I was riding back fron NJ Saturday and stopped at Columbia Presb. Hospital where Clinton is to have by-pass surgery this week. Many of you probably saw the gagle of news communication trucks out in front. I stopped for a drink of water and to see what if anything was going on. A reporter from The Dailey News came up and asked if I had a message for Clinton. I told her that I heard him tell Larry King that he, like the Republicans, would like four more years. I told the reporter that I hope he has forty more years and I said that after Clinton recovers he should try cycling instead of running and should consider joining NYCC. On the ride home I was thinking we should offer him an Honorary membership to the club and possible a local bike shop might want to outfit him? Just a thought, has the Club ever done anything like that before? I'd like to hear your comments. --Bryan
NYCC honorary membership for Presisdent Bill Clinton
It's funny, but riding past the hospital yesterday, I had a similar idea: that we should encourage President Clinton to ride and invite him to ride with us. How kicky would that be: for us to be accompanied on a ride by secret service men, who would probably also be on bikes?? Despite not being a Democrat, I'd be happy to issue the invitation on behalf of the club.
The time to bestow such an honor, if there was such a time, would have been upon Mr. Clinton's leaving office IF a review of his administration's record revealed support of cycling and cyclists. I honestly don't know if that was or was not the case.
In any event, he left office almost four years ago. He has not become a cyclist since then, nor is our honoring him likely to encourage him to become one.
There is very little that the club can do for Bill Clinton, and vice versa.
Of course, we wish him a speedy recovery from his illness, but that alone should not be the reason for a special honor.
I think that's a great idea but our (club) President should extend the invitation to our former President.
Years ago the club invited super-law-and-order (and likely Republican) judge Harold Rothwax, then well into his sixties, to attend a club meeting and get a certificate from us in recognition of his having been sideswiped by a driver while he was cycling to his chambers downtown from the Upper Westside. (Plucky guy that he was, he went to the hospital, had his two broken wrists set in casts, and continued to work.)
He declined saying he didn't think he should be honored for being so stupid as to have a driver sideswipe him.
As for Clinton, I propose not an honorary membership but a letter be sent to him telling him when he is up to it, we will ride to Chappaqua where, at a time and place in town convenient to him, we will meet him in order that he can have a short ride with us.
"A few years ago NYCC's president, Stan, led a ride to ""Bill and Hillary's"". I subsequently asked Senator Clinton whether, if we did it again, she and/or President Clinton might greet us. She expressed interest in the idea and said to drop her a letter (which I have not done, in our troubled post 9-11 world). Any interest out there in such a ride?"
"Years ago I lead a ride, ""In search of Richard Nixon."" We rode to the three places he lived in the NYC area, starting with his townhouse on East 65th St....next door to David Rockefeller. He had already moved out of his Saddle River house for his condo in Park Ridge when, standing at the foot of the driveway in his vacated Saddle River house, we heard a disembodied voice over a speaker, ""Go away!"" We did. To where he lived in Park Ridge.
Closer to the Chappaqua area, another ride took us ""In search of Carl Icahn, Ivan Boesky, and ""The Queen of Mean.""
It's always nice to have goals in your ride.
"
When the TA threatened to strike some years back, Mayor Bloomberg made a big show of buying a bike to use to commute to work in the event the stike actually happened. Wow, what a great thing for cycling I thought and being president of the club at the time, I wrote to City Hall and offered His Honor an honorary membership to NYCC. I never heard a thing. Of course Bloomberg's gesture back-fired as the media focused on the $600 price tag of the bike not the fact that having alternatives to mass transit might be a good thing for the city and it's citizens.
but a bad one in practice, unless you have a death wish against the guy. ;-) Just writing such from experience with my dad having quad bi-pass surgery (same a Clinton) a short time ago. When a skinny vein taken from your leg is used to substitute for an artery running to the heart, physical exercise like longish walks is considered a great victory.
Unlike the current two Prez candidates, I'm not certain cycling would be of interest to him anyway. In his memoir he mentioned he was afraid to ride a bike without training wheels until he was in college.
Walking his dog in Chappaqua should do him just fine.
Not sure what your dad's specific situation was, but I know many people that have had bypass surgery (that never sustained a heart attack and as such do not have heart damage) that continue to lead incredibly active lives following their recovery. My uncle had a triple or quad bypass 25-some odd years ago (when the surgery was new and not so routine) and ran everyday following recovery (he has since passed away, but from other causes). Bypass surgery for many is a new lease on life and someone who was in decent shape (like our former president) prior to surgery will not necessarily be restricted to walking around the block.
I was going to say much the same thing. I don't know how old your dad was at the time or how fit he was but, depending perhaps somewhat on one's prior level of fitness, one should not be much restricted. My good friend and training partner Nick completed his third ironman the same year he had quadruple bypass surgery. Of course there are other examples that don't work out very well at all.
"Pardon me for being too rational, but I do not have the impression the former President's prior level of fitness, girth or diet is much to speak of. To categorize it as ""decent shape"" is a bit of a stretch.
His saving grace is that perhaps he never had a heart attack and as a result no damage to his heart. I'm sure that he will and certainly hope that he will be back on his feet walking and living a more active life.
Yes, I am bit skeptical, but with reason. Perhaps he'll prove me and others wrong. If so, good for him."
Peter: Buddy the yellow lab was hit by a car a few years ago, in Chappaqua, and was killed.
I wonder if the Westchester Cycling Club has extended itself to Pres. Clinton the way we're thinking of doing.
This thread seems to be more about the egos of those writing than the pseudo topic (since obviously Bill Clinton is NOT a cyclist, not is he likely to ever be one).
(Firthermore, if you're going to put out extraneous facts, get them right; Buddy was a chocolate lab and the Clintons immediately got another one from the same breeder.)
Lets let them be. I don't believe this is a good idea for the club at all.
is that an anonymous post like yours shows no guts.
For the record, I think that an honorary membership for President Clinton is a good act that this club should bestow on him.
And for the record I care not about the political leanings, theories, or agendas of those who post on this board. It does seem that many posters belong to the Anonymous Party
Your post is gutless. I'm entitled to my opinions, anonymous or not.
"Usually when someone is ""honored"" it is in recognition for some achievement. What has the former president done for cycling? Is he a cycling enthusiast like Robin Williams. Where is the connection between him and cycling? If there is none then are we just looking for an excuse to get our pictures taken with famous (infamous) people."
