Expect blog entries on the Nov. 12 finish  and eventually the filling in of all of the missed blog date entries.

Re-entering my life here in Vancouver has been extraordinary and wonderfully hectic.  Ride Don’t Hide has been keeping me very busy as I leverage my now finished “dog and pony” show into something permanent, something annual and hopefully something in your community real soon.

Thanks to TEAM 1040 listeners that might have heard today’s Ride Don’t Hide public service announcements  Scotiabank – Lions – Ride Dont Hide-2 during today’s Grey Cup and decided to check out our website.   Please, if you feel like offering feedback and ideas, write soemthing on the wall or contact theteam@ridedonthide.com  And, if you are interested, the Ride Don’t Hide Facebook Group is quite active these days…

And, don’t forget to make a promise or share a story.  Our society is ready for this and is waiting… for your voice to be heard.

BC Lions, in the Grey Cup, here in Vancouver  It doesn’t get better than that!

GO LIONS, GO!

Wow, I am so wonderfully scared.  Bring it, bring it on!

On the Turning Away.

Scared

L.E.S Artistes

Learning to Fly

Mischievous monkeys.

In the Nicola Valley, enroute to the Fraser Canyon.

October 25
Year 1 Day 86

End the day in Boston bar, British Columbia

149 (+41km from daily target of 108km)
Moving Average 20.6km/hr & Cycling Time 7hrs 15min
37,031km Total

Riding the Fraser Canyon Highway.  Wow!   Again, it has been too long, and again I am in wonder as to the beauty of it all.

Massively long trains going west and east, shipping raw and manufactured goods from Vancouver’s massive port.   Asia is so close.  I can feel her as these loaded, over-weight trains rumble by as the lunch diner’s windows clatter in her presence.

Heading west, the Fraser River Canyon begins.

Wonderful Chinese food for lunch is not the only Asian influence in the Canyon.

Tunnels have been iconic in Ride Don't Hide.

Is that light at the end of the tunnel? Fraser River Highway, BC.

Just out of Lytton I stop for Chinese food and a little hotel and restaurant owned and operated by a Chinese couple who immigrated here some 25 years ago.

Hard working to appoint of a cliché, with the simple goal of having their high school aged children head off to university to do better, to move up…

I am so proud to marrying into a similar family, the So family.  And I can only hope that they are proud to be marrying into the Schratters…

So Schratter or Schratter So?  Just Schratter? Yea!

Boston Bar, BC.

In Boston Bar, Drew and I enjoy the company of so manywonderful locals.  The town’s population is under 800 and seems to enjoy hanging out in the Pigs Ear Hotel and Saloon.

Doris and James from the Queen Charlotte Islands, passing through to sell some of their chanterelles before heading to the kitchens of Paris, France.

Local “German Jack” who spoke with pride of the people depicted in the large black & white photos covering the saloon.

Deuce and his wonderful parents….

Real people, no masks of elitism or arrogance, just open hearts…

I have decided that in the future, when on my bi-annual return trips from Vancouver to Vernon, I will be taking this slightly longer route.  The people in these wonderful BC towns, in these non-chain, non-franchise eating establishments are worth the extra hour of travel.  To talk with them again…   and not to mention the scenery of the Fraser Canyon.

Truly a magical night that I will never forget.

How lucky was I to have met German Jack, his wife, and friends. Boston Bar, BC.

End the day in Merritt, British Columbia

87km (-21km from daily target of 108km)
Moving Average 22.2km/hr & Cycling Time 3hrs 55min
36,882km Total

A flat tire on the Norco rocket has Billy and me searching several bike shops.  Finally at Bicycle Café we get hooked up.  Thanks guys!

Today I said good bye to Billy and hello to Drew!   By now my friends realize that it is a transfer of the psychologically scattered toddler Michael from one babysitter to the next.

(Yikes, when transferring the magnetic car decal we noticed that one was missing.  Somewhere near Kamloops there is a bit of road tagged “Ride Don’t Hide.”)

And unlike my bastard friend Bill Boy Reuben, Drew believes in a choice of motivation.  He has brought boxing gloves, as well as some of his delicate and delicious finely smoked tuna.

