Huffington Magazine Issue 53 | Page 46

GRANT MILLER/ COURTESY OF THE BUSH CENTER BUSH AT PEACE of Texas cyclists — in Dallas, where he and his wife, Laura, have a house; in Waco, near the ranch in Crawford; and in Austin — who are willing to ride with him whenever he wants. The riders receive an email, usually a day ahead of time, letting them know where Bush will be riding. Bush rides for 90 minutes to two hours nonstop, some of the riders who go with him said, and then greets members of the public, who have been showing up in the parking lot with increasing frequency. Bush and his fellow cyclists refer to their riding groups as Peloton One. HUFFINGTON 06.16.13 Bush picked up mountain biking in 2004 when his knees started to go south. Prior to that, he had been an avid runner. “I wasn’t a mountain biker when we bought [the ranch]. I was a runner,” Bush said at a press conference before the start of the second day of the Warrior 100K. “I know this is going to irritate some running folks, but I ran myself into premature arthritis.” Trek CEO John Burke gave Bush a mountain bike, and one day, one of his daughters told him to go outside and take the bike for a ride because he was “a little irritable.” “I’ve been biking ever since,” he said. “Mountain biking is awesome. It gets you outside. It gets FROM LEFT: President Barack Obama and former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter arrive at the dedication ceremony for the George W. Bush Library and Museum in Dallas, Texas, on April 25, 2013.