Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Bush on Biking

President Bush has been showing up on my radar a bit more then usual of late. No, I'm talking about the usual arenas of financial crisis conferences/speeches, or really even in the political arena at all. I'm talking about the world of mountain biking...



It seems the Prez spent this past Sunday morning riding my recently favorited trails over in Rosaryville State park. Apparently one of the MORE members has been emailing him for a while trying to make sure he rode the local gem at least once before leaving office. The possibility of other participants in the G-8 summits joining in on the ride is also present. Pretty cool; too bad I only made it out there Saturday morning and not Sunday as well. Although I doubt they'd let me go anywhere near the trails considering my alignment to the Racing Union and more importantly Dear Leader himself...

This to me brings up the question of what kind of mountain biker is bush really? Does he really go out there and ride the trails? Does he get into the rythem and really feel the flow that I love so much? Did he find my favorite little sections of trail when he rode Rosaryville Sunday? I always assumed he enjoyed riding his bike, leisurely along trails kind of the way a hybrid owner rides their bike leasurely along the C&O Canal. I'm now beginning to believe otherwise. Actually I guess I could have just read this article for that information.




Yesterday I also got wind of the possible opening of additional NPS trails to mountain biking. The President is apparently trying to come out with a little kiss and make up session with the cycling world before he leaves office by passing some legislation giving individual park administration the options to open certain trails without federal regulators' approval. More information is widely available on the topic.

Pretty cool; especially considering the trend that seems to be occuring where park service authorities are beginning to recognize the positive impacts the Mountain Biking community can have on trail creation and maintenance. Just a brief review of MORE's volunteer work is a strong testament to that. If you ride mountain bikes you should seriously consider joining up with this or other similar organizations to help out on trail work days. Very good karma.

Now to practice what I preach a little bit...

(Photos courtesy of www.whitehouse.gov and www.usatoday.com respectively)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

That is so wild, we went there on Monday and were at Quantico on Saturday. I have heard he is pretty hard core. I just think how cool it would be (no matter what your political persuasion) to ride with the POTUS. Also, when I am having a tough time on the Quantico trails (i.e. elevator climb) I think the POTUS rides here, so suck it up girl!!

Jim said...

I understand from some Secret Service buddies that he rides *hard* - not necessarily super technically skilled but on a fireroad ride will average close to 20 on the MTB.

KMAX said...

Jim,
That's cool, means he probably rides just like me! Hard and clumsy! Though with that full squishy Trek his bike may make up for it a lot more then mine. :)

KML,
Yeah, I really wish that some how I could have been there early Sunday. That really would be cool to see him in action; especially being a normal guy as opposed to the President. I've definitely never seen a Pres or VP in person, even from the floor of a speech or convention or anything so the opportunity to see them out (aka not the boob tube) would just be cool.