Among the eight School of Nursing students who have been training for a 275-mile bike ride to raise money for AIDS care are Susan Cox, Sarah Campbell (doing a handstand), Leslie Mosely, and Shelley Swanson, who is the group's team leader. Here, team members gather in Wooster Square Park before their daily bicycle ride.

Nursing students will take bike trek to raise money for AIDS care

On a rainy and dreary weekend early this summer, a group of School of Nursing students ventured out for a 40-mile bike ride in Hartford. It wasn't a day most would select for a long cycling trip, but the Yale students were unwilling to waste the opportunity to get together and ride. They wanted to get in as many hours and miles as they could, and when one slowed down on account of fatigue or the weather, the others would offer encouragement to help her ride on. The students are part of an eight-member team that will cycle for 275 miles -- from Boston to New York -- over a three-day period to raise money for AIDS care. Their trip is part of the annual AIDS Ride, a national program involving some 3,500 participants who cycle to raise $6.5 million to support community agencies that care for people with the disease. This year's AIDS Ride has already taken place between several cities throughout the country; the Boston to New York trek will be held Sept. 16-18. The School of Nursing team began preparing for the event last spring, when the students started squeezing in whatever time they could into their busy schedules to ride and train together. Their team leader is Shelley Swanson, who first got involved with the AIDS Ride through her work as an exercise physiologist in Chicago. She had helped one of her clients prepare for the 500-mile Chicago AIDS Ride, and was so impressed by his determination that she decided to become involved in the cause herself. "When I discovered that many of my classmates were also interested, I really got excited about doing it," says Swanson, who is studying to be a nurse-midwife. "As nursing students, the care of people with AIDS is something that we all have a keen interest in, and the bike ride is a fun way of doing something to help with that worthy cause." All of the members of the School of Nursing team are second-year students in the Graduate Entry Prespecialty in Nursing, an intensive course through which college graduates without a nursing background earn their Master of Science degree in nursing. In addition to Swanson, the team members are Susan Cox, Chris Allen, Sarah Campbell, Catheryn Hopkins, Leslie Mosley, Alicia Smith and Kate Walsh. Swanson is one of the few members of the team with any real cycling experience, having been active in cycling groups while living in Chicago. Most of her teammates have done some bicycling for recreation or use bikes as their mode of transportation around the city, but a few had to go out and buy a bicycle to begin their training. Finding the time to cycle together as a group has been a challenge, according to Swanson, but all the team members have relished those get-togethers. "In our first year at the nursing school, we do all the work that is required to make us an R.N.," explains Swanson. "By the spring, we were actually going out and doing community-health nursing. It's an intensive 11-month program, so our free time was really limited. Our training has been an additional serious commitment." Each member of the team has tried to keep up with daily 10-mile bike rides, often at East Rock Park. The group members have also ridden as a group to Lighthouse Park, Stony Creek in Branford or other destinations, in addition to taking the longer rides in Hartford. Team members have shared the responsibility of planning out the routes for, and leading, individual trips. Swanson's experience as an exercise physiologist has also been helpful to the group, which, under her supervision, has participated in weight workouts and strength conditioning at the Payne Whitney Gymnasium or, on occasion, other local gyms. "Our biggest goal in training has been to learn to ride safely together," says Swanson. "Inexperienced riders often have trouble avoiding potholes and maneuvering around city streets. Since we will be riding through the Bronx and on the streets of Boston, we've really made safety a primary concern." The nursing students' AIDS Ride will include overnight stops in Storrs and Bridgeport, during which team members will have the chance to rest up for the next leg of the demanding ride. To participate in the trip, each team member has been trying to raise $1,700 in donations. While most of the students are close to achieving that goal, some are still struggling to meet the requirement. Those who are can't meet their goal will be unable to participate in the AIDS Ride. "We're spending these final weeks before we go really trying to help everyone raise the needed money," says Swanson. "After all of our training, it would be unfortunate for someone to be denied the opportunity to ride." The eight nursing students have become very close friends as they've united in their quest to raise money to help people with AIDS. Proceeds from their ride will support two New York City centers. "This is the most fun group of people I know, and we're going to have a good time on the AIDS Ride," says Swanson. "And that's really the key for us." The nursing school students welcome donations for the AIDS Ride. Donations will be accepted until Sept. 15. Checks can be mailed to Shelley Swanson, c/o Yale School of Nursing, 100 Church St. South, Box 9740, New Haven, CT 06536-9740. -- By Susan Gonzalez T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S Employees invited to attend home football games for free Broadway-bound stores include café and national chain The Spirit of Adventure by President Richard C. Levin Hazards of Success by Yale College Dean Richard H. 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