From the start of November until the end of Daylight Saving each year, Rural Riders encourages anyone keen and free to turn up with their bike for a ride on a local trail, or section of a Great Ride, at a designated time each week.  

“It’s an outlet for the rural community to escape from the day-to-day grind. We’re not all going there to talk about our feelings – or farming. We go to connect, have a bit of a destress and switch off,” says Hamish.  

The 30-year-old (pictured right) set up the inaugural group in Taupō four years ago. Rural Riders has since spread to 12 locations across the motu, from Dargaville in the north right down to Southland.  

“We don’t try to create an event out of it. It's just a very relaxed, casual platform for individuals and families.” says Hamish. 

“Everyone looks forward to it. They’re a lot like me – no matter what you’re going through, it’s a definite time each week where we can get away, go for a ride and have some fun, chat with local guys and finish with a beer and a BBQ at the end of it.”

“All you need is any old bike and if you don’t have one, we can organise one.”

Rural Riders was born out of a need to escape the daily grind, says Hamish, who has had his own mental health struggles. 

“When I was in Taupō I started riding with my mate’s dad weekly through summer. I was going through a bit of a rough patch, so being outdoors in the fresh air, in nature doing something physical was something I ended up really looking forward to.  

“It’s a bit of adrenalin which is good for my mental health. Channelling my mind into a different avenue that takes the focus away from farming in general is good.” 

Recognising the benefits, Hamish was keen to help others in similar situations. 

He approached his employer at the time for funding to set up Rural Riders. The initial ride attracted a small group, including his mate’s Dad, and the rest, as they say, is history.  

Brought up in the Manawatu town of Feilding, Hamish’s father is a fourth-generation sheep and beef farmer. He knows all too well how much stress, fatigue and burnout farmers can suffer from. 

Figures on mental health in rural New Zealand paint a bleak picture.  A recent Dairy NZ survey shows 48% of farmers reported mental health challenges on their farms, 60% noting a lack of sufficient mental health support.

“As Kiwi farmers, we’re in the outdoors every day, but sometimes you’ve just got your head down.  

“Being in the farming industry and knowing the benefits of getting out on a bike, I knew could do something about it and it has all worked out.”  

National co-ordinator Kate Ward now runs Rural Riders, backed by regional co-ordinators and volunteers who run each location.

“Without these people the programme would not have the influence or growth that it has,” says Hamish.

Now working in Cambridge as a territory manager for the agricultural tech firm Halter, he says seeing others benefit – and flourish - from being part of Rural Riders is rewarding.

He speaks of an older farmer who texted him when heavy rain cancelled their weekly ride one night.

“He was still keen to go, so I put on my jacket and we went out for a few hours.

“We were racking our bikes afterwards, totally drenched, when he said he’d needed that ride. He’d had to shoot a cattle beast that day and had upcoming surgery he was worried about.  

“That sort of comment makes it all worth it. At the end of the day, if you have a really tough day and you don’t have that outlet then it can get you down and it can become a battle. 

“It is a struggling industry in terms of mental health and as a rural professional I am thankful I’m in a position to help.”