General Cycling Discussion - Jimmy Carter is a bike guy!

A recent USA Today article on former president Jimmy Carter (78 years old) has a photo showing him with his Rivendell bike, which he rides around Plains, GA on a regular basis. I think Rivendell is a rather expensive bike, but Jimmy can afford it. He just got a million with his Nobel Peace Prize. Now he needs to buy some bike clothes. The photo shows him in blue jeans, loafers and a short sleeve shirt.

Rivendell bikes are mostly custom and you have to be pretty serious to own one. And yes they are expensive. That's cool for President Carter to be a cycling type. Of course if you ride a Rivendell then you don't really care what other people think and you can wear whatever you like:) Rivendell owners tend to be more traditionalist in their choices and keep things simple. Beautiful bikes and always steel with lugs. Very retro and nice.

Too bad Carter didn't see the light when he was President and get America cycling and into fitness when he was in office. Then maybe the U.S. wouldn't be in many of the messes that we are in right now. Like obesity, traffic snarls, lack of viable public transportation, dependance on foreign oil, etc. No sense in crying over spilled milk though. Perhaps even in his later years as a world leader, Nobel Prize winner and overall good guy he will inspire others to get out on the bike. We can only hope.

Lance Armstron gave our current Pres. Bush a Trek OCLV. I don't know if he actually rides it, but George W. does stay fit. He's a runner. When he was down here, on Sept. 11, and the couple days before. My wife met a local Sheriff that was assigned to his patrol. The Sheriff said he ran at least 5 miles every morning. Maybe he'll try out that OCLV?

L8R

Originally posted by bikeman

Too bad Carter didn't see the light when he was President and get America cycling and into fitness when he was in office.

Actually Carter was one of our most athletic presidents. He competed in a 10K race, making him the only President to have taken part in a competitive sporting event (please correct me if I am wrong).

It got him in some trouble, though...he ran too fast an inital pace and dropped out. The predictable parallels with his administration were drawn.

Paul

Originally posted by PaulH


Actually Carter was one of our most athletic presidents. He competed in a 10K race, making him the only President to have taken part in a competitive sporting event (please correct me if I am wrong).

It got him in some trouble, though...he ran too fast an inital pace and dropped out. The predictable parallels with his administration were drawn.

Paul

I don't remember this, but I am picturing it: Jimmy Carter in running togs, racing along, surrounded by a phalanx of guys in blue suits and black shoes...

Carter is an amazing guy and well deserves the Nobel prize for the good work that he has done. His was, arguably, a failed presidency but he has been perhaps our greatest former-president.

There is something appropriate about riding a Rivendell bike in jeans. Grant Petersen, the founder and guiding light of Rivendell Bicycles (and formerly of Bridgestone), is something of a maverick retrogrouch. He would approve.

Actually, carter had the perfect opportunity to promote cycling and fitness while in office, especially during the energy/oil crisis!

I personally have a lot of respect for what the guy has done since leaving office, working for human rights and peace.

I am not suprised.

He really deserves the best.

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
Lance Armstron gave our current Pres. Bush a Trek OCLV. I don't know if he actually rides it, but George W. does stay fit. He's a runner. When he was down here, on Sept. 11, and the couple days before. My wife met a local Sheriff that was assigned to his patrol. The Sheriff said he ran at least 5 miles every morning. Maybe he'll try out that OCLV?

L8R

Something tells me that oil-man Bush and his cronies pile bicycles high and light them in bonfires for rituals to keep the fossil fuel alternative monsters away.

Originally posted by bikeman

Too bad Carter didn't see the light when he was President and get America cycling and into fitness when he was in office. Then maybe the U.S. wouldn't be in many of the messes that we are in right now. Like obesity, traffic snarls, lack of viable public transportation, dependance on foreign oil, etc.

Actually...

Carter was one of the last presidents to make any effort to wean the USA from the oil addiction. His administration offered incentives for businesses and private parties who used alternative energy sources - a program that was later dismantled by Regan/Bush. Many of the bicycle path programs were promoted by the Carter administration.

yes, i think Carter did try to do quite a bit for breaking our oil dependence, promoting cycling and general physical fitness... my memory's flaky here, but weren't many long-distance trails like the Pacifc Coast bikeway created from federal funds in the late 70s? and i also vaugely remember the "President's phsyical fitness" test or something in school...

ok, i searched and it was started in '53 by Eisenhower, but Carter did contribute: "President Carter speaks at 1st National Conference on Physical Fitness. In 1979, physical fitness and exercise become one of 15 priority areas in a national health promotion/disease prevention initiative" (http://www.fitness.gov/PCPFS_History.pdf)

I don't remember this, but I am picturing it: Jimmy Carter in running togs, racing along, surrounded by a phalanx of guys in blue suits and black shoes...

Actually, the secrect-service men were also wearing running gear, much the same as the officers who accompanied both Clinton and Bush (both) on their jogs.
Before Jimmy Carter, you never saw a president exercising (other than playing golf, that is). Even Kennedy, who was young, had a back brace that prevented him from exercising. Harry Truman used to get up at dawn for a 5-mile walk (in street clothes-suit, tie, hat), but otherwise, the last president that did any kind of exercise was Theodore Roosevelt.

Thanks for all that info about Carter. Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember all that fitness stuff.

I think it was in the 70s here in Canada that the gov't started the "participaction" campaign, designed to get Canadians into fitness. People really weren't into fitness very much back then; it seemed to peak in the 80s, now everyone is back to being slobs. I blame that on the whole slacker/ computer culture, which has made it cool to be pasty, pudgy and eat crappy food. Say what we want about annoying baby boomers, but it was their demographic that started the whole fitness craze.