Dietetic Students Hit the Trails!

 Written by: Hannah Collin; SLU Dietetic Intern

This weekend, I had the privilege of participating in Ride the River Bike trail health fair. What started as a very early morning (5:30am to be exact), turned out to be a beautiful day. I had never seen or been a part of such a large bike ride before, but these bikers were riding a 100-mile ride today. This ride was organized by Trailnet which is an organization that’s mission is to promote healthy living by building a community that centers around exercise like biking and walking. All the bikers that were participating in this event were doing it for the love of the ride and enjoying their Saturday by being outside and exercising. With talking with the dietitian on staff named Cindy who works on the management team, she told us about her love for this organization. On a grander scale, her love for public policy and being a part of change being made in the community.

Keli, Emily, and I got to the first rest stop in Grafton, Illinois to begin setting up the station for the bike riders to come and get fuel. There were snacks ready in coolers that we needed to prepare and assemble. All the snacks were great fuel sources to help energize the bikers as they embarked on their journey. Some of these snacks included PB + J sandwiches, bananas, energy chews, pickle juice, and electrolyte tabs in throw in their drinks. The snacks were primarily carbohydrate sources to give quick energy, but as the rest stops went on, the snacks differed to give the riders more options for fuel later in the day.

The bikers came from across the river by ferry and then they continued their race. There were about five legs of bikers coming off the ferry. In total, we fueled around 250 bikers as they went on their ride. Everyone was in great spirits and incredibly thankful to us for providing fuel for them.

From the video I shared, us interns all had an amazing time at the Ride the River health fair. This ride inspired me to look within myself and think about changes I can make to my daily life to engage in more physical activity in my free time. Now during this internship, my free time is slim. All of us interns on our lunch breaks still try to make an effort go on walks and spend the little time we have outside. While I listen to Rabia’s lecture, I try to do it while I walk on a trail to get some time outside in nature. I think we can all reflect on our life and consider integrating physical activity in small ways. Whether our schedule allows us 60 minutes or even just 10 minutes. Any movement is better than none. Between us interns, this experience made us all consider possibly doing this bike ride next year.