Tim Blair

"I didn't take a spill, that son of a bitch sand knocked me off".

Fred, you beat me to it!

Sen. Kerry had better watch it or he is going to get tagged with the "klutz" label like Gerald Ford was...

WARNING! USA Today article has a picture of Kerry in bicycle shorts. Not for the faint of heart.

Did they apply botox to more than his face?

In Kerry's nuauce speak; "I did not fall. I was riding the bicycle and then I was not riding the bicycle."

Dash — Any sign of a big plastic flower this time?

Good thing John Kerry only had to deal with the Vietcong in Vietnam, not Secret Service Agents or bicycles...

PW — Charlie don't BMX, boy!

Y'all being mean. He deserves another Purple Heart

"Bicycle launches savage attack on Kerry's patriotisim"

Letter to the editor in today's Daily Telegraph:

Never mind weapons of mass destruction: the blatant abuse and mistreatment of prisoners of war by American and British forces has given their enemies a far more powerful weapon, the weapon of propaganda. I pray that our Australian soldiers have the professionalism and discipline not to imitate such behaviour.

No misbehaviour by Australian troops reported so far. Australian nurses, on the other hand ...

Elderly hospital patient 'slapped'

A 94-YEAR-OLD dementia patient was allegedly slapped across the face, had her thumb bent back and was threatened with smothering by hospital staff, it was revealed yesterday.

Kerry quote I'm looking foward to:

"My poll numbers didn't fall, Bush demolished them".

To be fair, many people of moderate means who are bicycle enthusiasts can afford to spend that much on a bike. As many middle class folks can afford to spend similar amounts on their favorite hobbies (bass fishing, wood working, home theater, etc.). However, his performance on seemingly simple terrain indicates he's less of a cycle enthusiast than merely a poseur who can afford to dump what would be a month's salary for an average joe on a "hobbie" he's no good at.

P.S. Who is running this guy's campaign? Karl Rove?

Robin Goodfellow — No, Shemp Howard...

If he cannot ride across a "patch of sand" without falling down, how is he going to get out of Iraq?

I was turning left. Well there was a bit of right in it. Some of the way. Followed by a sweeping nuanced turnaround and dismount.

I've got an expensive bike despite modest means, an immodest gut, and advancing age. In my defense I used to race back in the day, still like to flog a bike up and down a ridgeline now and then, and worship at the Church of the Holy Fifty Mile Sunday Ride. Kerry is apprently a decent, or at least persistent, rider. He's done some 100 mile rides.

It's pretty easy to drop $2K on a "nice" stock factory bike. (Think Lemond Zurich or Trek 5200.) The Serottas are a step above that and not strictly factory bikes, but often custom geometry--made to fit the individual rider. Kerry is 6'4", and it's difficult to get a good fit at that size in a factory bike.

Besides, they're nice bikes.

Herr Blofeld,

We're not laughing at him because he rides an expensive bike...we're laughing at him 'cause he's a friggin' dick.

Oh my god - I have seen the picture of Kerry on the USA today website. The smile, the wave, the motion - at least Dukakis had the sense to be in a tank when he was grinning.

Now, he might not be a biking poseur ... it could just be that he's getting old. Your reflexes slow down as you get older, and it gets more and more difficult to respond to adjust quickly. That's why so many elderly get in car crashes...

I bike 8,000 miles a year commuting, and can report that it takes about 20 years to discover all the ways you can fall down. Then you don't fall down any more. I don't know that any of them are frequent though. That's what you'd have to look at. It could be just really bad luck, like the snowboarding and the skiing.

Working for 35 years to reduce the number of fellow bicyclists (motorists are not angry if you're the first bicyclist they've come across that morning. Sometimes they wave.)

That's odd. There were lots of pix of Bush falling off his Segway, but not a one of Kerry with his aquiline nose in the sand.

I wonder why?

Damn,

I want to ask if he put himself up for a Purple Heart.

Nice one.

having just bought a new Trek and launched a cycling blog, I'll give Kerry a pass on falling off his bike. Interesting thing is, he didn't get back on it. Wimp.

By the way, if you are a cyclist and want to contribue to the cycling blog, let me know via the comments feature on the cycling blog.

I don't care how much he spends on a bike, he can afford it, so what. I don't care if he's not good at or not, at least he's trying to do something he likes. But, looking like that should get you beat up by grade schoolers.

" Interesting thing is, he didn't get back on it. Wimp."

Damn. When I was riding my (cheap, used, rusty) bike to grammar school I used to fall down and get back on all the time. That was way before kids had to wear helmets and shin-protectors and all that crap, much less an entire clown suit like that. It's pretty sad when a grown man is outdone by an eleven-year-old girl, especially the eleven-year-old girl I was.

JOHN KERRY '04
he's not half the eleven year old girl Andrea Harris was

:D

I was disappointed that he wasn't wearing elbow/knee/chin protection gear...

Also disappointed in how he treated that $5000 bike...man, you could get like 5 haircuts for that baby!