In one way or another, everybody has seen the impact of mental illness. This stark reality became unmistakably clear to Tom Dearborn during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Determined to make a difference, Dearborn rallied his longtime friends from Plymouth High's class of 1986 and a few alumni from Plymouth State. Four years later, their efforts have blossomed into the Highs & Lows Tour, a bike ride dedicated to raising awareness and combating the stigma surrounding mental illness.
“I think it’s an antidote to loneliness,” said communications director Marybeth Bentwood. “You come together, and there’s this space to do something like this. It feels incredibly meaningful and impactful.”
The Concord Monitor noted that the Highs & Lows Tour, which first hit the road in 2022, offers a series of bike routes ranging from 22 to 100 miles. Its mission is to unite the people of New Hampshire in open dialogues about mental illness, promote outdoor activity, and raise funds for the New Hampshire chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). This year, the tour will take place on August 10 in Holderness, beginning at the gateway of the Pemi-Baker Valley and concluding at the Holderness School.
With routes designed to accommodate riders of all experience levels, Dearborn and his co-founders aim to make the event as inclusive as possible. “People that haven’t ridden their bike in years can get out there and ride with us,” he said.
“Doing something physically changes the chemistry in your body, changes how you see each other, support each other, and get through hard things like a 20-mile bike ride,” Bentwood added.
Despite having a demanding career in sales, Dearborn remains dedicated to the bike tour. This passion is shared by his fellow founders, including Robert Cass, the tour’s vice chair, who emphasizes the importance of the cause. “There’s no not doing this,” Cass said. “If not me, then who else is going to tell the story? There are so many other things I can scrape away that are less meaningful than this.”
The sense of urgency fuels the 14-person Highs & Lows team, who hold nighttime meetings to plan details like Kona Ice trucks, bike routes, and fundraising efforts. Last year, the tour raised $30,000, but this year, Dearborn has set his sights on $100,000. However, raising money is not their top priority. The primary goal is to destigmatize mental illness and foster open conversations within the community.
Eric Skinner, CFO of the bike tour, likened the stigma around mental illness to a cast that nobody will sign. He sees the Highs & Lows Tour as the beginning of a community's decorated cast, where open dialogue about personal struggles with mental illness becomes the norm. “The ripple effect is massive,” he said. “Just having that single conversation with that one individual that comes one year could make the difference in saving somebody’s life.”
Growing up in the 1970s and ‘80s, the tour founders experienced a time when mental health was not a widely discussed topic. Despite improvements in the conversation around mental health, suicide and depression rates remain high. According to a report by the Monitor, while the rate of suicide in New Hampshire has declined, it still ranks among the highest in the nation. Susan Stearns, executive director of NAMI New Hampshire, estimates over 40,000 people in the state are affected by mental illness.
For Cass, the devastation caused by untreated mental illnesses hit home when he lost his mother to suicide as a child. His years in the U.S. Navy further exposed him to the struggles of depression and trauma. Skinner’s motivation stems from his daughter’s attempted suicide, which underscored the limited access to mental health resources in New Hampshire.
The tour founders believe in NAMI as a powerful force for increasing access to mental health resources. “My hope and dream is that in my lifetime, I see a decrease in stigma,” Marsden said. “If the stigma is decreased, support mechanisms are going to increase.”
In just two tours, Dearborn, Skinner, Cass, and Marsden have already seen their event change lives. This year, they’re hoping for a record turnout to spread ripples of support even further.
Join the Highs & Lows Tour on August 10 in Holderness, and be part of a community that rides together to break the stigma of mental illness.
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