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August 2nd, 2004, 09:39 AM
The New York Times
Culture Wars, on Two Wheels
By CHARLES McGRATH
Published: August 1, 2004
ONE of the many differences separating John Kerry and George W. Bush is their choice of bicycle - not an especially presidential mode of transport, one might think, except that these are not ordinary bikes.
Mr. Kerry reportedly pedals an $8,000 Serotta Ottrott, as high-tech and skittish as a sports car. It is made of space-age carbon tubing and comes equipped with the patented ST rear triangle, whatever that is.
Mr. Bush pumps away (often emitting low "hrrr, hrrr, hrrr" grunts, according to an Associated Press article last week) on a $3,000 Trek Fuel 98. It, too, is made of carbon tubing, but unlike the Kerry machine, it has shock absorbers fore and aft. That's because it's meant to go off-road. If Mr. Kerry's bike is a Ferrari, Mr. Bush's is a Land Rover. Mr. Kerry rides on the flat, more or less, and usually on paved surfaces.
Mr. Bush likes to ride up into the hills of his Texas ranch and then come flying down. To put it another way, Mr. Kerry is more nearly like Greg LeMond, Mr. Bush more like Evel Knievel.
What this says about their political philosophies is best left to the analysts and the pundits. But a study posted recently on a New Zealand biking Web site suggests that downhill mountain-bike riders, like Mr. Bush, score considerably higher than cross-country riders on something called the Sensation Seeking Scale. (Road riders, like Mr. Kerry, are comparative wussies when it comes to sensation seeking.) Downhill riders are also more likely to drive a car too fast, and to have had a brush with the law.
Of course they also get hurt more often. According to Tim Blumenthal, the executive director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, "minor cuts and scratches are pretty common in our sport."
As far as we know, Mr. Kerry has fallen only once recently, after skidding on a patch of sand last May. On the other hand, Mr. Bush has tumbled twice in the last two months - and that's not counting the time in June of last year he fell over the handlebars of his father's Segway scooter, because he had forgotten to turn it on.
Mr. Blumenthal said that some of the worst mountain bike spills happen at slow speeds and are not necessarily the result of reckless driving. "I believe the president could benefit from an hour or two with a top mountain biker who could give him a few tips," Mr. Blumenthal added. "They say that once you learn how to ride a bike you never forget, but there are a few little technical things the president could probably learn."
On his most recent crash, last week, Mr. Bush executed what is known as an "endo" in mountain bike parlance - a sort of reverse wheelie, in which the rear tire lifts in the air and the rider sails over the front. Mr. Bush landed with the bike on top of him but was unhurt except for a cut on his knee. The last time, in May, he scraped his face, hand and both knees.
At least he didn't hurt his liver, a particularly vulnerable area for mountain bikers, according to The Lancet, the medical journal, which has discovered that during a fall, the handlebars frequently slam into the rider's right side, causing internal bleeding.
The origins of mountain biking are unrecorded. The sport probably began the first time some nut case took a two-wheeler off the road and went careering down a too-steep hill.
The advent of the balloon tire in the 1930's made the experience less bone-shaking, but the finer points of mountain bikes and mountain biking were not developed until the mid-1970's, when cyclists in Marin County, Calif., began racing down Mount Tamalpais.
From the beginning the sport has manifested a certain daredevil quality, and in some circles, it is fashionable for mountain bikers to brag about their mishaps. Many of them are recorded on the Crash 'N' Burn message board at the mountain bike Web site www.dirtworld.com - a remarkably upbeat catalog of road rash, concussions, and broken legs, collarbones and teeth.
The more interesting recent posts include ones from a guy who made a wide turn onto a highway and was smacked by a dump truck; from someone whose brakes melted during a 100K race; and from a rider who wiped out while attempting a wheelie drop off of a loading dock.
The palm, however, goes to a fellow who slid off a curve, deposited a lot of skin on some sharp golf ball-sized rocks and then dropped 40 feet into a river, where he found himself in Class IV whitewater rapids. Final E.R.
total: broken ankle (requiring two steel screws), broken ribs, cracked skull, fractured wrist and missing fingernail.
Mr. Blumenthal said the crash-and-burn aspect of mountain biking is frequently overemphasized, but admitted that a certain element of surprise is part of the sport's appeal.
"It clears your head," he said. "In modern society, there are few opportunities to be spontaneous or adventurous. It's not like we're going to be running from a wild boar or anything. But in mountain biking, there's always the chance to have something go wrong. It's fun."
