RIDING a postie bike, AFL premiership coach David Parkin has been delivering a strong health message across Victoria this week.
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The prostate cancer survivor is among 15 men in The iSelect Male Bag Ride which toured through Yarrawonga, Wangaratta and Beechworth on Thursday.
Parkin is the patron of The Male Bag Foundation which was launched in 2013 with a ride from Perth to Melbourne.
Despite enduring that trek with an injury, Parkin was happy to return for the latest 2200-kilometre adventure which began in Melbourne on Sunday and ends in the capital on Saturday.
"I fell off and smashed my thumb before I went which wasn't much fun, so I had to ride in the desert with a broken bloody hand," Parkin said.
"I had it reconstructed and my missus said I shouldn't ride again, so I sold the bike.
"Then this time we decided to do it in Cup week, because I've got no interest in horse racing….so I went and got my learner's again and borrowed a bike from a mate in America and have ridden and it's been terrific."
With a maximum speed of 80km/h, the Honda 110cc postie bikes have been buffeted by winds.
Nevertheless, Parkin has enjoyed the scenery as they have traversed the Great Ocean Roads, Grampians and central Victoria.
Money raised from the ride, which saw participants pay a $1950 entry fee, will go towards a biopsy machine at Ballarat hospital.
Parkin said since his "brush" with prostate cancer there had been an 86 per cent increase in awareness of the disease in the last five years, but more needed to be done.
"We've struggled I think, women have been brilliant they've got nearly 100 nurses now that support women who have gone down the breast cancer pathway, we've got something like 17 nurses who are looking after men who have gone down the (prostate cancer) pathway," Parkin said.
He said there still needed to be a cultural change among men with women still often having to push them to monitor their wellbeing.
"Blokes need to be kicked in the backside and particularly rural and regional Australia which has been really slow," Parkin said.
"Blokes think they are bullet-proof and indestructible, but they need to be diligent."
The Carlton and Hawthorn premiership mentor said "the only reason I am alive" is because of regular prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests and an awareness of his family history.
"I had a father and a grandfather who died of the disease, of it not with it, and I conscientiously from 30, every 12 months until I was 60, every six months from 60 (had tests)," Parkin said.
"All of a sudden my PSA doubled in a very short time and I knew I probably had a problem and I did and on the basis of that at least I could then make a decision on what treatment I was going to have.
"I had robotic surgery and I am clean and clear today and living a normal life."