Though Drew guards the boxing gloves carefully, I hope that one night when he sleeps, I can sneak them on for just a minute…

Drew's carrot.

I travel the old Highway 97 instead of the Coquihalla.  It is a beautiful alternative route to the coast.  A route that I have overlooked for 20 years as I travel the fastest route from Vancouver to my home town Vernon.  My mistake.

Highway 97 from Kamllops to Merritt.

October 23
Year 1 Day 84

End the day in Kamloops, British Columbia

153km (+45km from daily target of 108km)
Moving Average 23.1km/hr & Cycling Time 6hrs 36min
36,795km Total

A good days ride, I seem to be back on track!

By now, Bill Boy Reuben has had enough of my verbal diarrhea, dillydallying, and has started to refocus me by hitting me with a stick.

The Carrot or the stick? Billy-Boy-Reuben is a good motivator and an excellent teacher.

End the day in Williams Lake, British Columbia

100km (-33km from daily target of 108km)
Moving Average 25.1km/hr & Cycling Time 3hrs 59min
36,642km Total

Days are like these are wonderful, days like this help dispel my (irrational) fears.

I flew into Prince George last night from Vancouver with a borrowed bike, landed and was picked up by our newest of Car Crew, my dear friend Billy Trickey aka. Billy Boy Reuben.

Billy and I go way back, in fact we are both survivors of the “ House of Stagnancy” (our college days’ abode).  I love Billy very much.  He will be the “Engrish” component of the emcee duo at Deb’s and my wedding.  lol

While in Vancouver, Willie, the proprietor of my bike shop sponsor John Henry Bikes (click), packaged up his own personal bike, shipped it via courier to the Surrey hotel I was staying at, and an hour and half later I was flying back to PG with a new rocket…

Willie’s Norco CRR SL (click) is a carbon fiber Canadian missile that puts anything the Germans can do to shame.  lol

Carbon frame, handle bars, wheels, some crazy flat spokes, and machined hubs and you have the pinnacle of Canadian bike engineering.

The Norco CRR SL weighs less than 16lbs (about 7kg)!  Riding it feels like riding the wind!!   I mean seriously, how in the heck am I going to go back to riding my 35lbs mountain bike after this?

The problem with test driving the Ferrari (click) is that your station wagon is never the same afterwards.  After you have tasted the sweet fruit it is never the same.

In Prince George the good men, Gys and Jeff at Koops Bike Shop opened TWO HOURS early so as to have me on the road early with the Norco (click).

I will always be indebted to people like Gys and Jeff, to the people around the world that have received Ride Don’t Hide with a, “Hell ya!  I’d love to do my part in kicking the sh!t out of the stigma!”

Koops Bike Shop, Prince George.

Today’s ride: rain, hard, cold and wet.  I love it.  I feel so alive when mother nature lashes my face.

Things are starting to get silly.

Breakthrough Communications (click) has more than done their job, and Ride Don’t Hide is starting to break through at a whole other level.  The lost German Rocket is turning out to be a good thing, a necessary sacrifice for the greater good.  It has catapulted Ride Don’t Hide into the stratosphere.

People were taking pictures of me and the two Norco bikes in the lobby of our Williams Lake sanctuary, the Coast Fraser Inn (click).  An hour later in the Boston Pizza next door, an attractive waitresses and receptionist recognize me…

Down boy, down!  You silly mongrel that wags its tail for any kind of attention.  Get a grip.

You will not allow this moment in the perverting sun to warp your frail ego into some hideous piece of feces.  You will not do anything to tarnish the Ride Don’t Hide message nor the honourable Canadian Mental Health Association that endorsed your idea way back in February, 2010… that believes in your 16 year old dream.

That said, if people could please remember that I am just the messenger, and that it is the message that is important.  I am just a crazy guy on a bike (and since when did that become sexy?)  It be a lot easier on my ego if people would stop with the hero bullshit.

I am getting so sick of myself, I wanna puke!!

