Sara Sklaroff: Falling back in love with exercise

Sara Sklaroff — Falling back in love with exercise

"It's just like riding a bike." Makes sense — if you've been on a bike.

Diabetes Forecast Editorial Director Sara Sklaroff never learned to ride a bicycle. But while editing a story for the magazine this spring, Sara was inspired to give it a try.

The Forecast article featured Red Riders, Tour de Cure participants with type 1 or type 2 diabetes who are recognized for the courage it takes to thrive with diabetes by wearing red biking jerseys.

As a person with type 2, Sara hopes to wear a Red Rider jersey when she participates in the Reston, Virginia Tour de Cure this Sunday.

Sara decided to make a pledge to learn how to ride a bike, improve her health, and share her experience with her readers.

"I want to be a role model for my daughter and get back in shape after falling out of love with exercise," Sara commented.

"Most people learn to ride a bike in childhood, weathering a few scraped knees in the process," Sara says. "But I just never learned. I figured that riding a bike would be one of those things I never did."

Her first training session took place in front of her fellow employees at the American Diabetes Association. They provided balloons, snacks, and cheers as she coasted her way 20 feet on a grassy stretch.

Sara formed a team, "Training Wheels," and is chronicling the ups and downs of learning to cycle in her blog, from the nitty gritty of buying a bike (a Townie Electra) and figuring out how it works to the sometimes tricky task of managing her diabetes while exercising.

To stay safe, Sara tests her glucose before her ride and again afterwards. For the occasional lows, "I've been carrying the same old pack of just-in-case Skittles with me on my rides. I choose a candy I don't like on purpose," she says, "but will soon switch to a glucose gel."

"Learning to ride and getting back in shape is one of the hardest things I've ever done — but it's worth it!"