New Direction

When the front wheel of my bicycle first met the soft white sand of the beach I knew in an instant that I would be going in a different direction today - northward towards Daytona Beach rather than southward towards Ponce Inlet. There was a tangible wind from the north.  And that was the direction I was headed. The strategy would be to go as far as I could - into the wind - then when I felt worn down I would turn back with the benefit of the wind to push me homeward. To my surprise - whether because I was energized or because of the novelty of the expedition - I went along the beach much further than I had anticipated. I suspect it was my greediness for invention which trumped my notorious passion for routine. It must sound odd to advance that within a matter of 5 miles in one direction or another the view of the beach could be much different. Yet it is.  As one would expect the scenery along the coast towards Daytona Beach is more urban than it is in the other direction towards Ponce Inlet. Towards Daytona Beach there are more low-rise hotels, fewer high-rise private condominium residences. There are also more people on the beach for the same reason.  In neither case is the beach swarming with people. I guess that on my entire outing today over a period of about two hours I only passed six cyclists.  There were clusters of couples (mostly elderly) and young families but the numbers in total were still less than 50 - 75 I would imagine thoughout the length of the ride.

I continued along the beach under the blue sky and the dazzling sunshine. The distant image of a large pier loomed before me. As I inched closer and closer I resolved to reach the pier. I constructed in my mind the  model of a pier at the north end in Daytona Beach, a rock pier at the south end in Ponce Inlet and Sunglow Pier in the middle where our condo is in Daytona Beach Shores.

As I had planned the ride home was effortless thanks to the wind at my back. To round out my bike ride I stashed the bike in the garage then went to the beach to swim in the Ocean.  There is a perpetual undertow where I swim.  It pulls me northward no matter how I pretend to swim southward parallel to the shore. I believe it contemporaneously pulls me further into the Ocean so I am cautious to make my way towards the shore by struggling with my feet on the bottom sand.