TOGETHER we are changing our home, our communities and I am very aware that there is no such thing as a hero, only groups of people bringing their respective talents to the table of life and saying how can we look after each other, how can we create a better tomorrow.

Leaving Prince George on the bike loaned to me by North Vancouver's John Henry Bikes' proprietor, Willie Cromack. (It's a bit too small for me, hence the imagery of an elephant seal bull mounting it's much smaller and petite mate).

Night ride.

End the day in Prince George, British Columbia

0km (-108km from daily target of 108km)
36,542km Total

I want to apologize to my readers.  I’ve gotten a little heavy as of late.  I am sure that if you have been following, even if just sporadically, you’ve noticed the blog getting a bit more serious, philosophical, political, and maybe disconnected…

Sorry, but it is now a necessary component of my education, my message.  There are some very serious aspects to mental illness, and often it is political, and worth philosophizing over, and if not that, it is almost always full of misunderstandings and fear.

And I am running out of time.  The dog and pony show that has momentarily got your attention is quickly drawing to an end and my period on the soapbox will finish… I am so upset that I will not get to share with you everything I have pondered about mental illness, everything that you might think is worthy of sticking.  I am so frightened that I haven’t done enough to draw light onto the shadows and that your fear will have you retreating into the mean dark yet again.

I am crying now, as I type, wishing I could cycle around the planet a second time, and a third.

Please.

Not to be away from my friends, family, and wonderful fiancee but to just simply share with you more of my blah blah blah, and see you smile and drop the load off of your mind, to see you look at me with less fear and more love, to see a glimmer of hope when we speak of mental illness and our families and the destruction of our societal norms.

To see you open your embracing arms rather closing them tight around your crucifix, garden hoe, or burning pitch torch.   I am so scared that you will once again turn your back…  I am so scared of you…

So scared of your herd mentality, your lemming behavior that burned people at the stake, that has had you scramble the frontal lobes of good people in order to silence them.  YOU FRIGHTEN THE SHIT OUT OF ME when you are not using your critical thinking skills, when you let fear run the show.

—————————————————————-

That said, please remember that it is all just blah, blah, blah and as with any person that tries to teach, that tries to share their perspective, their opinion, it is always up to you to decide as to whether you think that the story is worth listening to.

————————————————————————-

Accused killer ‘a perfectly normal child’ (Click)

I am in city that is scared.  Prince George is very frightened, and so ashamed.  There has been some horrific violence-  no, loud storytelling of horrific violence -here lately and one can feel it in the air.  And fear shuts down rationality.

Psychological disorders, mental illness, whatever, the generalized condition that we are just now trying to grapple with in a real social context, it is unfortunately being painted with fear.  And that fear is in a large part coming from two things:

1.  We fear what we don’t understand, and we hate what we fear.  (Remember hate comes in many forms.  Certainly ostracization and turning our backs is a form of hate.)

Like other animals, we are constantly trying to understand our world. And in doing so, many of our thought processes have us categorizing our environment so that we can identify as to what is safe and what is unsafe. It benefits us both physically and mentally to do so. Unpredictability is often viewed as potentially dangerous, for how can something be assessed if it is unpredictable? The “Jekyll and Hyde” nature of some forms of mental illness frightens some people.

But different is not necessarily dangerous. 

2.  True danger- the extreme cases of antisocial/sociopathic personality disorder.

Fortunately these damaging bastards are only a very, very small few of all the different emotional and psychological afflictions that are possible, that are humanity.

These individuals rarely, if ever seek help, they certainly don’t “worry” or get overly introspective and depressed, and they are not by any means “insane” in the judicial sense of the word.  Often these people are very logical, very lucid, and simply fake emotions and empathy.  They can’t connect with people in the real sense of the word, they simply use people for their gain, and they fake friendship and emotion.  Please see the below links for more info:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_know_if_someone_is_a_sociopath

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder

Yes, scary, alright.  And some of these very, very damaged people, if abused enough as children, become horrific in their expression of their personality.  Look no further than Clifford Olson.

