Bush joins athletes for bike ride
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-20 20:28

BEIJING (Reuters) - President George W. Bush took a break from talks with Chinese leaders on Sunday, trading his business suit for a wind-breaker and shorts to take a bike ride with aspiring Olympic athletes in Beijing.

US President George W. Bush rides his mountain bike with Chinese Olympic hopefuls on the Laoshan Olympic mountain bike course in Beijing, November 20, 2005. [Reuters]

Bush, who had earlier thanked President Hu Jintao for the good weather laid on for his visit, took advantage of the warm, sunny conditions to indulge in his favourite sport of mountain biking at an athletic training centre in Beijing.

Joining him were six Chinese athletes, three men and three women sporting orange and yellow lycra suits.

The group posed for pictures with Bush before the ride and the athletes presented him with a beige sweater emblazoned "Beijing 2008", the Olympic Games they hope to qualify for.

"How do you say, take it easy on the old man?" Bush joked as he got on his bike.

"C'mon, let's go," said Bush, who had brought his mountain bike from Washington aboard Air Force One.

As he sped with the pack down a dusty path, a reporter asked him if it reminded him of his rides at his Crawford, Texas ranch.

"Better than Crawford," Bush replied.