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Bush Pedals New Program: Mountain Biking

Posted on: Monday, 26 July 2004, 06:00 CDT

CRAWFORD, Texas - George Bush plunged down hills and plowed through the brush on his high-end, high-performance mountain bike - and wound up flat on his back. A bit shaken up, the president of the United States dusted himself off, got back on his bike and kept rolling, a small cut on his knee and dirt on his back the only signs he had wrecked.

With an Associated Press reporter along for the ride, Bush tore around his 1,600-acre Texas ranch on Monday.

A one-time jogger, Bush has been riding the knobby-tired bikes only since February, but he rides with abandon. He went biking Monday as Democrats gathered in Boston for their convention to nominate Sen. John Kerry as their presidential candidate.

Bush keeps a cramp-inducing pace on the uphills, panting hard by the time he reaches each peak, backing off a little to recover, attacking the next hill just as hard.

His heart rate reached 168 beats per minute, about four times his resting rate and in the same range as Lance Armstrong's when the six-time Tour de France winner is pedaling hard.

"At my age, you're more concerned about the cardiovascular" benefits of a workout, Bush said. Mountain biking, he said, has a certain "mind-clearing" effect on him as well.

"My right knee has finally had it," Bush said. "Running is really a painful experience for me now."

"I was looking for a different way to get outside and get exercise," he said. "Swimming is outside exercise, but you don't get the feeling of the wind rushing past you, nor can you swim your favorite piece of property."

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