Montreal couple rides from Vancouver to Quebec to get people talking about mental health

How has your summer been? For Katherine Sdicu and Oliver Marcoux from Montreal, it’s been pretty phenomenal, to say the least.

Two months and 3,571 km after rolling out of Vancouver, the two Quebec-based cyclists have arrived in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., as they ride their way east to raise awareness and funds in support of mental health. The ambitious trek, which they’ve called “La Traversee,” kicked off on June 29, when the 28-year-old couple winged west from Montreal and landed in Vancouver. There, they started their herculean trek on July 2. The intervening weeks and kilometres have taken them from the Rockies to the shores of Lake Superior, rolling across the majestic vistas of the prairies and the Ontario wilderness. And at one point, Classic107.com reported, it even involved a ride in the nude for Marcoux.

As they go, they’re carrying a message: with so many affected by depression, anxiety, stress and other mental health concerns, the conversation about mental health in Canada, they said, needs to be more involving and more open. Tackling a personal challenge like a trans-Canada bike ride and doing so publically, Sdicu and Marcoux thought, would be a great way to get people talking more.

It’s certainly getting attention.

When they set out, they said, the social media account documenting their trans-Canada tour was followed mainly by friends and family. Today, a few thousand kilometres later, outreach has swelled that Facebook following to a few hundred. “Obviously there are people [following us] from everywhere,” Sdicu told the Sault Star. “People are very generous.” Feedback from the public has also included notes from those suffering from mental health issues, which the cycling couple described as especially meaningful.

“A lot of people who are affected by mental illness have written to us and told us we are giving them hope,” Sdicu said, “because they can see we are pushing ourselves to achieve our goal.”

End of the road for the two riders is their home town of Montreal, where they expect to arrive on Sept. 12. The last stretch of their tour takes them 900 km from their current position, as they approach Highway 17 East after leaving Sault Ste. Marie, and on to the final, eastbound haul towards Quebec. With 28 kg of gear on each bike, the big sky kilometres between have been the backdrop to an incomparable, two-wheeling adventure. Although in some parts, they recently told the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal, the experience could border on scary. “When we entered Kenora,” Sdicu said, “[the road] gets really narrow and it can get a bit scary but you just have to be more careful.”

But to the two intrepid cyclists, it’s all worth it — every kilometre and each hair-raising pass of a vehicle on a tight Ontario highway. To Sdicu and Marcoux, it’s all part of the bigger journey that motivates them.

“We thought it was a good opportunity to talk about these problems and combine them with a sport,” Sdicu said. “To us, it made sense.”