Battle of the presidential bike wrecks . . .

The New York Times has an article about both George Bush's and John Kerry's bicycling habits and recent falls. It turns out that Kerry is a roadie who owns two Serottas while Bush is an avid mountain biker who rides a Trek.

[T]he 57-year-old chief executive, sidelined from the fast track with runner's knee, has become so consumed by mountain biking that he now rides at least an hour a day on most weekends, and monitors his heart rate with a wrist strap during workouts. (Mr. Bush reported through his press secretary, Scott McClellan, that he sometimes gets above a chest-thumping 160 beats per minute.)

As it happens, a certain 60-year-old Democratic presidential candidate is a serious biker, too, although Senator John Kerry more often road bikes. Mr. Kerry sometimes takes his bike on his campaign plane, and during days off takes two-hour jaunts along the Charles River in Boston.

(A shorter version of the article, no registration required, is on the International Herald-Tribune web site.)