debate who caused the problems we’re now working our way out of, but we have decided that would only take us away from the critical list of jobs we need to complete to get us to where we want to be.
Beyond the AAR, State Rides and 1-dayers we are also working on revenue raising initiatives that if successful will be announced over time. Also, with the strengthening undertaken over the last 3 to 4 months on our Corporate Governance structure we are almost in a place where we can start formally applying to corporate foundations for regular grants.
We stress however, that any business initiative does not happen overnight, and we will need 6 to 12 months to really get things back on track.
Lastly, though definitely not the least, BDRA is you – our community. We hope you will stand by us as we work towards a stable and growing organisation that is really making a difference.
Sincerely, BDRA Acting Chair, Jo-Anne Harrison
Operational Plan – The Next 12 Months
There are many things we could talk about as far as our current list of things to do. It will take some work for us to get where we want to go, and things won’t be perfect for a while, but here’s a brief overview of what we have planned in the short term.
Staffing
For the next 12 months (or less) Black Dog Ride Australia will operate with a Manager (at .5FTE) and two Administration Officers (both at .6FTE). Richard Brown will act as the business Manager, paid at a rate of $42.50 per hour on a 12 month contract. The two Administration Officers will be paid at a rate of up to (depending on experience) $33.06 per hour on a 12 month contract. A special government wage subsidy will apply to the two administration employees, which will greatly reduce our wage costs. With this arrangement in place the total salary cost to the organisation for the 1.7FTE will be budgeted at $5375 per month, or $64500 per year.
Office location
It is our intention to either sub-let or surrender the Perth office. The current managing real estate agent in Perth is being quite helpful with this process, so we are hopeful that monthly rental costs for the property can be minimised within the next two months.
We do not intend to establish a dedicated Black dog ride office during the coming 12 month period. As an interim measure the 1.7FTE staff will share an office area which has been provided to us for $500 per month, $6000 per year.
Short-term goals
Critical objectives for the next 12 months include, but are not limited to,:
Keeping Black Dog Ride operating – this should go without saying.
Seek opportunities to simplify operations, streamline processes and reduce costs. For example, Black Dog Ride merchandise is costly because it is labour-intensive and it ties up money in slow-moving stock. It will be necessary to reconsider what merchandise items we continue to stock, and the way we handle our merchandise across the country.
Seek opportunities to increase our revenue. We are currently working on obtaining corporate sponsorships and government funding, but these funding avenues generally take a long time to come to fruition, so we may not see a great deal of revenue through these sources within the next 12 months. We are also working on opening a Black Dog Ride membership program which is something we should do anyway, but may also provide the organisation with a little extra revenue.
Develop more effective ways to communicate with our volunteers and Black Dog Ride community. We are working on a few ideas at the moment that we hope to trial over the coming months.
Plan and coordinate long-distance rides and 1 Dayers, allowing long planning lead-times.
Facilitate disbursement of donated funds. A long long awaited community funding model should be released very soon. We’ll talk about this a bit more later in the newsletter.
Expand Black Dog Ride. We would like to establish new 1 Dayers across the country, and will consider the viability of adding some new activities to the calendar.
If you’d like to contact Richard he can be reached via email at [email protected]
Key stakeholders of Black Dog Ride have previously met for strategic planning sessions during 2017 and 2018. The result of those meetings was an initial rough draft three-year strategic plan.
A project specific board sub-committee was formed on 5th February 2019 to review and amend the draft strategic plan for adoption by the board as soon as possible. This committee was made up of Rachel Carter, David Lovell and Richard Brown, and was also tasked with making recommendations on the future structure of BDRA, and the future recruitment of a new CEO/General Manager/Business Manager.
Members of the project specific strategic planning committee have undertaken a significant reformatting and revision of the draft strategic plan over the past three months. The committee has also formed the opinion that this strategic plan should be adopted as a five-year plan, reviewed and adjusted annually.
Please take a good look at our new strategic plan. This plan will be put into a more presentable form with some new graphics and published on our new website which is due to be launched in July – more on our website later.
Please feel free to e-mail [email protected] if you have any questions, concerns or feedback on this plan.
The community Grants funding model was proposed over 18 months ago. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, not a great deal of work had been done on this until early this year. Between January and now Michael Young has put in a lot of work drafting a proposed new community Grants funding model, application form, and decision criteria with some input from Jo-Anne Harrison and Richard Brown.
We know this has been talked about for a long time now, but we really are getting very close to being able to launch this new initiative. Although our operating funds are low, we do have money in our “gift fund” account to provide to local community initiatives. Please stay tuned.
New website
In December 2018 the board commissioned the development of a new website by Perth-based Millstream, a long-time supporter of Black Dog Ride. Millstream have been working on our new website ever since and we are hopeful the new site will be ready to go active in July this year.
This new website will give a fresh new look and work better on handheld devices (phones etc.). We also expect this to be much easier for us to update (as the old one was complicated).
The study shows that riding lifts our focus and attention, and decreases relative levels of the hormone cortisol which is mainly released at times of stress.
UCLA research
The UCLA researchers used mobile EEG technology to record the brain activity and hormone levels of 50 experienced motorcyclists before, during and after riding, driving and resting.
After 20 minutes, riders adrenaline levels increased 27% and heart rate increased 11% which is similar to light exercise.
Researchers also found an increase in brain activity similar to drinking a coffee. This led to increased sensory focus and resistance to distraction.
At the same time, cortisol hormone levels dropped 28%, reducing stress.
Research team leader Dr Don Vaughn says the differences in participants’ neurological and physiological responses between riding and either driving or resting “were quite pronounced”.
“The chemicals that make you feel happy – oxytocin, dopamine, endorphin and serotonin – are produced by the endocrine system,” she says.
“Not all of these chemicals are released at the same time and each has a different outcome.
“However, more of these chemicals are produced when we look forward to doing something we enjoy, we get up early, we go outside in the sunshine and fresh air, we challenge ourselves, we meditate, we concentrate on an activity that requires skill and generally do things that motivate us.
“That pretty much sounds like motorcycling to me,” she says.
Stress and speed
However, a little bit of stress can be good for us.
His theory is based on research into stress levels by human behaviour researcher Chris Welford. It shows that people perform better when their stress level is moderate and worse when it is too low and too high.
“In a road safety context, pressure relates to speed, and performance relates to our ability to operate a vehicle safely,” Peter says.
Therefore, a rider’s performance is degraded whether they are riding too fast or too slow for the conditions. That makes them more vulnerable to crashing.
Sex on wheels?
