Speeding along the roadside through the agrestic areas of Ulster County this weekend will be two former Olympians. Nelson Vails is flying in from San Diego and Wayne Stetina will travel from North Carolina, meeting in New Paltz for what will be one of the most significant cycling events they’ve participated in.

This isn’t a competition, though, and those legends will have a chance this time to slow their roll. Literally.

They’ll be joining a horde of recreational bicyclists taking part in The Ride for Mental Health, an annual summer cycling event that has raised nearly $1.5 million for treatment and the support of mental health.

What Brooklyn resident Mac Dorris began in 2016 as a small charity, spurred by the tragic loss of his son, has grown into a premier fundraiser in the Mid Hudson Valley, for the service of a cause that now has drawn the attention of some cycling greats.

“I had no idea what it was going to be like or how big it could be,” said Dorris, an avid cyclist who still rides frequently as a 70-year-old. “I had never even organized a ride before, and I didn’t think too far ahead. I just wanted to do something in my son’s memory that maybe would help others and bring people together.”

The Ride for Mental Health will be held June 21-22, starting in New Paltz and offering bike paths of varying distance and difficulty through neighboring towns in the county, while collecting donations and promoting education about mental health.

More than 20% of Americans suffer from mental illness, according to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, so these issues impact most families to some degree.

The event begins 8 a.m. at the Ulster County Fairgrounds and its paths include a 50-mile “North” route, 50-mile “South” route and a 100-mile trek, along with 25-mile path and a 14-mile Rail Trail on flat land. The paths carry riders past landmarks including Mohonk Mountain, the Ashokan Reservoir and the Minnewaska State Park Preserve. There also is an option to ride along virtually using the Strava app.

The Ride last year raised $215,000, of which $205,000 was donated to McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, which is renowned for its psychiatric care. The rest was given to local nonprofits including the New Paltz Youth Program and the Maya Gold Foundation, a New Paltz-based charity geared toward youth outreach that was started in memory of Maya, a 15-year-old who took her life.

Entrants and volunteers can register or donate at www.rideformentalhealth.org, and registration for riders is open until 9 a.m. Saturday.

Participants are provided a Hincapie Sportswear cycling jersey and, available to them after the ride Saturday is a catered dinner, during which much of the bonding typically takes place.

“It’s heartwarming to be part of a community with people who’ve endured hardship and lost loved ones,” said Dorris, a retired lawyer who owns a home in New Paltz. “The core group of people are coming back each year and the dinner is where we really connect. You hear lots of stories and we’re not afraid to talk to each other about it. People feel safe and supported by the others, and that’s how we slowly kill the stigma surrounding mental illness.”

That community is expanding, of course. The Ride for Mental Health Club on Strava has more than 2,000 members and a similar group on Zwift, a cycling app with a large international userbase, has close to 1,500.

The hope, Dorris said, is some of those online members will eventually join them in person for the event and bring more than 1,000 riders to New Paltz. He also is considering hosting a “Ride” in England one day.

WKZE in Red Hook will broadcast the event Sunday morning, and The Ride has gotten a social media shoutout from Kristen Faulkner, an Arkansas native who won two Olympic gold medals in cycling last year. The event also is being sponsored and promoted by George Hincapie, a longtime Tour de France rider and teammate of Lance Armstrong.

The 71-year-old Stetina is a two-time Olympian whom Dorris considers a cycling idol. He is active on LinkedIn and he and Dorris interacted there, leading to a conversation about The Ride and its cause.

Stetina was interested in joining them, Dorris said, and he also put him in touch with other cycling icons, including Vails, who took silver in 1984 and became the first African American to win an Olympic medal in cycling. They’ll convene on Friday, adding more cachet to the weekend event.

Eric Dorris was an outpatient at McLean, receiving treatment for borderline personality disorder, but he died eventually of a drug overdose in 2016. His passing inspired his father to create this charity and his mom, Ginny Dorris, is an organizer. They’ve also got relatives traveling from out of state to volunteer.

“The pain doesn’t go away,” Mac Dorris said of losing his son 21-year-old son. “There are times it feels like it was a long time ago; sometimes it feels like it was yesterday. But what I think really helps is, it feels like Eric stays with me when I’m able to tell people how awesome he was. I feel closer to him.

“When you deal with a tragedy, there’s always a hole in your heart,” he continued. “Over time, you hope to do things to make it a little smaller.”

Stephen Haynes covers baseball for The Journal News/lohud.