Just show up and ride, dude.
That’s the ethos behind Project Dudeman, a Tulsa cycling group that allows men to show up as they are, ride bikes and combat the stigma associated with mental health.
Brad Huff, a former professional cyclist and back-to-back Tulsa Tough champion in 2009 and 2010, is the “Head Dude” at Project Dudeman. He says everyone in life is a “project” and every person in the community is a “dude.”
“We as men are told to be a man. Put your big boy pants on and stand up like a man. But, we haven’t enabled men to show up as they are,” Huff said. “What we’ve created and what I’ve built in Project Dudeman is the allowance for a man to show up as he is, with the desire to better himself past yesterday.”
Chase Blair practices a new skill during the Project Dudeman skills clinic at Turkey Mountain on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The clinic was led by Brad Huff and focused on fundamental skills before a group ride. Credit: Milo Gladstein / Tulsa Flyer
‘The finish line is an illusion’
Founded in 2024 by the Darryl & Julie Christner Family Foundation and created by Tulsa Tough, Project Dudeman came into existence 12 years after the Divas, Tulsa Tough’s women’s cycling group.
“The Divas, it’s been (going) 14 years strong because they realized that not every woman wants to race their bike,” Huff said. “Most men wanted to be competitive in some format, so they never really did anything on the community outreach role for the men.”
He says it became apparent over time that Tulsa needed a comparable men’s group that focused on connection and self-improvement rather than average speed and performance.
“I want men to be able to show up and just be that little kid that wants to have fun with their friends, not to have to meet a standard that validates if the time and energy was worth it,” Huff said.
To that end, cyclists of all walks of life and experiences find themselves at Project Dudeman. There are younger and older men, blue collar and white collar. There are also former high-level athletes who are seeking exercise without tormenting themselves and holding the same expectations of their performance.
“We were able to create Project Dudeman, to create an inclusive, open, inviting, cycling group, so that men could show up and not feel they had to have the performance parameters to objectify themselves,” Huff said.
Building ‘mental fitness’
In addition to the rides, Project Dudeman also hosts “mental fitness” workshops where cyclists can speak about their feelings in a secure, group setting with a licensed therapist.
Nolan Parker, who started riding with Project Dudeman last year, said there are not many men’s groups that allow them to express their own struggles openly and honestly.
“There are not a lot of groups like this that really allow men to explore feelings and the struggles and challenges that we face,” Parker said. “I think there’s usually a lot of shame and guilt and even just confusion around, because we don’t know how to process these things and we’ve never been given the tools to address them.”
Brad Huff explains a mountain biking skill during the Project Dudeman skills clinic at Turkey Mountain March 31, 2026. Credit: Milo Gladstein / Tulsa Flyer
On a late March Saturday, about 20 men gathered at the Tulsa Tough headquarters downtown for a mental fitness session with Mark Carey, a licensed professional counselor.
“I think a lot of what we saw in the group Saturday was that you could tell a lot of these guys have not ever talked about this stuff before, and it’s uncharted territory and their eyes get wide,” Parker said.
Huff called fitness a “fringe benefit” of Project Dudeman, instead pointing to community connection as the largest perk of joining the group. Too often, cyclists are fixated on their goals — the personal best or the finish line at the end of the road, Huff said.
“The finish line is an illusion. This is a daily process that we’re all working on,” Huff said. “The more we show up, the more we connect, the more fun, freedom, we tap into. We gain more friendship and fellowship, and the more consistent we are with that, we gain more fitness, we get stronger, we get more resilience, we get more durability. We have more accountability with one another.”
Project Dudeman meets for rides up to five times a week. Cyclists can find their meet times on the Tulsa Tough website or the Ride Alert app.
Annual memberships cost $250 and include a jersey, a T-shirt, entry into the Tulsa Tough fondo and Osage Passage as well as cycling clinics and mental health workshops.
News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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