Introduction

Hello all,

My name is Charles LePrevost and I am a Health Policy and Management student at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. This summer I will be partaking in a 10 week cross-country bicycle tour beginning in Maryland and ending in Washington. For more information regarding the tour group and our route please reference the below link:

cycle20ten


While most of the other 15 participants are going as a fundraiser for the UNC Lineberger Cancer Center (linked here: Lineberger), I am going not only to help raise money, but also to gather policy and health related information for my summer internship through the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (HPDP).

A general description of what I will be studying is included below. I will post my final document detailing everything in the coming weeks prior to departure.

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DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED FIELD ACTIVITIES and PRODUCTS

Bikeablity- Assessments regarding the conditions of roads traveled will
be conducted. Information gathered should include whether a bike lane is
present, its size, whether a shoulder is present, its size, condition of
bike lanes/shoulders, number of motor vehicles on road, speed limit for
vehicles, comfort for bikers, etc. Prior to and following field
analysis, more research will be conducted to whether state/municipality
bike policy may be associated with results of the assessment.

Corner store- Interviews, observations, and GPS mapping will be
conducted to gather data for the corner store analysis in certain rural
areas. Interviews with town locals and store managers will be conducted
to 1) determine the food availability for certain rural areas and 2)
gain insight into the decisions made by owners such as to why they do/do
not offer healthy food options. Observations will be conducted to
understand how these stores stand out in the landscape of a town (e.g.
does it look like a location appealing to individuals to make daily food
purchases for subsistence). Finally, GPS mapping will be used to
determine the exact location of these stores in relation to the town
(e.g. can people walk there or is driving necessary?).

Project Report- A report for possible publication will be
generated from the information and data gathered on the bike trip.

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I hope to have access to this blog throughout my travels. Thus, postings of discussions, photos, videos, interviews, etc. should be on here. If everything goes by plan, this should be an excellent experience that helps collect loads of valuable information while raising money for a very worthy cause. Below is a link to a local Chapel Hill newspaper that recently wrote an article regarding the trip:

Chapel Hill News

I look forward to gathering more followers for this epic journey.

Best regards,

Charles