Obama on a Bike

This a photo of Obama riding his bike with his wife and kids (not shown) on the shores of Lake Michigan. He looks so normal. Nice bike too. My first thought was, how nice it is that a potential president of the United States can ride a bike. Then I thought, wait a minute. George Bush rides a bike, though a lot more competitively. Once when Lance Armstrong came to ride with him on Bush's Texas ranch, Armstrong was told, whatever you do, don't pass the president.

My first thought thought was that that was pretty vain of the president. Then I realized it probably was an instruction from one of Bush's aides that Bush probably knew nothing about.

So why would an aide tell Armstrong, then the world's most famous bicyclist, not to pass the president? It was probably an awareness that Bush was, if anything, more competitive than Armstrong. The aide was afraid if Armstrong passed the president, Bush might break his neck trying to keep up.