REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware: President Joe Biden fell when he tried to get off his bike at the end of a ride on Saturday at Cape Henlopen State Park near his beach home in Delaware, but said he wasn’t hurt.
“I’m good,’’ he told reporters after US Secret Service Agents quickly helped him up. “I got my foot caught’’ in the toe cages.
Biden, 79, and first lady Jill Biden were wrapping up a morning ride when the president decided to pedal over to a crowd of well-wishers standing by the bike trail.
Biden, who was wearing a helmet, tumbled when he tried to dismount.
The president quickly collected himself and spent several minutes chatting with people who had gathered to watch him bike.
The Bidens are spending a long weekend at their Rehoboth Beach home. They marked their 45th wedding anniversary on Friday.
The president told the small crowd of well-wishers and reporters that he had lost his balance as he tried to pull a foot out of a bike clip.
The result: “a mad scramble of Secret Service and press,” a White House pool report said, adding there were no visible scrapes or bruises from the fall.
“No medical attention is needed,” a White House official said. “The President looks forward to spending the rest of the day with his family.”
As the oldest US president, Biden’s health is the subject of constant attention, particularly as speculation rises on whether he will seek a second term in 2024.
In November 2020, shortly after his election but before taking office, Biden broke a foot while playing with his pet German shepherds.
But a year later, in November 2021, his doctor gave Biden a clean bill of health, describing him as “healthy” and “vigorous.”
Taking a few questions from reporters on Saturday, Biden said he was “in the process of making up my mind” about easing some Trump-era tariffs on Chinese goods in order to soften inflationary pressures.
He said he would be speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping soon.
And asked if he was satisfied with progress on gun legislation - after mass shootings in Texas and New York brought new demands for action - Biden said only that he was happy with action by his home state of Delaware, which passed a ban on assault-style weapons.
