If there was ever a way to put a positive spin on a economy in the dumps, it’s this: smart, motivated and community-minded college grads who struggle to land a meaningful job in their respective fields pursue grass-roots, self-driven ways to make an impact.

For one Bend cyclist, a closed door on the job market led to the opening of other — perhaps more meaningful — doors that may ultimately benefit a much broader swath of our community and country.

I’m describing the path of Sara Salo, a 29-year-old Bend woman who last spring earned a master’s degree from the Oregon Masters of Public Heath program (a combined program of Oregon State, Oregon Health Sciences and Portland State universities). The lifelong cyclist and Michigan native moved to Bend via Truckee, Calif., in 2007 and went to work as a nordic skiing coach for the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation.

Salo discovered a passion for helping kids learn how healthy eating could lead to better sports performance. While she loved coaching, she wanted to reach out to youngsters with a more diverse socioeconomic background. An internship in Southern California during her graduate studies sealed her commitment to the cause of school food reform.

With a degree in hand and no job offers, Salo last summer set out to create her own full-time (albeit nonpaying) employment: planning, promoting and executing a 10-month, 6,000-mile cross-country bicycling tour with the aim of inspiring students and communities to create healthier school environments. Salo’s School Food Tour is set to kick off from Bend in August and circle the country throughout the school year, finishing her ride in Michigan in early summer 2012.

To be sure, Salo’s mission is more than pedaling her bike while hoping to raise awareness about an issue that is dear to her heart. She has established connections with teachers and schools in more than 30 communities along her expected route (with more being added all the time, she says), where she plans to stop to provide classroom instruction, lead community group bike rides and visit with local farmers.

Her concept is receiving a lot of attention — and support. Already she has received in-kind donations from Giant (bicycle), GU (energy food) and Timbuk2 (pannier bags), and she is partnering with Nourish, an educational initiative designed to open a meaningful conversation about food and sustainability in schools.

Salo plans to tick off an average of 50 miles per day while pulling a bicycle trailer loaded with 50 to 60 pounds of gear and supplies. In some cases she has arranged home stays, but she plans to camp most nights. Her trip budget is $30 per day, and about $18,000 total, which is being provided by individual and corporate donations.

From Salo’s official School Food Tour launch in Bend on Aug. 27, she plans to travel south to California before heading east through the Southwest and Texas. She expects to hit the Southeastern U.S. by early spring 2012, when she will make her way north along the Eastern seaboard to Washington, D.C. (Her hope is to get an audience with Oregon lawmakers as well as with First Lady Michelle Obama, an outspoken proponent of healthy kids.) From the nation’s capital, she’ll travel northwest to Michigan, her final destination. She has mapped the entire trip out to be just over 6,000 miles.

Friends of Salo are already planning to join her in pedaling sections of the route, but she estimates that 75 percent of the riding will be completed on her own.

Salo tells of how her interest in cycling began at a young age growing up in a rural community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“My dad had mountain bike trails all around the house,” she recalls. “I grew up going out back and cruising around on my dad’s trail. I did some races when I was younger, and as I got older I started using bikes for transportation and seeing more the utility side of it.”

Though cycling is Salo’s way of life (she has worked in bike shops in California, Hood River and here in Bend), she admits she is untested as a long-distance rider.

“The touring aspect is definitely going to be new for me,” she allows. “I consider myself a cyclist, but I don’t consider myself a ‘tourer.’

“Yet, I almost think that’s a benefit to my program,” Salo continues. “I’m just another person, who isn’t this amazing elite athlete, making the statement that look, this average girl can go out and do this really long tour, and maybe that will inspire people to ride their bike to the grocery store once in a while.”

Salo says she plans to organize group rides in communities along her route, and to help participants identify ways in which they can make their communities more cycling friendly. She’s also created a curriculum, which she designed at REALMS, a Bend charter school, that she intends to put to use in the classrooms she visits.

“I’m not going into classrooms to tell kids to eat the rainbow,” Salo says. “My message is to say: ‘Look at this cool thing I’m doing. You are part of this. Let’s brainstorm how you guys can contribute to your community like I’m trying to contribute to the larger community.’ The goal of the curriculum is having the kids come together as a group and identify something that they’d like to improve in their school, whether it’s food based or cycling based.

“Maybe they want a bike rack at the school, and we’ll build a concrete action plan on how to move forward with that. The curriculum will also have the kids come up with a personal health goal related to food or physical activity.”

Along the route, Salo plans to regularly update her blog — www.schoolfoodtour.org — for anyone interested in following her progress. Currently, her site is loaded with links to information and studies on how healthy eating and physical activity boost academic performance.

She says her ultimate goal with the cross-country bicycle tour is to inspire action, or at least to spark discussions.

“I’m rolling up with a bike and a trailer with an orange carrot flag on the back and people are going to be curious,” Salo predicts. “(I hope to) be able to use that in-your-face image to start community conversations about food and transportation.”

Want to get involved with Salo’s School Food Tour? Cyclists can join her for a portion of the ride, while supporters can help build her touring ensemble by donating bicycle components, camping gear or cycling clothing (needed items are listed on her website). Or, follow Salo’s progress and receive updates on Twitter and Facebook.