Yet another year going straight from Winter to Summer in Maryland. The heat came on briefly in our house yesterday morning, and later today we may need to switch on the air conditioning.
I’m back to the routine today, following a week in Cape Hatteras, which is pretty high up on my list of “places I’d like to live after I retire.” Didn’t do any biking there, but I did introduce myself to jogging barefoot on the beach, which to my surprise, I really enjoyed. I used to run a lot in the past, but I haven’t done it regularly in recent years, partly because after awhile of doing it, I realized I just didn’t like it all that much. I tried running on the beach a few times before, always with shoes, and didn’t like that much either. To avoid getting the shoes wet, I had to run on drier, looser sand, which is somewhat akin to running through snow, and seemed like more work than fun. This year it finally dawned on me to try it barefoot, and it was much nicer. I actually found myself running farther than I had originally planned, because I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t have to worry about getting my feet wet, and could actually run right through the surf. The weather was perfect for running, which I’m sure was a contributing factor, but I could definitely get used to running on the beach like this.
Today it was back to biking, and I took my mountain bike, with fenders, because the roads were still wet from last night’s storms. Today was my 5th or 6th ride with my new SPD pedals, and the first time riding them when it wasn’t raining. My single speed road bike is still out of commission because I can’t get the rear tire mounted back on the rim. I have 2 “Kool Stop Bead Jack” tools on order from Amazon, which I’m hoping will help me get the tire mounted without puncturing the tube, and without giving me a blister on my thumb. I’m itching to get the single speed back into the riding rotation, so I’m hoping Amazon gets them to me soon, and that they work as advertised.