A Moffat Beach man who has been cycling across the country in the name of mental health is nearing the end of his epic journey.
Rory Collishaw, 26, began riding from Perth on April 4. He has slowly traversed the continent and will arrive home on the Coast this Sunday: a total of 46 days away.
He has done the self-funded ride unsupported, mostly camping overnight in a tent.
What makes his feat even more remarkable is that he regards himself as a novice cyclist and did no training for the ride.
Mr Collishaw is completing the challenge as a fundraiser for the Black Dog Institute, which is dedicated to understanding, preventing and treating mental illness.
Speaking to Sunshine Coast News this week from Dalby, where he was having a rest day to recover from what he called “not the most fun yesterday, riding in the rain with the road trains”, he said the trip had been amazing but was looking forward to getting home.
“It’s been so good,” he said. “I’ve learnt so much and met so many awesome people along the way. It’s good to be inside your own head and have that time to yourself.
“Some days I’m on the bike for 10-11 hours. It’s been great getting to see parts of the country, like slow travel, being able to take everything in.”
He said his body was beginning to feel the strain of the challenge.
“Honestly, it’s pretty tough,” he said. “The body hurts a lot – not so much muscle soreness but the pain of sitting on the bike. It’s brutal.
“And my energy levels: I’ve lost like 10kg since I left.
“I did no training before this. I’m not a cyclist at all – I rode to work for like a week, and that was about 20km.”
In his Black Dog Institute fundraising page, Mr Collishaw outlines his reasons for embarking on the trip.
“I have struggled with mental health, depression, anxiety and the feeling of just being lost to the world, for some time now,” he wrote.
“But now, over the last year now I have been growing in strength mentally and physically with the help of my friends, family and myself.
“I previously took the path of using drugs and alcohol to mask and push down feelings but realised that all these do is send you deeper and deeper into your black hole … It took me nearly losing my own life in an accident to shock me and deeply motivate me to find out that there are different paths to defeating this state of mind and realising that there is so much more to life.
“Life can be beautiful and full of opportunities and possibilities … I don’t want people to have to go through an accident like mine to realise that there are different paths to tackle life’s challenges and that there are so many people out there that are willing to help you.”
What have been the highlights of the journey?
“Obviously the Nullarbor,” he said. “It was probably one of the hardest bits but also great to be in all that nothingness on a bike away from everything, and then to come down on the cliffs was so beautiful as well when you cross the border into South Australia.
“Just the people that I’ve met along the way have been amazing and everyone’s generous. I’d come into a town and go to the pub and have a talk to some people, and a lot of the time they’d put me up in a room and say ‘you’re not camping tonight, we’ll put you up’.
“I’ve spoken to so many people along the way, especially in country towns. They opened up along the way and we had really nice conversations because they feel no pressure with me, because I’m out of the town the next day.
“And it’s also to say to the average person ‘you can do anything you want’ – I’m not a crazy fit cyclist, I didn’t even know how to change the gears on my bike when I bought the bike.”
A party is planned for 4pm on Sunday at The Pocket Espresso Bar in Moffat Beach to welcome Mr Collishaw home.
He will likely ride from Kilcoy to Beerwah on Saturday, before riding into the Coast on Sunday.
“I can’t wait to get back now,” he said. “It’s been so close and mentally I’ve kind of downsized my days, so I was doing 200km a day and 100km seemed like a rest day, and now 100km is agony. So I’ve knocked everything back between 50km and 70km. The body’s starting to give way.
“I can’t wait to get home, can’t wait to see everyone and do something other than ride a bike every day.
“Physically, I’ve done it unsupported but the support I’ve received from family and friends back home has been overwhelming. It’s been so amazing.
“In those last few hard Ks riding into town, when the body’s really starting to hurt – and even if it’s been a 200km day or a 70km day, the last 10km or 20km are always the worst – and getting a phone call from someone back home to sort of talk me through has been really amazing.”
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