The 3rd Edition of Rouler Sur Le Tabou

Photo credits: Charles Trudeau

The 3rd edition of Rouler Sur Le Tabou took place on September 4th 2021. This is also Nicolas’s third edition participating! During the first edition in 2018, he participated as a volunteer to proudly support his best friend. From the very start when Frederick reached out to him, for Nicolas, “it was an instant yes! I always loved getting involved to help people”. He also mentions that this cause struck very personal to him as he had lost one of his good friends to suicide in 2017. Meanwhile, during the second and third edition, Nicolas participated as a cyclist. He shares how he was so inspired by the cyclists in the first edition that he just felt that he had to ride it the next year. In fact, it was in 2019 where he fell in love with cycling and “in an athletic point of view, 285 km on the bike was a good challenge being new to the sport, but it was an even bigger emotional challenge to overcome. I am more than proud to have completed it".

In this year’s edition of Rouler Sur Le Tabou (the 3rd edition), the team really wanted to go big and so, they had a target of raising $15 000. Along with their partnerships with Rise Kombucha, Oberson Boutique and Cubo Inc, they managed to raise over $25 000! Nicolas expresses how “the entire team and community are immensely blessed that Rouler Sur Le Tabou keeps speaking to more and more people”.

Challenges Faced During the 3rd Edition

Nicolas, Frederick and 18 fellow cyclists, divided in two pelotons, managed to complete the 285km in a total of 11 hours and 15 minutes with 8 hours and 50 minutes of moving time. You can check out their ride below:

Photo credits: Nicolas Dickey

During the ride, Nicolas had to overcome both physical and mental challenges. Physically, he went into the ride with knee pain that first emerged early in the season during his training for the event. Moreover, he shares how during the ride, “there was a face wind, so we were against the wind for a big chunk of the way”. Although he had athletic tape on his knee to help prevent the pain, barely halfway through the ride after their lunch break at Yamachiche, where he was able to eat, stretch, hydrate even more and massage his muscles, Nicolas “told [himself] there [were] 2 options; 1) I drop off or 2) prepare mentally and accept the fact that it is going to hurt until Quebec”.

Alongside enduring physical challenges, he had to face mental challenges as well. He shares how he was thinking about his parents’ late close friend who they had lost to suicide a year prior, in addition to his late friend, and the emotional drive to finish the ride.

Overcoming His Challenges

Fortunately, Nicolas had the support of his fellow cyclists along the journey. He mentions how “my fellow cyclists were also a huge factor in helping me overcome the challenges during the ride”. Furthermore, having had the courage to seek help from his teammates by openly talking about the challenges he was facing perfectly embodied what Rouler Sur Le Tabou was about. Because of this, as a team, they were able to overcome the challenges faced.

When Nicolas was straddling between the two options to either stop cycling or push himself to reach Quebec, he glanced down onto his bike handles which he had taped with pink bartape. He explains how his late friend “always loved pink and so in his honour my bartape has been pink since my first edition. Adding his initials and ‘67’, his favorite sports jersey number, was a reflex as he was deep into sports. This became my symbol of a big reason why I ride. It also has its perks, I love pink myself, it’s cool looking on my bike and people recognize me more easily when we meet up for group rides. I can thank him for that!” After being stuck between crossroads from the pain, this served as a good reminder;

“I looked down, saw the pink, saw his initials, saw his number and realised there was actually only one option. Some people suffered or are suffering way more than I am right now so there is no other option but to finish it. From there on I forgot about the pain until I was off the bike in Quebec City”

- Nicolas Dickey

Event Take-aways

All in all, despite the challenges Nicolas faced during the planning and ride of the event, he tells us that he wanted to go into it and have fun. With plenty of time and dedication to get the event going, he is very grateful for those who participated and donated. He also shares how the 3rd edition ride has reminded him about balance and moderation, especially when it comes to training, and the importance of prioritizing mental health.

Nicolas closes with a reminder;

“Rouler Sur Le Tabou is about getting people to talk. I always encourage people to just start a discussion around it because just speaking about mental health really opens your eyes up to how it affects everyone. From there, you’ll see how we’re not alone and that in itself is comforting and shows that talking about it openly can only help.”

- Nicolas Dickey

Photo credits: Charles Trudeau

Näak congratulates Nicolas, Frederick, all the participants and volunteers for a successful 3rd edition of Rouler Sur Le Tabou. We hope to continue supporting Nicolas throughout his future rides, especially withNäak’s ULTRA Energy Banana & Chocolate Bars (his favorite!). Lastly, we hope that our community is inspired by the Rouler Sur Le Tabou team’s dedication and join us in keeping the conversation about mental health going to crush this taboo!

We fondly show our appreciation to the following cyclists and volunteers for making Rouler Sur Le Tabou’s 3rd edition possible: