Lake Massabesic, New Hampshire (CNN) – Politicians often seek to portray youthful vigor, but at age 76 Congressman Ron Paul may have to work harder than others.
He showed Friday he's up to the challenge.
Paul, who famously rides his bicycle for exercise throughout the sticky, sweltering summers in Houston, Texas, invited some New Hampshire staffers and reporters on an hour-long bike ride around scenic Lake Massabesic outside Manchester, New Hampshire Friday afternoon.
The sun was shining, a breeze was blowing, and the temperature in the North Eastern state was a temperate 72 degrees.
"It looks like the temperature's about perfect," Paul said, when a reporter asked if he missed the Houston humidity, though he noted summer workouts weren't all bad. "I think when you ride in all the heat and humidity you burn calories faster."
The wiry fiscal iconoclast tries to walk three or four miles in the morning and ride ten to 15 miles on his bicycle in the evenings. He reported his resting heart rate was 58 to 62 beats per minute and his blood pressure was 120 over 70 or 65.
Before kicking off, Paul spoke to a small group of reporters who were not dressed for riding. The long-time congressman, who hosted a town hall in the first-in-the-nation primary state Thursday night and has spent time retail politicking here, said he welcomed the visit of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Labor Day.
"The more the merrier," he said. "They just divide up all the opposition. They don't take votes from me."
He said he was surprised and encouraged by the groundswell of support for his campaign in New Hampshire.
"Each time I come up here we get new people, new support," Paul said. "The crowds get bigger. We always plan to have a little gathering, get 50 people together, and sometimes we get hundreds of people together."
After the ride, Paul careened back into the parking lot without having broken a sweat. He joked that during the hour ride he'd covered 32 miles (it was actually about 7.4).
Asked by the media if the ride might serve a metaphor for his campaign, Paul happily obliged.
"We're in good shape and ready and raring to go," he said.
From CNN Politics
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To look for Bimbo in Argentina.....
Those morons might want to try wearing a helmet. Or will that infringe on their freedom too much? If so, please make sure no tax dollars will be spent on your ER visit.
Is that a girls bike he is riding
Ron Paul is a joke .. always has been. He makes up for the intelligence of his foreign policy with his asinine domestic fiscal policy of working with republicans to further deregulate everything so corporations could destroy more lives while increasing their profit margins – because you know ... deregulation worked out so well for the financial industry in 2008 and the Gulf Coast last Summer.
Anybody who would vote for him is just as clueless (and quite possibly senile) as he is.
Is this message from Ron Paul ride bike we have lot of spending cuts do
Why is obama hiding in Camp David?
Is this how he is going to run the country? Sitting on a bike all day?
I could care less if he exercises. That's not the most important thing to run a country.
He is just remind everyone that he is too old to be president. Can you imagine mcnasty dropping dead and that bimbo taking over? That cost him a LOT of votes!
You have my vote Dr. Paul!
So where is the balance of young, healthy studs of the GOP presidential candidates; perhaps resting in hot tubs at some hotel from a long day ridding from one event to another in A/C vehicles, figuring how to emulate Ron Paul's 30 year campaign message. Thanks CNN for appropriate reporting.
Paul recently offered to any of the candidates to hit the bike trail with him and see if they could keep up. No one took him up on his offer, because they're all too laden down with corporate bribes.
Paul is the taxpayer's best friend, and all the big corporations hate him because they know as soon as he's President, the free ride on our backs stops. No more corporatism!!
I thought doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is insanity. Oh well guess I had it wrong. Ron Paul 2012! Time for some real change.
Anybody who thinks that free markets and deregulation caused the 2008 recession just listens to whatever the media is parroting. Government Sponsored entities and artificially low interest rates are all functions of regulatory systems.
I love how at the end of this piece the author states that Ron Paul only biked 2.5 miles. This didn't sound right to me. If Ron Paul road his bike for 1 hour and only went 2.5 miles then he was going slower than a person walking. I looked up lake Massabesic and it is split into two parts. the southwest part you can't really bike around, but the northeast part you can. If Ron Paul went around that lake once it is 8.5 miles. That sounds a whole lot more like it.
Paul is allegedly a doctor and doesn't recognize that any weight loss under those conditions is dehydration? Geez. At least he's still right about ending our wars and foreign involvement.
You can vote for more of the same or you can vote for Ron Paul. How's Bush and Obama working for you America? What a joke. Ron Paul has my support. End the war on drugs, don't raise our taxes, bring our troops home and save trillions of dollars, increase our defense and work on our problems at home, also repeal bills such as the patriot act which allow government to spy on all US citizens through their internet and phones. Sounds like a plan to me.
Good for him! Like him or not, he is healthy. If you have to make snarky remarks over a bike ride keep it to yourselves.
How anyone can criticize Ron for being HEALTHY and physically FIT I don't know. He's just proving he's fit and energetic enough to be President for the next 4+ years.
Dr. Me, that looks like a Cannondale Mountain bike, they have slanted bars.
Ron Paul is the only real hope for this country. He is an authentic fiscal conservative that knows the federal government only has a few responsibilities and getting involved in your personal life (aka social issues) is not one of them. Those issues should be handled and decided by the people at the state and local levels. Keep up the momentum Dr. Paul!
How ironic.. Ron Paul using the very same public bike paths, parks and infrastructure that he wishes to destroy with his anti-government funding agenda.
How can they say it was a 2.5 mile bike ride if he rode around a 4 square mile lake?
Listen, I am an independent, however folks-to include most of the media- do not give him enough credit. I rather listen to him or former Gov. Hunstman than the rest of these candidates. Give them equal time, instead the media is following whether the droput did not complete her term Palin. Go figure.
Very cogent points
Another radical, he would eliminate abortion rights forcing women who get
pregnant the punishment of deadly back alley procedures, Goodbye healthcare as well.
Forgettahboutit.
You have my vote Dr.Paul.