Every so often -- not very, but sometimes -- I become possessed of the idea that I'm going to cast aside my generally sedentary lifestyle and become the active person I once was. Hence, my  return to the beach walks I mentioned in the beach-debris post earlier this month. For several years, I would walk Hampton Beach year-round, in all kinds of weather. On a good day, I'd walk it (in the dry soft sand) end to end and back, intensifying the workout by climbing up and down the dunes on the state park beach at the southern end. On a bad day, the walk would be shorter and less intense, and if it was low tide, might take place on the harder, wet, easier-to-walk-on intertidal sand. In previous lives, walking had been a mainstay of my regime, but I had often grown bored with the route or the monotony or whatever and eventually petered out.

The beach walks never got boring for me, because they were at the ocean, and I always seem to be mesmerized by the ocean. Nonetheless, they ended about three or four years ago, when my life became hinky, or rather, hinkier even than it already was. Hinky in ways I hadn't previously experienced and wasn't easily able to cope with.

I began those walks again with the onset of warm weather this year, and although I haven't been entirely faithful to a routine, I have managed to get out usually a couple of times a week.

This week, I added biking. I've tried to include it in the past, but always grew bored with the route (I was limited by not wanting to deal with hills). But that was before I moved to the coast. Its flatter terrain makes it ideal for me, and better still, stretches all the way to the beach. Just one problem: The bike I had when I lived inland was somewhat worse for the wear after I left it out in all manner of inclement weather, and didn't seem worth sinking money into.

But this week, I went out in search of cheap wheels. Having no luck at the department stores, I stopped at a place on the Route 1 causeway in Hampton, where there was a sign out front advertising bike rentals, on the off chance that they also sold used bikes.

I was in luck; after showing me several bikes that either weren't what I was looking for (mountain bikes) or well out of my price range ($300???!), the proprietor showed me an older 21-speed men's bike. It needed front brakes, but he said he could remedy that in a couple of hours, just didn't want to put the time and money into it until the bike was spoken for. The price was right(ish): $75-$80. I agreed, paid the man, and he said I could pick it up the next day, which I did.

That day rained, so I waited until this afternoon for its inaugural ride. I set off around the "block," heading down the residential road that ends at the marsh and turning right before that point onto the little causeway with the clearing that looks out over the harbor. The bike was riding really nice, so rather than complete my intended circuit, I turned left and headed off toward Seabrook Beach on Route 286. I had visions of going all the way to at least the parking lot overlooking the harbor in Seabrook, but amid the gathering weekend beach traffic, began to get a little spooked at the prospect of approaching the T-intersection with Route 1A, where two lanes of traffic can turn left at the light, and one of them can also turn right. I hadn't, after all, bought a helmet yet, and couldn't visualize where it might be safest to cross so as to remain on the right-hand side. So, when there was a break in the traffic on 286, I crossed the road and doubled back toward home.

All told, probably five or six miles; not a bad first day's effort. The price of the bike, truth be told, was a little steeper than I'd like to have paid for a used bike, but I figure if I can use it for short errands instead of the car, maybe in the coming months I'll save enough on gas that it'll pay for itself. Hell, at current prices, I'd just have to forgo a tank and a half.

So, the journey begins.