(ARA) – Biking is great exercise that benefits your health in multiple ways. Whether you have a regular riding group or simply bike casually on the weekends, enjoying the outdoors on a bike is time well spent, and now a bike ride can make a difference in the lives of others living with diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association is encouraging riders at all levels – from novice to experienced cyclist – to help Stop Diabetes by participating in the Association’s nationwide cycling event, Tour de Cure. Riders can now do what they love, while helping those affected by this deadly disease.

Diabetes affects 25.8 million children and adults in the United States – equating to 8.3 percent of the population. Complications from diabetes are serious and include increased risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputation and death.

Last year more than 50,000 cyclists around the country – riders, co-workers, people with diabetes, friends, families and supporters – raised more than $19 million to support diabetes research, advocacy and education. The ultimate goal is to prevent diabetes and find a cure.

Tour de Cure events feature routes that vary in length and difficulty, from 10-mile family distances to 100-mile “century” rides. It is a ride, not a race, so participants are encouraged to go at their own pace.

For those with diabetes, the ride has special meaning. A Red Rider is the name given to participants who have diabetes. This special program recognizes these riders the day of the event by giving them a red jersey to wear. During the tour participants call out “Go Red Rider” while riding on the route to encourage and celebrate the Red Riders.

“The Red Rider program is a way for those of us with diabetes to gather the strength, courage and motivation to live well all the other days of the year when we aren’t riding in Tour de Cure,” says Mari Ruddy, founder of the Red Rider program. Ruddy is also the founder of Team WILD: Women Inspiring Life with Diabetes. She will be riding with 30 other women riders in the Tour de Cure in Colorado this year.

Ruddy, who describes the tour as a celebration of health, adds, “The Red Rider program gives us an opportunity to celebrate the hard work, dedication and teamwork it takes to manage this challenging and complex disease. Best of all, when we can give a participant a red jersey that proclaims with joy, ‘I ride with diabetes’ it brings a face to the disease with the heart, soul and passion of the participants who are riding with diabetes.”

Join Tour de Cure to benefit your health and to support the fight to stop diabetes. To register as an individual rider, a Red Rider, start a team, or learn more, visit www.diabetes.org/tour or call 1-888 DIABETES (1-888-342-2383).