Wayne Amor says if he can get through to just one person during this year's 10th anniversary Black Dog Ride then it's all been worth it.
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The Black Dog Ride motorcycle riders will set off to Collie to raise awareness of depression on March, 19.
With drought, floods, COVID-19, fires and everything in between, Mr Amor said everyone has had a lot going on the last few years.
"We are raising awareness and part of that is getting people to come forward to talk about what's going on in their life or their patch at the time," he said.
"It's not always an easy conversation to have or to start but sometimes a group of a couple of hundred motorcyclists can say they're other people on our side here and we'll have a yarn to them.
"Most of us don't bite."
Local health partners including NSW Health, NALAG, Standby - Support After Suicide, RFDS, Rural Aid will all be invited to take part in the event.
"We have chosen to concentrate on rural communities in recent years as our destination to try to inject something back into these local communities," Mr Amor said.
"We know they have been struggling with drought, loss of stock and all things that the prolonged dry weather has brought to the region and more recently flooding and COVID.
"We hope our visits give hope to those most affected by the current conditions, and permission to talk about their situation with friends, family or even a complete stranger."
The Dubbo Ride Coordinator said the idea to ride to Collie had come to him and his wife at the end of last year's ride.
"Being our 10 years we want to go a bit big, and they've got a reputation out there for doing things a bit differently so we thought we will go there [to Collie]," Mr Amor said.
We hope our visits give hope to those most affected by the current conditions, and permission to talk about their situation with friends, family or even a complete stranger.
- Dubbo ride coordinator, Wayne Amor
"It's pretty iconic, the roads too and from there are reasonable, I wouldn't say good, but reasonable and that was was a bit of a consideration, and if we get flooding, we've got the safe way of using the highway to go up there."
With 300 riders turning up to events in the past, Mr Amor said that would be a solid number to see once again.
"You hope for as many riders as you can get but that's a double edge sword because the more you've got the more you've got to manage," he said.
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"But 300 is a pretty reasonable number and it's a very big slice of the community you would think, but we get a lot of travelers coming in."
A group of eight to 10 men from Sydney and the Central Coast will be making the trip, promoting the event and having those important conversations with others along the way.
"They've been on rides with me previously which is good, a couple of those guys will make a three or four day ride out of it. They'll leave a couple of days before and leave a couple of days after. That's an awesome way of doing it I reckon," Mr Amor said.
The Tamworth Black Dog Ride crew may also join Dubbo as they have done in previous years.
The proposed route will start from ANZAC Avenue in Victoria Park, Dubbo at 10am on Sunday, March 19 before leaving from Narromine around 11am for lunch, raffles and entertainment at Collie from around 12pm.
Mr Amor said if people would like to help out with catering they can get on and start registering. You can do so here.
For more information you can take a look at the Facebook event here.
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