Although I don't agree with many of President Bush's policies, we do agree that mountain biking is fun and good for your health. We also agree that Mountain Bike One is a bad @$$ bike! He is the first and probably only President who enjoys mountain biking and does so often on his ranch in Crawford, Texas and also in the D.C. area. I can picture it now. W riding his bike torturing his Secret Service agents. Gun toting agents on mountain bikes! Sounds like an accident waiting to happen right? Apparently, W is pretty good at it from what I gather in an article published by Outside Magazine. You gotta be pretty good to ride a Fuel 98 with clipless pedals. I totally dig his kit! He's even take a pretty good tumble or two (which I can relate to) and is renowned for his love of speed and hammering the trail. I hate to say this but I never really humanized W until I found out he was an avid rider and that mountain biking is his choice of exercise. In fact, I make it a personal policy not to humanize public officials so that I can continue to objectively and independently tear apart their policies. So imagine my surprise when I started to feel a tug at the heart strings for W and the ensuing pride for a President who gets it. To that end, I thought I would tip my hat to W for what he has accomplished while in office, especially for fitness and cycling in general. For example, he utilizes mountain biking to establish good will in foreign countries such as China where he rode the Olympic course with Chinese cyclists. He also creates awareness for the health benefits of exercise and mountain biking through his work with the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Because of who he is, the very fact that he does mountain bike has resulted in unprecedented media coverage of his adventures in mountain biking which creates more awareness for the sport itself. Just recently, he supported Congress's bailout plan which included a provision that reimburses cyclists for commuting expenses and his Administration's proposal to allow the National Park Service to open up trails to mountain bikes if they choose to. I look forward to seeing what he will do when he is out of office and on the bike more often. **Photo Credit of President Bush riding his bike on his ranch in Crawford, Texas - Eric Draper/The White House via Getty Images.
