Mountain Bike Rider Bush Exhorts People To Commit To Exercise

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Bush, an avid mountain bike rider, says rigorous exercise is great for the mind and body. <br/><br/>Asked in a network broadcast interview about people who say they're too

Thursday, June 28th 2007, 7:16 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Bush, an avid mountain bike rider, says rigorous exercise is great for the mind and body.

Asked in a network broadcast interview about people who say they're too busy to exercise regularly, Bush said, ``I don't buy that. I think you set priorities in life, and if exercise is one of your priorities, then you do it.''

``I'm amazed at how young I feel,'' Bush, 60, told CBS's ``The Early Show'' in an interview broadcast Thursday.

The president, who regularly goes mountain biking, said ``I wisely have convinced a bunch of youngsters here in the White House and Washington to ride with me.''

He also said he was heartened by the advance of women's athletics in the United States. ``I'm a big backer of Title IX,'' Bush said of the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federal funded education programs.

``I think the progress, though, has been startling from the day when there were hardly any women's team,'' said the president, once a part owner of the Texas Rangers of the American League.

He said a fitness culture ``starts with families'' and said ``I exercise a lot because it's good for my mind and it's good for my soul.''

``I also think we spend a lot of money in the education system. We ought to insist on better food,'' Bush said. ``A lot of the dietary problems are what people eat. Our obesity problem is not just an exercise problem, but a bad diet.''

``I feel great,'' he said, ``and I think most 60-year-olds feel good if they take care of their body and be careful of what they put in their body.''