Gary Johnson’s next goal: Cycling 3,000 miles

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson says he has no regrets about running for president for the second time and finishing a distant runner-up as a Libertarian candidate.

He’s already talking about his next challenge, and it won’t be another try for public office.

Johnson, 63, said he plans to be a bicyclist and ride nearly 3,000 miles along the Continental Divide from Canada down into New Mexico sometime in early June.

“I’m dedicating myself to health and fitness,” Johnson told the Albuquerque Journal. “Maybe I stay politically active, but not as a candidate. I will leave that to others.”

In the presidential race, Johnson had said he was just hoping to secure 5 percent of the nationwide popular vote, enough to achieve major-party status for the Libertarian Party and qualify the party for federal funding in the next election.

“This is a head-on effort to get on the ballot in all 50 states,” he had said. “I’m hoping this is going to end the two-party system.”

But Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, fell short. Latest totals show they garnered more than 4 million votes, 3 percent of the total.