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Biden’s detractors saying 79 years old is too old to be riding a bicycle: Come on, man
PERSPECTIVE
biden bicycle
President Joe Biden gets back on his bike after he fell when he tried to get off his bike to greet a crowd at Gordons Pond in Rehoboth Beach, Del., Saturday, June 18.

I get that a lot of people aren’t wild about President Joe Biden.

But, come on man, contending a 79-year-old has no business riding a bicycle?

I’ll leave the non-stop attacks and counter attacks to the party animals.

That said,  it doesn’t elevate the debate — and certainly not civil discourse —when remarks become reptilian centric.

Biden was pedaling a bike trail near the beach in Delaware.

He pulled over to greet some people, stopped, and fell over.

Biden got back up and kept pedaling.

No harm, no foul, right?

But this is 2022.

It prompted Tucker Carlson — who is clearly a full-time commentator — to go for the lowest possible denominator.

“We’re not attacking Joe Biden for falling off his bicycle at a dead standstill,” Carlson offered up. “He’s at the age where that can happen. He shouldn’t be riding bikes. He also shouldn’t be president.”

No shock about Carlson’s sentiments that Biden shouldn’t be president.

But his slam about how a 79-year-old who happens to be president should not be riding a bicycle?

Perhaps Carlson should take his own actions to heart.

The 53-year-old cable TV talking head credits starting an exercise program with helping him shed 30 pounds and become healthier and more productive.

So, did the ancient age of being 79 contribute to Biden falling over at a standstill on his bicycle?

No. The president said he got his foot caught in a toe clip.

Given he wasn’t rushed off to the ER room for a low level simple spill while bicycling should be proof he’s not frail.

I do realize some contend he’s feeble and that’s what the remarks made by Carlson were none-too-subtly implying.

Biden didn’t break a hip.

That’s what half the world likely thinks would happen to any 79-year-old who body slams asphalt.

Here’s a wild thought. What if Biden is a healthy 79 year-old with “senior moments” that most of us regardless of our age experience might be a tad of a klutz?

Clearly Joe Biden is no Jack LaLanne.

Based on the dot connecting Carlson was employing that falling over when on a bicycle at a standstill means you shouldn’t be bicycling, I should have called it quits in 1990 as a 34 year-old.

I had pulled up alongside a tourist bus in Auburn at a red light.

It was  bus, I was to find out quickly, was full of Japanese tourists armed to the teeth with cameras.

The light had just turned red. I decided I didn’t want to do my squirrely balancing act for a minute or so.

That’s when I decided to partially dismount.

On a clipless pedal system (think ski bindings), you need to twist your foot and snap out.

At the time I was using Sampson pedals as opposed to Look.

Unless you’re a roadie — slang for a road cyclist — those are two distinct clipless pedal system.

Long story short, I had the tension too tight.

I went to take my right foot out and it wouldn’t budge.

I tried the same with my left foot.

Seconds later I was headed toward the ground.

I landed on my right shoulder.

Unlike the president whose foot wiggled out of the toe clip, my cycling cleats didn’t shake loose.

There I was on a busy commercial street laying on my right side in a travel lane with my feet both firmly attached to the pedals and the bicycle still between my legs.

Did I mention my bicycling buddy Gary Pogue was behind me?

While he was laughing, windows on the bus were rolling down and a sea of people were poking their heads out the windows clicking away with their cameras.

Had it been 2022 instead of 1990, it looked so hilariously stupid If someone had posted a video it would easily have over a  million hits.

It took me about 40 seconds of hardcore twisting with my foot but I finally got one lose.

Getting back up to my feet was easily one-tenth as graceful as Biden’s.

You could use that incident to say maybe I shouldn’t be president.

But not to ride a bicycle? Come on, man.

You might say there is a big difference between a 34-year-old man, a man like Biden who is 79 and my current age of 66.

Age has nothing to do with it.

I’m not so sure a lot of 53 year-old men — Tucker’s age — would have been able to go jogging with me for the wimpy two miles I did on Monday at 3 p.m. in 103 degree heat.

This is not me bragging.

Clint Eastwood nailed it.

A man’s got to know his limitations.

But he also has to push reasonably to get to his potential.

I learned that from a stranger in Death Valley.

I was hiking back down from the 11,043-foot summit of Wildrose Peak.

I had exchanged pleasantries with a 40 year-old woman heading up the switchback minutes earlier when I came across the gentleman.

He had paused for a moment, supported by a hiking pole.

I looked at him and said, “It already is.”

He replied, “I know.”

He then shared that he was 87 years old and the woman I had passed was his daughter.

When he retired from Hewlett-Packard at age 65 he decided he didn’t any to end up like his friends.

That meant not gaining weight and becoming a couch potato.

So, he decided to hike every hike-able peak 8,000 feet or higher in California that didn’t require rock scrambling or worse.

It was his sixth trip up to Wildrose Peak.

It was my first at age 54 years old.

I felt a lot less tired after that short conversation.

I wouldn’t have told him he had no business hiking mountains as an 87 year old.

As to whether he should be president, that’s a different issue.

Perhaps Biden shouldn’t be president. That’s an opinion.

But should Biden not bicycle because he’s 79 years old?

That’s a borderline stupid question.

And if it is a question prompted because of a spill Biden took from which he got back into the saddle instead of being rushed to an emergency room to further a political talking point, Biden says it best.

Come on, man.

 

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com