Bush, a "biking maniac," loves leaving aides in dust

The Baltimore Sun , The Seattle Times ^ | Sunday, February 13, 2005 | By Julie Hirschfeld Davis

[snugs]

Thanks Gretchen

[ichabod1]

Hey, I ain't knockin' it. I'm kinda glad to have a pres who lays it on the line like that.

[arasina]

oooh...nice photo. I'm still waiting for his clone to arrive at my door. SIGH.

[ohioWfan]

Yeah......I know you weren't knocking it.

It's just that in my workouts, I'd be happy to burn half those calories in an hour!

[ohioWfan]

Funny, Willie. Funny.

Implying that he's not coordinated, sort of like the leftist press did to Gerald Ford?

[ichabod1]

OK, and in the spirit of admissions, I know running is not good for my knees but I love it so I kind of make rationalizations about it not being that much harder on my knees than biking.

[snugs]

Aren't we all LOL

[doug from upland]

My son is now 34 and took up road biking about 2 or 2 1/2 years ago. He lives in San Francisco, a real challenge for riders. Last year in his class he was No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 on the West Coast. This season, he moved up to the next class. He absolutely loves the sport. It is not for the timid. He has had two accidents that wrecked expensive bikes and could have injured him very badly. Yes, biking will keep you in shape.

[montag813]

and the rolling hills of Quantico, Va

The FBI has one heck of a course there, perhas that's his spot. I myself have run there, but it would be a real rush to bike it.

[ohioWfan]

Only since he wasn't permitted by the doctors to run, did my son admit that running was not the only TRUE sport, and that biking was an OK substitute.

I think it may be symptomatic of the 'running disease' you all seem to have. ;o)

(I personally think that throwing up your insides and nearly dying of dehydration must be a boatload of fun........)

[Cyclopean Squid]

"He's become ...king ..."

Nice. Do you work for AP or Reuters? With parsing skills like that, you could go right to the top!

[Willie Green]

Implying that he's not coordinated, sort of like the leftist press did to Gerald Ford?

Nah. It was clearly the Segway's fault. Nanny government bureaucrats ought to ban those things. </sarcasm>

[ichabod1]

I personally think that throwing up your insides and nearly dying of dehydration must be a boatload of fun....

I've never thrown up my insides. :)

[traviskicks]

remember when he wrecked (Bush)?
You mean on the Segway???
Yeah, I remember it!!!
---

lol, I had forgotten about that. I was actually thinking of some wreck he had on his mountain bike and had cuts all over his face etc... no picks of that one tho! supposedly he got up and just kept trucking. Gotta be fun for the secret service.

[GoldwaterChick]

Check out this tagline!!!

[WFTR]

I used to do the HHH when I lived in Oklahoma City. I rode every year from 1990 to 1994. I was there the year that they had 13,000 riders. I've heard that they started limiting it after that. I miss both mountain biking and road biking. Maybe someday I'll have an opportunity to do it again.

Bill

[deport]

I"ve never been to the race but it would be something to see...... 100 miles, 100+ degrees...... The thing has expanded to include several different races as I read their info.... There were over 8300 in the 'endurance section' last year...

I ride a good bit but don't think I want to even begin training for something like this...

[arasina]

I think it may be symptomatic of the 'running disease' you all seem to have. ;o)

One of my sisters has run several marathons and even made it through a triathlon some years ago. She's definitely got the 'running disease' (obsessed with it); those of us in the family who would rather walk have decided she's really a squirrel. :o)

[WFTR]

The funny thing is that in spite of the macho name, the HHH is probably the easiest century ride that I ever did. It's also the ride where I finished with my best times. I was under six hours three times, and just over six hours another time.

For some reason, I always had good resistance to the heat. Oklahoma City had a good number of days in July and August where it was still over 100 degrees at five-thirty or six o'clock when I was home from work and starting my evening rides. I had to drink quite a bit, but the heat never bothered me that much.

Another nice thing about the HHH is that there are always other bikers nearby. I've been on century rides where I found myself alone and wondering whether I was lost. I was never good at drafting, but just having other bikers nearby made the HHH easier.

The HHH also did an excellent job of providing rest stops. For the last 60 miles, the rest stops were about eight to ten miles apart. If I was struggling a little, I knew that a rest stop wasn't too far ahead.

It was wild to be riding along and to see bikers as far as the eye could see both ahead and behind. In the early parts of the ride, we'd be spread across the entire road and nearly shoulder to shoulder. To be honest, I was never comfortable riding in that kind of crowd. By the halfway point, it thinned enough to be really fun.

I'm not sure what you mean about several races. When I was riding, they always had different distances. I think one could choose either the 100 miles (century), 60 miles (metric century), 50 miles, 25 miles, and maybe one other distance. These Saturday rides were a fun ride for hobbyists. On Sunday, they had a real, registered race, but I was never good enough for the races.

Bill

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I'm pretty familiar with Beltsville MD and can't imagine much of a "secluded spread" there.

CIA safe house, maybe?!