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SPANISH FORK — A local cyclist who lost his life to suicide in 2008 has inspired others to share his passion by riding each July to spread awareness of mental illness and suicide prevention.
When Stan Sadowski heard the news of the death of his longtime friend Gary Ludlow, he was distraught, Sadowski said.
He somehow hadn't heard the news until three months after Ludlow's funeral, and Sadowski said he felt he needed to do something.
Along with friends, Sadowski started the Gary Ludlow Memorial Ride that takes place each July in honor of Ludlow's birthday.
Co-founded in 2009 by Sadowski and Ludlow's son, Zach, the ride began as a more intimate event involving friends and family, but it was opened to the public in 2011.
Saturday, about 250 people will gather to honor this great cause. The purpose of the ride is to raise awareness of mental illness and suicide prevention, honor those whose lives have been taken and to help those who currently suffer from mental illness, Sadowski said.
"I almost had a vision on this particular event, what it should be, and that vision is to reach out to the citizens of the community and the practitioners of mental health and bring them together by way of a bicycle ride so that we can learn from each other and teach best practices on how to deal with mental illness," Sadowski said.
One of this year's participants, an advocate for mental illness who was recently featured in Bicycling Magazine, is being recognized as the honored guest.
Adam Schepps said he struggled with bad depression throughout college. When he continued to be unhappy as an investment banker in New York City after graduation, he decided to pack up just a few items and move to San Diego, where he began to cycle more seriously.
Josh Yamamoto
"There's like a really big ... mental aspect to cycling," Schepps told KSL.com. "It takes a lot, there's a lot of ups and downs and those types of things during long rides and races, and that was just something that really affected me and … pretty much saved me."
Schepps now coaches athletes and said he focuses on being happy, rather than focusing on what he thinks he should be doing or what everyone else he graduated with his doing.
Schepps said he thinks getting a better understanding of depression is going to help everyone.
"Events like this where they can help raise awareness, raise money for funds and those types of things are just fantastic," he said.
The bicycle ride begins at 7:15 a.m. at the Young Living Essential Oils warehouse at 142 E. 3450 N. in Spanish Fork.
Participants can choose between four routes, including a 100-mile, 75-mile, 68-mile and 42-mile ride. Each route ends back at the warehouse.
The course snakes through scenic, country roads with mild hills and crosses the southern and northern ends of Utah and Juab counties Sadowski said.
Online registration is open until 11:59 p.m. Friday. On-site registration is also available Saturday morning at 6 a.m. The ride costs $55.
Proceeds from this event will go into the new Gary E. Ludlow Memorial Fund administered by the Community Foundation of Utah. Eighty percent of those proceeds will then be donated to nonprofit mental health organizations that send in a grant application.
