Bush is more American, Kerry more French
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ELECTION 2004: Just plain spokes?
Candidates' choices of bicycles analyzed
Ken Herman - Cox Washington Bureau
Sunday, August 1, 2004
Crawford, Texas --- This election cycle, the choice could not be
clearer, the polarization more pronounced.
We are a nation divided, torn asunder by presidential candidates on
opposite ends of a telling spectrum.
President Bush is a mountain biker. Think knobby tires, hilly climbs,
tricky descents, thrills and spills on a vehicle that can be a weapon
of (three letters, rhymes with ''mass,'' no ''m''😉 destruction.
Though he does some mountain biking too, challenger John Kerry is
primarily a road biker. Think skinny tires, Lance Armstrong, the
hypnotic Zen of pedal cadence and tire hum and mile upon mile upon
mile of pavement.
A man can tell you a lot when he tells you what kind of bike he rides.
''A road bike ride generally consists of more of a measured effort
over a long time,'' said Phil Tomlin, service manager at Freewheeling
Bicycles in Austin. ''Whereas mountain biking is more of a sprint-type
activity. It's more visceral in the sense that things happen a lot
faster and the type of exertion people are putting out is more in
short bursts.''
Cancel the debates. What more do you need to know in picking a
president?
Bush rides a $3,100 mountain bike, a gift from Trek. Kerry always has
his $8,000 road bike aboard his campaign plane.
Bush, 58, is a newcomer to cycling, driven to it four months ago after
his right knee said it had had enough jogging for this lifetime. Kerry
has been cycling since shortly after his college years.
Both candidates did some riding last week, Bush at his Texas spread
and Kerry during the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Try it, you'll like it
Before a Wednesday ride at the ranch, Bush reflected on how he became
a mountain biker.
''Trekman John Burke said, 'Why don't you try one of these bikes' ''
he said. Trekman John Burke --- only the last two names are official;
the first is the Bush-assigned nickname --- is the president of Trek,
a Wisconsin-based bicycle manufacturer.
Bush tried it. He liked it. He's hooked.
''I love the feeling. I like to get outdoors. I love my piece of
property,'' he said before leading a presidential cadre on a brisk
ride on his 1,600-acre ranch. When in Washington, Bush rides at a
Secret Service facility in Beltsville, Md.
A ride with Bush is no low-intensity spin. Riding a black Trek Fuel
98, Bush hammers away, shoulders bobbing alternately as he tops 20 mph
on the paved portion of the ride.
On this muggy, windy day, Bush scorched an 18.3-mile route in one
hour, 19 minutes.
''146,'' he said early in the ride, announcing his heart rate as it
moved toward the 170 range he covets.
The group riding with Bush included two Secret Service agents,
campaign adviser Mark McKinnon, cinematographer Vance Holmes (at the
ranch for campaign filming) and me. Despite logging 1,800 miles on a
road bike this year, I was not up to the pace set by Bush.
It's like any six guys out for a ride --- any six guys followed by two
golf carts and four trucks loaded with medical and protective staff as
the entourage is waved through gates by Secret Service agents.
The Secret Service communications system crackles with updates
throughout the ride. ''We're walking,'' an agent announces, as Bush
dismounts to get up a hill he says he has ridden up only once.
'You do fall'
Bush's riding apparel is unpretentious, no skin-tight shorts or
cycling jersey. He opts for a plain white T-shirt, loose khaki shorts
and running shoes. The protective gear includes a red, white and blue
helmet, gloves and a ''tooth guard in case I fall and teeth go through
lip.''
At least twice so far, Bush and bike have gone through involuntary
separations. In May, Bush took a dive while riding in Maryland. On
Monday, while riding with an Associated Press reporter, Bush again hit
the dirt. Bush waved off medical attention and reporter Scott Lindlaw
wound up with a tell-the-grandkids story about lifting Mountain Bike
One off the president.
''I've got to be careful. I'm not going to do stupid things, try not
to. But occasionally you do fall,'' Bush said of Monday's tumble.
At ride's end, Bush is winded, but able to talk comfortably moments
after getting off his bike.
''Feels great, exhilarated,'' he said, his neck reddened by the sun.
''When you ride a bike and you get your heart rate up and you're out,
after 30 or 40 minutes your mind tends to expand; it tends to relax,''
he said. ''My worries tend to dissipate. That's not to say that
shortly thereafter, when I walk inside the house and get a phone call
that says something is going wrong or there is a difficult situation,
I can't log back into it.''
This day's ride coincided with Iraq's bloodiest day since the handover
of authority. Seventy Iraqis died in a car bombing.
Bush makes no excuses for biking during the ongoing turmoil.
''I think it's important for people to get their minds off their daily
worries at some point during the day. I think it makes you a more
rounded person. I think it helps you make better decisions,'' he said.
Rough and tumble
Freewheeling's Tomlin said what Bush does on the bike is more
important than the fact that he gets on a mountain bike.
''The type of mountain biking activity you are talking about is not
simply a poser kind of activity of going to jump a couple of rocks and
kicking back a beer,'' he said.
In mountain biking, if it doesn't hurt, you aren't doing it right.
''You really have to put yourself out there and be willing to make
some mistakes that are going to hurt to do it properly,'' Tomlin said.
''Invariably, it is a contact sport.''
Kerry's road biking is more of an endurance sport. He has ridden at
least two 100-mile events. At a fit 60, Kerry also windsurfs, skis and
snow- boards.
In 1998, he made the cover of Windsurfing magazine and has windsurfed
from Cape Cod to Nantucket, a six-hour trip, four times. He told the
magazine that the activity, as well as being physically challenging,
is ''a form of meditation because of the concentration and the mix of
managing water, wind and obstacles.''
Although he has a mountain bike at his Idaho vacation home, it is the
road bike that travels with Kerry on his campaign plane. Spokesman
Phil Singer said the candidate gets to ride about twice a week.
Kerry's orange Serotta Ottrott (prounounced O-tro, after a small
French town) lists for about $8,000.
Kerry's bike shop is Wheelworks in the Boston area. Company President
Clint Paige said Kerry became a customer about 12 years ago when the
senator came in for repair work on an older Serotta.
''Since them we've upgraded his fleet a little bit,'' Paige said.
Kerry injured his shoulder in a 1992 biking accident and aggravated
the injury on his campaign bus in Iowa in January. In May, Kerry was
uninjured when he went down after his bike hit a patch of sand as he
rode north of Boston.
The difference between mountain bikers such as Bush and road bikers
such as Kerry? Not all that much, according to Paige.
''There may be some side of mountain biking that appears more casual,
more accessible," he said.
"But we see mountain bikers who take it seriously and train just as
hard and are just as focused as road bikers."