President Obama is expected to name Denis R. McDonough, his Deputy National Security Advisor, to the post of chief of staff, The New York Times reported yesterday. In a profile of McDonough, the Times included this interesting tidbit:

He is also a relentless defender of Mr. Obama, as reporters on the receiving end of angry e-mails or phone calls from him can attest. His blasts have sometimes been delivered during his nightly bike ride home to Takoma Park, Md., where he lives with his wife and three children. (After scrapes with motorists, he now mostly drives.)

That’s certainly a good daily bike ride, though it’s unfortunate that he’s been put off of it because of a few run-ins with motorists. That said, a 2010 profile also published in the New York Times detailed that when McDonough was berating people for going off message, he was sometimes doing it while riding his bike:

Mr. McDonough is intensively protective of the president, and is well known for picking up the phone — or his BlackBerry — to take people to task, from reporters to Washington talking heads to other Obama officials who go off message. He spent the entirety of his bike ride home to Takoma Park, Md., from the White House late one recent night arguing on the cellphone with a reporter who he believed had mischaracterized an internal administration debate over Iraq policy.

I’m not sure whether to be impressed that he could stay on the phone for that long while riding or shake my head at the very thought of him doing so.