Tracking the Biker-in-Chief

President Bush to Visit Utah, the Land of Real Mountain Biking

By Lucy Burningham, 8-15-05

Mark you calendars, President Bush is coming to town. In a state that rarely sees the president, during the campaign season or otherwise, Bush’s stop should stir up plenty of protestors and plenty of praise, but more importantly, it creates that possibility that he'll ride his bike in Utah.

The President will touch down in Utah on August 22 to attend the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars convention at the Salt Palace, reports the Deseret News. While the White House hasn’t officially said that Bush will be attending, the state’s director of the Division of Veterans seems confident that the President will be speaking at the convention alongside Sen. Orrin Hatch in a show of support for troops present and troops past.

President Bush last visited Utah during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the wrong season for mountain biking. But perhaps this time around, he’ll have the chance rip up some local trails, which will be considerably more challenging than his flat-land, double-track Crawford Ranch roads. Since some journalists in Texas recently had the chance to ride with the commander-in-chief, I wonder which local reporters would sign up for a Utah version of the testosterone fueled event. Carole Mikita? Robert Kirby? And which trail would they choose? Ah, the possibilities.

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