Why am going on about this?  Because it is the severely damaged antisocial/sociopathic personality disorder that paints all forms of mental illness with the same black tar of fear, and this tar of fear sticks because we as society are at the infancy stage of becoming aware of how our brains work, of how psychological disorders work.   And we tend to generalize about things we don’t understand, with the result being that many of the people dealing with a psychological disorder get painted with the black tar of fear.  And remember, we hate what we fear, and that hate comes in many forms…

————————————————————–

I find numbers reassuring.

The antisocial/psychopathic personality disorder is said to roughly exist in 3% of males and 1% of females, together as a total it can be found in approximately 2% of the population.

But  not only is 2% of the population a mere tenth of the 20% of the population that will be afflicted by a mental illness in their life time, (which shows that our fear towards mental illness is ridiculous), but in fact this predatory and manipulative 2% finds vulnerability in the “different” 20% and preys upon them disproportionately.

We, the “weirdoes” have more to fear than you the “normals” and yet, even then the whole thing is ludicrous for of the 2% that are somewhere on the antisocial spectrum (remember all human traits are on a spectrum, whether we talk of aesthetically pleasing facial geometry, height, intelligence, or athletic ability) only a very, very, extremely small amount of these extremely damaged, extreme examples actually do anything worth fearing…

The rest are just quietly slippery, and sneaky.  You know, the dishonest used car salesman, the shady stock promoter, the intelligent mind that creates internet scams, the pimps, and drug dealers, the person who ripped you off at some point in your life and though you caught them, deflected blame, the entertaining and fun friend that is great to hang out with for shits and giggles but you know subconsciously will never be there for you if the shit hits the fan, that friends that will sell you out for something better if it benefits them.  (How do like my generalizations so far?)

Yes, 99.9% of these milder, less demented antisocial personality disorders are not worth any form of our fear whatsoever.  They are simply jerks and bastards, and are simply people worth avoiding.  Definitely not fearing.

“Antisocials” are typically not a menace, rather they are parasites and they are not worthy of our emotional energy, of our fear, and irrationality.

It is not fair that we should allow the bright lights, flash and bang, the “if it bleeds it leads” fear manipulation of mainstream media to teach us to make the mistake of turning our back on and silencing the vulnerable and beautiful souls that are the magical 20%.

It is not fair to have the good and sensitive, the vulnerable desperately trying to hide and shrink into the shadows of obscurity because they can see your unjust and misplaced fear in your eyes.

To see your fear and know that at any moment it will turn into hate…

Generalities are the problem.  We don’t generalize about human afflictions we have a knowledge of and understand, but we do when we are in the dark.

And this generalization applies both to the lay public that always likes to play pop psychologist and with the educated medical populace as well.

I mean, can you imagine your dentist saying, “I am not sure whether you need your teeth cleaned or whether you need two molars pulled from your back bottom left side of your jaw?   What should we do?” Followed by you saying to the dentist, “Ya I saw all that scary stuff on the evening news, and it seems reasonable.”

Or if your family doctor said, “It could be strep throat but there is a chance you have throat cancer and so tomorrow we will be hitting you with a full round of chemo and radiation treatment, and followed by carving a chunk out, just to make sure.”  And when you left your family doctor’s office with your sore throated child, you turned to her and say, “Aren’t you glad we both saw the front page of the newspaper and got really scared and decided to go to see our doctor?”

We are simply at the frontiers of brain science, emotional science.  The most complex of organs is just now beginning to be understood at the slightest of levels, and even then our society has to play catch up with the accelerated accumulation of knowledge in order to dispel its ridiculous notions, religious superstitions, and childish fears.

—————————————————————

And on a different and yet similar vein…

Some text books say that Madonna has a borderline personality disorder or even a narcissistic personality disorder (not the same as the antisocial personality disorder), and my question to you is do you care?  Of course not!  Nuts or not, she will go down in the history books as one of the greatest musicians of the waning years of the 20^th century.  Guaranteed.

Here’s Looking at Me, Kid (New York Times article)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/fashion/20narcissist.html?pagewanted=all

——————————————————————————-

Some people have emailed me saying that they don’t have access to the bi-weekly columns I have been writing for Vancouver 24hrs newspaper and that they would like to read them.  I have therefore decided to post my columns on my blog.

