Team of Women with Diabetes Ride Their Bikes for the Tour de Cure Colorado

Aug. 15, 2011 - PRLog -- Riding your bike for your health, that’s good stuff. Riding your bike 62 miles or 100 miles, that’s excellent. Combine that with the challenge of type 1 or type 2 diabetes and you have something to celebrate! Fifteen women of Team WILD: We Inspire Life with Diabetes, have been training with Olympic cyclist Nicole Freedman for five months to prepare themselves to ride in the Tour de Cure Colorado event put on by the American Diabetes Association. They will do this on Saturday, August 20th, 2011.

The ride is well supported and there will be over 2100 riders on their bikes raising money to Stop Diabetes. Of those 2100 riders, over 300 of them will be people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This is something to celebrate! Of those 300, 15 are women ready to go the distance.

The women of Team WILD are riding the 100 mile or the 100K ride. To prepare for this distance is an athletic challenge for anyone, add diabetes and that’s an extra challenge. The team prepared with Coach Nicole Freedman, Olympic cyclist. Under Nicole’s guidance the women are physically ready for the distance. Marcey Robinson, MS, RD, CDE, BC-ADM, taught the women what they needed to know about exercise physiology, diabetes physiology, sports nutrition and managing diabetes when doing endurance athletics. In addition, the team had sessions with Mental Skills Coach Carrie Cheadle, to be able to handle the mental challenge of going long with the stress of diabetes.

All of the Team WILD women are Red Riders. Red Riders are cyclists who participate in the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure rides held in over 80 cities nationwide. The Red Rider Recognition Program was created for the American Diabetes Association by Team WILD Director Mari Ruddy.

Team WILD is the support and motivation Mara Schwartz needed to continue down the challenging path of competing endurance events with diabetes. Mara had only dreamed of being able to complete such a distance with confidence. Having Team WILD keeps her looking forward at her goal, which is to complete a 100 mile, Century bike ride with a smile on her face and well managed nutrition and blood sugars!

Please help Team WILD Stop Diabetes by making a donation to the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure. And Come cheer on the women of Team WILD and the Red Riders on Saturday, August 20th at the Boulder Valley Fairgrounds.

Find out more about Team WILD go to http://teamwild.org.

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