Rhode Island Cycling Adventure

Think of quiet New England coastlines dotted with beaches, quaint villages and picturesque countryside, Mystic Seaport, Block Island and historic Newport and you have Fall cycling in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

** Be sure to check out a few of our pictures in the Image Gallery **

We began our cycling tour on a Sunday in Westerly, RI, with a group called Bike and the Like. Our tour hosts, Suzie and Roger Knable, welcomed us along with about 30 other cyclists. Our Welcome Dinner was at the Pleasant View Inn which was located on the beautiful Misquamicut Beach. We had rain showers all day long this day so everyone took the day off from our initial ride. Weather the remainder of the week couldn’t have been better. We had cool starts with it warming up in the early afternoon every day.

Our first day of riding took us into Connecticut. We followed along the beaches and waterfront of the Block Island Sound, making a few sight-seeing stops along the way. BF Clydes 1881 Cider Mill offers some of the best apple cider around; hot, cold, spiked…however you like it. From there, we headed into Mystic and Mystic Seaport. Settled in the 1650’s, Mystic is known for its maritime heritage and, of course, Mystic Pizza (famous from the Julia Roberts movie “Mystic Pizza”). Cyclists could spend the afternoon exploring the touristy downtown area, Mystic Seaport Museum, the aquarium, and more. However, we opted to add a few extra miles and cycled down to Noank and Groton Long Point.

On Tuesday, we cycled to catch the ferry over to Block Island. The winds were up and the ferry ride was very rough. Once on Block Island, we explored the island on bicycle riding along the coastline to the lighthouse on the Southeast end of the island, the Mohegan Bluffs, a stop for lunch at the airport, more cycling, a tour of the Block Island historical museum, and, of course, ice cream to finish off the afternoon. We elected not to explore the north end of the island as we were both tired of fighting the strong winds that day.

Wednesday we are headed for Newport, RI. The ferry back to the mainland was much smoother this day. We cycled along the Ocean Rd, passing beautiful Narragansett and crossing over the bridge to the tiny island of Jamestown. Once in historic downtown Jamestown, we cycled the south end of the island to Beavertail Lighthouse, the 3rd oldest lighthouse in the United States. We then had lunch at the East Ferry Deli before taking the bus over the toll bridge to Newport.

Now in Newport, we had the option of cycling or taking the day off. With its miles of scenic coastlines, mansions, museums, walking history tours, local vineyards, quaint wharfs and cobblestone streets, there are plenty of things to do and see. Those of us who cycled, though, had a great trip. We cycled out the Scenic Coast Road along the coastline making short stops at Fort Adams and the old Newport Harbor, passing a few of the summer cottages (early 1900’s mansions), the Cliff Walk, and numerous beaches on the way to the wildlife conservatory in Middletown. Once back in Newport, Paul and I tooled about town. We checked out the Cliff Walk, a 3.5 mile part paved and part rock path along the coastline which goes behind some of the mansions. One word of advice; if you are on your bicycle and decide you want to tour one of the mansions, be sure to have an extra pair of shoes. They won’t let you in with your bike shoes due to the possibility of the cleats damaging the floors.

Our last day of cycling was fairly uneventful as we headed back to our starting location in Westerly. We shuttled back across both the Newport and Jamestown bridges, then started cycling through some rolling and wooded Rhode Island countryside back to Misquamicut Beach. Once back in Westerly, we collected our luggage and headed to Cincinnati to see kids and grandkids for the weekend.

Overall, this was a great trip. We saw a few leaves changing color but we were probably a couple weeks early to see the “real” fall foliage. The terrain was flat to gently rolling. We had a couple good hills but otherwise it was just long gradual climbs. With the exception of our arrival day, the weather was great the entire trip. The wind blows in Rhode Island just as it does here in Texas. We highly recommend this trip to anyone that wants to cycle approximately 40 miles a day and do some sightseeing along the way.
You can check out the tours offered by Bike and the Like at www.bikeandthelike.com. They are very reasonable in price and the accommodations and food were terrific. We are even thinking about taking one of their Cape Cod trips in 2010.

Lynne and Paul Harris

Lynne Harris – 9 October, 2009 – 8:49am

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