I feel very fortunate to be able to share my ideas surrounding mental illness stigma with thousands of Vancouver 24 Hours newspaper readers and take the responsibility very seriously.  With that said I hope that the columns inspire thought and discussion, and please feel free to comment via this blog or to me in person via ridedonthide@gmail.com

Thanks for reading,

m : )

Violence Not Part of the Equation.
(Published in Vancouver 24H on January 21, 2011)

As reluctant as I am to associate Ride Don’t Hide with the horrific violence of the recent Arizona shooting, considering the mental illness component of the tragedy I feel the urge to address the issue.

By now everyone knows of Jared Lee Loughner, and his rampage that left six people dead.  The sorrowful tragedy aside, I think that there are two mental health components to the crime that worth exploring.  First, was the tragedy preventable? And second, if not, are the likes of Loughner being the “poster boy” for mental illness inevitable?

Was his rampage preventable? It seems that Loughner’s gradual psychological deterioration had been recognized but apparently not treated.  In the span of about a year he went from being a well balanced young man with a wide range of friends and hobbies to an obsessive recluse.  An old friend of Loughner told the world on CNN that his friends stopped hanging out with him because he became weird.  He was kicked out of his community college classes for the same reasons.

My question is, did anyone try to intervene and help this person who was deteriorating into psychosis? Could it be that the stigma around mental illness makes it harder for people to bridge the subject when concerned?   If mental illness education and awareness were more widespread would people be more proactive and willing to step in and reach out with a helping hand?

Are the mentally ill dangerous?  Not according to the medical studies that I have read.

The risk of mental illness contributing to the rate of violence in our society has been estimated to be 3 to 5% — much lower than that associated with substance abuse, for example.  I have read some accounts that say it could be as high as 17%.  But even at that seemingly high percentage, isn’t the scarier proportion the other 83% violent crime that is caused by someone without a mental illness?

Through movie depictions of crazed killers, or “real life” mental illness violent dramas played out with disturbing frequency on the nightly news, the public perceptions of mentally ill people as criminally dangerous appears to become greatly exaggerated.

It is inevitable that media will always grab on to sensationalistic violent news stories.  It captures our attention.  It sells.  What is not inevitable is that these rare cases of violence attributed to mental illness be the only mental health educational forces in our society.  If the vast majority of people that live with, deal with, and even thrive with, mental illness were to speak up and tell of their stories, then perhaps when the likes of a Loughner incident makes the news, the public will be able to absorb it as an “one off” rare event rather than being gullible and believing that mental illness equates to danger.

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association approximately 20% of our population has either dealt with or is dealing with a mental illness.   That means that each of us likely know of dozens of good people who have dealt with mental illness, none of them violent, none of them having raised even so much as an aggressive baby finger.  These are the non-sensationalistic stories of mental illness, the stories of humanity that we rarely hear of, that are rarely celebrated in the media.

Help end the stigma.  Let’s start talking.

I hope this unique cabin can been seen as beautiful rather than weird and that you don't fear the shadows inside.

Hi Team,

I need your help!   Your input.   : )

Imagine a slide show presentation in Rogers Arena on Saturday, November 12… depicting the trials and tribulations of the campaign, the love people have generously offered, and the pain of the marginalized, and the triumph of us believing there is a more empathetic future.

The musical score choices are as follows:

1.  tragically hip
scared
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gO-OYUKzG4

2.  tom petty
learning to fly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5BJXwNeKsQ&ob=av2e

3.  santogold
      L.E.S Artistes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhB5NeDEth8

4. queen
bicycle race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GugsCdLHm-Q

5. pink Floyd
On the turning away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DODKTN3O2s

I am asking you to please consider listening to these 5 song choices, and to pick your favourite one. (Sorry there are no other choices.)

If you do decide to vote please email theteam@ridedonthide.com with your choice.

THANKS!
m : )

End the day in Prince George, British Columbia

0km (-108km from daily target of 108km)
36,542km Total

The Provincial BCTF Professional Development Day.

