When George W. Bush took office in Jan. 2001, he was running a seven-minute training mile. Whether you like his politics or not, that’s impressive for a 54-year-old man who had spent most of the previous two years campaigning for the presidency.
The pounding, however, did in Bush’s knees. The gift of a mountain bike from Trek bike company president John Burke started Bush on a new passion. He began riding along with his contingent of Secret Service agents and others at the USDA Agricultural Research Center at Beltsville, Md., just outside Washington, D.C., and at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The rolling group became known as “Peleton one.”
According to an Associated Press article published in this morning’s Intelligencer Journal, Bush is interested in opening more opportunities for mountain biking. Before he leaves office in January, his administration is expected to propose a new rule giving authority to National Park managers to open trails in their parks to mountain biking. Now, that power rests with federal regulators in Washington, D.C. and it can take several years for a special regulation to clear the necessary hurdles to open a trail to bikers.