Copyright 2004*The New York Times Company
Culture Wars, on Two Wheels
By CHARLES McGRATH
Published: August 1, 2004
ONE of the many differences separating John Kerry and George W. Bush is their choice of bicycle - not an especially presidential mode of transport, one might think, except that these are not ordinary bikes.
Mr. Kerry reportedly pedals an $8,000 Serotta Ottrott, as high-tech and skittish as a sports car. It is made of space-age carbon tubing and comes equipped with the patented ST rear triangle, whatever that is.
Mr. Bush pumps away (often emitting low "hrrr, hrrr, hrrr" grunts, according to an Associated Press article last week) on a $3,000 Trek Fuel 98. It, too, is made of carbon tubing, but unlike the Kerry machine, it has shock absorbers fore and aft. That's because it's meant to go off-road. If Mr. Kerry's bike is a Ferrari, Mr. Bush's is a Land Rover. Mr. Kerry rides on the flat, more or less, and usually on paved surfaces.
Mr. Bush likes to ride up into the hills of his Texas ranch and then come flying down. To put it another way, Mr. Kerry is more nearly like Greg LeMond, Mr. Bush more like Evel Knievel.
What this says about their political philosophies is best left to the analysts and the pundits. But a study posted recently on a New Zealand biking Web site suggests that downhill mountain-bike riders, like Mr. Bush, score considerably higher than cross-country riders on something called the Sensation Seeking Scale. (Road riders, like Mr. Kerry, are comparative wussies when it comes to sensation seeking.) Downhill riders are also more likely to drive a car too fast, and to have had a brush with the law.
Of course they also get hurt more often. According to Tim Blumenthal, the executive director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, "minor cuts and scratches are pretty common in our sport."
As far as we know, Mr. Kerry has fallen only once recently, after skidding on a patch of sand last May. On the other hand, Mr. Bush has tumbled twice in the last two months - and that's not counting the time in June of last year he fell over the handlebars of his father's Segway scooter, because he had forgotten to turn it on.
Mr. Blumenthal said that some of the worst mountain bike spills happen at slow speeds and are not necessarily the result of reckless driving. "I believe the president could benefit from an hour or two with a top mountain biker who could give him a few tips," Mr. Blumenthal added. "They say that once you learn how to ride a bike you never forget, but there are a few little technical things the president could probably learn."
On his most recent crash, last week, Mr. Bush executed what is known as an "endo" in mountain bike parlance - a sort of reverse wheelie, in which the rear tire lifts in the air and the rider sails over the front. Mr. Bush landed with the bike on top of him but was unhurt except for a cut on his knee. The last time, in May, he scraped his face, hand and both knees.
At least he didn't hurt his liver, a particularly vulnerable area for mountain bikers, according to The Lancet, the medical journal, which has discovered that during a fall, the handlebars frequently slam into the rider's right side, causing internal bleeding.
The origins of mountain biking are unrecorded. The sport probably began the first time some nut case took a two-wheeler off the road and went careering down a too-steep hill.
The advent of the balloon tire in the 1930's made the experience less bone-shaking, but the finer points of mountain bikes and mountain biking were not developed until the mid-1970's, when cyclists in Marin County, Calif., began racing down Mount Tamalpais.
From the beginning the sport has manifested a certain daredevil quality, and in some circles, it is fashionable for mountain bikers to brag about their mishaps. Many of them are recorded on the Crash 'N' Burn message board at the mountain bike Web site www.dirtworld.com - a remarkably upbeat catalog of road rash, concussions, and broken legs, collarbones and teeth.
The more interesting recent posts include ones from a guy who made a wide turn onto a highway and was smacked by a dump truck; from someone whose brakes melted during a 100K race; and from a rider who wiped out while attempting a wheelie drop off of a loading dock.
The palm, however, goes to a fellow who slid off a curve, deposited a lot of skin on some sharp golf ball-sized rocks and then dropped 40 feet into a river, where he found himself in Class IV whitewater rapids. Final E.R.
total: broken ankle (requiring two steel screws), broken ribs, cracked skull, fractured wrist and missing fingernail.
Mr. Blumenthal said the crash-and-burn aspect of mountain biking is frequently overemphasized, but admitted that a certain element of surprise is part of the sport's appeal.
"It clears your head," he said. "In modern society, there are few opportunities to be spontaneous or adventurous. It's not like we're going to be running from a wild boar or anything. But in mountain biking, there's always the chance to have something go wrong. It's fun."
Copyright 2004*The New York Times Company