(OR THE WHITE KNIGHTS OF OUR LOVING SOCIETY GATHER)

Thank God there is still a progressive venue for teachers to discuss the future of our children.  And thank God people are not as stupid as to believe that a teacher’s union is nothing more than a protective ring with only its members inside.

I know that people understand that the ruling class protect their future position best by eroding the quality of the education offered to the children of lesser classes.  I know people understand that nothing threatens the status quo more than a “lower class” child being educated enough to bump against an elites child’s private education.  I know that everyone knows that a the burning passion from a middle class child, or even better, the burning passions of a lower socioeconomic class child will drive over any silver-spooned elites’ pink and soft child’s meanderings…

The only way you can keep the deck from re-shuffling is by tricking people into thinking that progressive tax structures are unfair, tricking people into believing that tax isn’t the four letter word “LOVE” and helping them believe that a tax loop hole is something other than a “love loop hole.”

“Despite a drop in British Columbia’s overall child poverty rate between 2007 and 2008, British Columbia continues to have the worst child poverty record in the country for the sixth year in a row based on after-tax measures,”  Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, in her 76-page document, Fragile Lives, Fragmented Systems: Strengthening Supports for Vulnerable Infants (January 27, 2011)

The Globe and Mail article.

The re-occurring battle against (any) teacher’s union is a diversionary tactic that allows public education’s incipient erosion to occur while neo-conservative governments seemingly keep their hands clean.

The privatization of education is not a new idea, a necessary new model for a new paradigm.  It as old as education itself.

We are simply heading towards an old model with new paint, the model that has the USA enjoying the greatest disparity between rich and poor of any Western World country, and from there we are heading to the 3^rd world (educational) disparities I witnessed in my months of cycling through 3^rd world countries.   Countries where the hierarchy is so steep that the ruling 1% can shit on the 99% with impunity because “lower class” children lack the educational skills to comprehend the situation, they lack the critical thinking skills middle class public education teacher’s try to teach the middle class and lower socioeconomic class children.

(Time line?  Nothing you have to worry about… maybe not even your children, or if you are lucky your grandchildren’s grandchildren.)

I like being Chicken Little. Cute, fluffy, and harmless. (BOO!)

Canaries in the cold mines, weirdos that come out of the wood work, the sensitive ones that start to cry “The sky is falling. The sky is falling.” tend to increase during times of society strife, societal stress.

Most of these messengers have been battered too hard to have their message decipherable and thus deliverable… but I can assure you some of them have something worth listening to.

My keynote speech at the Learning Assistant Teachers Conference during today’s BCTF Professional Development Day in Surrey.  A place where public school teachers go to discuss, brainstorm, and strategize for a better future…

BLAH BLAH BLAH (but not bleeding heart liberal political blah blah blah)

(warning: it’s 10 long minutes of blah blah blah.  10 minutes of your life that you’ll never get back)

Ride Don't Hide BLAH BLAH BLAH at the BCTF Learning Assistance Teacher's Association Professional Development Day.

Being honest with our mental health. Makes sense to me? Anyone else?

Ride Don't Hide at the BCTF LATA ProD. Thank you, Janice. Thank you for taking a risk...

DIRTY LAUNDARY (click to listen)

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something, something I can use
People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry

Well, I could’ve been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don’t have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear, give us dirty laundry

Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down
Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down
Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down
Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em all around

We got the bubble-headed bleach-blonde who comes on at five
She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It’s interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation? Is the head dead yet?
You know the boys in the newsroom got a running bet
Get the widow on the set, we need dirty laundry

You don’t really need to find out what’s going on
You don’t really want to know just how far it’s gone
Just leave well enough alone, keep your dirty laundry

Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down
Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down
Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down
Kick ‘em when they’re stiff, kick ‘em all around

(Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down)
(Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down)
(Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down)
(Kick ‘em when they’re stiff, kick ‘em all around)

Dirty little secrets, dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody’s pie
Love to cut you down to size, we love dirty laundry

We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing
When it’s said and done, we haven’t told you a thing
We all know that crap is king, give us dirty laundry

(Kick ‘em when they’re up, kick ‘em when they’re down)…