A dozen Tasmanian riders will join 400 in the National Black Dog Ride to Red Centre

They, along with over 400 motorcyclists, will meet in Echuca in Victoria and ride to over 3000kms to Uluru. The Black Dog Ride raises awareness for depression, suicide and other mental health, especially in men.

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Black Dog Ride Tasmania coordinator Jeremy Gill said they're are raising awareness for mental health and suicide prevention but the ride also allows men to get together and chat openly about their lives.

"This blokes will have chats along the way, telling each other what's going on and how we feel the stigma that's been associated with that," he said.

"We're trying to wipe out that stigma, that's our main focus."

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Mr Gill said everyone in their group has personally been affected by depression or knows someone impacted by it.

"To encourage the conversation makes the difference," he said.

Along the way to the Red Centre, the bikers will stop at small towns, long time Black Dog rider Simon Ottway said.

"We need to stop about every 300km," he said. "Hundreds of us are stopping at small towns hit by COVID to get fuel and food."

Black Dog Ride began in 2009 but was stopped in its tracks when COVID-19 hit.

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Mr Gill said this ride has been dubbed "third time lucky", thanks to COVID-19, the last Black Dog Ride was in 2019.

"We've got a lot of people that are itching to go because we had been waiting for this for so long," he said.

"Some people have carried over their tickets but we've definitely had an increase in riders."

Mr Gill said the appeal was the community of the ride, the comradery and shared joy.

"We all love to ride and we all love the escape that we feel by doing it," he said.

While the ride has raised tens of thousands, Mr Gill said there wasn't pressure to fundraise. "If everyone that rides encourages one person or incentivise one person to speak, that's that's them doing their job," he said.

The group will finish in Alice Springs on August 12.

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