Yesterday was such a great riding day but I had things to do that prevented me from doing a long ride. There was a gathering at the Buzzards Bay Coalition headquarters for the volunteers beginning a 5 PM. I was not in a rush to get there on time thinking it was one of those casual party type events. Little did I know that it was also a meeting with guest speakers and scientists.
I didn’t get to the function till around 5:30 and lo and behold, there was only a pittance of food left on the buffet table. I had to scrape the tidbits from two salad bowls to have something. There was plenty of cake though, thanks to Marie Antoinette. On the bright side, Sam Adams came through with plenty of larger which allowed me to ride the 6 miles home imitating a pinball machines silver orb. Good thing I didn’t drive to the function.
Today is a 30 mile fitness ride on one of my regular routes. I think I have photos in stock of just about every building, tree, animal and whatever, so I will only have my little point an shoot emergency camera in case something unusual gets my attention. I’m also putting this on Strava so I don’t want to have one of those meager 18 MPH averages speed rides broadcast to the world.
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Black Dog Divers working the night shiftBuzzards Bay Coalition Headquarters in New Bedford, MaPick out the scientists
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Sunny, warm fall days cry out for a bike ride. Us retired bike riders have the time to pick a spot not so close to home to do a long ride. I decided to ride my old commuting route.
Not long after the turn of the century I decided to bike commute to the office. It’s something that never dawned on me till someone on some bike blog mentioned, bi modal commuting. The light bulb shone and I slapped my forehead thinking. “Cripes, I put the bike in the car to travel for Sunday club rides, there is no reason not to do the same for work”.
I did some research, this was before MapQuest and all that. The internet big bang had not yet happened. This was also the days of dial up. You know now how much that sucked. Good thing for me because I was in the business of providing internet and phone service with one of the giants. It still is one of the giants as a matter of fact, and they are doing just fine without me. Just like they did before me. Three spots to leave my car made it nice and east to commute by bike every day. If I was on time, a 10 mile commute. Running a little late. A 7 mile commute. On really cold winter days? Just under 5 miles.
The Office
Over the course of those years of bike commuting, I watched kids waiting for the school bus in front of their homes, mature from, grade to middle to high school and eventually, move on. The City of Tauton Built a new high school and my daily rides turned intimidating hills into meager inclines. I would see the same people walking daily. Over time we went from saying good morning to occasionally me stopping to chat.
Writing notes about today’s ride
Because of my outfit and bike, I was often asked, “you a cop?”
I would answer, “do I look like a cop?”
“Yup”.
I would leave it at that.
My route took me through the Taunton State Hospital. The entrance was at the top of a small hill on a quiet side street. As I approached the gate one day, I spotted a 20 something guy with long shaggy blond hair leaning over his bike’s left side with his chest on the saddle looking at his chain. I approached and said
“You need any help? I have tools”.
He looked at me with wild eyes, jumped to a standing position and ate his cigarette.
“I’m good”, he said and as I rode on said to him, “Just having your morning tea I see. Enjoy”.
Another thing that became clear was that heavy traffic was my friend. It slowed everyone down. A lot. Which brings me to another commuting story. There is a rotary, (roundabout) in the center of town. As I was approaching a left turn to get me heading toward the rotary, a car easily a hundred feet back began laying on the horn. After the turn the car came along side and I asked if he was beeping at me.
“Get out of the fucking way” was the response I got from the young passenger. I looked up at the bottle neck a block away at the rotary and said to him.
“I’m slowing you down? Really? Why don’t you try to keep up”.
I stood on my pedals and cut loose, weaving my way in and out of the traffic merging from three directions. I glanced back and saw the car trying their best to get to me. Once through the rotary it would be easy to catch me on the boulevards. Because I had been commuting this town for years, it was my territory. I turned into a very old narrow alley that is so obvious, that not many drivers ever notice it, to my car which was parked in my winter commute location, at the police station. Never saw them again. There were other adventures during my years of multi modal commuting, but those are for another day.
The back side of the tunnel taken from the police station parking lot.
I still ride almost every day, just like my commuting days. In the past the search for coffee was for a Dunkin Donuts. Thanks to Chasing Mailboxes in DC, Dunkin has been moved from the designated shop to the one I have to sometimes settle. I now look for independent cafes where I can get a good cappuccino built by a Barrista. Those places have much better food to boot.
14 mile round trip ride encompasing East Providence, Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls. RI
Trees and poles to lock up you bike. But with outside seating in an upscale college area, it’s really not necessary.
I took the Randonee bike for this last coffeeneuring adventure. I have a Novara Randonnee bike but have never done a randonee. But I have been to Spain. Today’s ride was the route connecting the East Bay Bike Path in East Providence to the Blackstone River Bikeway in Cumberland, R.I. This is the ride I saved for the last coffeeneurs challenge and after a couple of false starts, everything fell into place today.
This route begins in East Providence at the Fort Hill parking area of the East Bay Bike Path. The normal ride is South toward Bristol R.I. which is close to Newport. Today though, the ride takes us North to Providence. One of the highlights is crossing the Washington Bridge over the Seakonk River.
Washing Bridge bike path in Providence, RI
It continues through some really nice areas along the Seakonk River and into some very upscale neighborhoods including Blackstone Boulevard where years ago I rode the Tuesday night boulevard double paceline ride. It was a 30 mile open to everyone hammerfest with the Providence College and Brown University bike teams. There were times when the paceline was 15-18 bikes long with 30+ riders. In essence, one would pull the pack for a couple of minutes twice a night. Being the oldest in the pack, whenever I got to the front, the ride would slow considerably. On many rides kids would tuck me into the middle of the paceline and let me be pulled along at 25-28 mph with very little effort on my part. Riding the tide, we called it. Or as they say, keep him away from the front.
The ride today also went through a couple of urban areas that get pretty busy with traffic. Because I was fully depending on my Garmin Touring GPS for directions, (I uploaded the route), I got caught a few times on the right when I needed to go left. Every time I looked over my shoulder to see the traffic behind me, I got a go ahead and take the lane from the driver. Providence is a very progressive city of college students and professors on bikes, making it very bike friendly. I’m still learning this new Garmin of mine, and a couple of fopahs cut the distance of this ride from 26 to 14 miles. I want to do this ride again, but as they say, there are lots of other territories to conquer.
Riding along the Seakonk River in Providence, RIEntering Pawtucket, RI
I saved the coffeeneuring challenge for the return leg. I didn’t know of any coffee shops in Providence, and this being the Brown University area, it was obvious to even the most casual observer, that there would be some really good ones. L’Artisen Cafe is the reason my title says the best coffee ride. This place was, as the kids say, “off the hook”. The coffee was wonderful and the turkey cranberry panini was sooo good. The sun was shining, the temperature was nearing 65 F and there was outside seating.
L’Artisen Cafe in Providence, RICappuccino and Turkey cranberry panini
We expect 200 plus monsters, ghouls, princesses, jedi warriors and hobos to be at our doorstep tonight. Wifey wanted some scary pictures of her acting as a witch but none of those seemed acceptable. I also did some close ups of Sue and the brook at the bottom of the street.
Tomorrow, Sunday I’ll be finishing my coffeeneuring challenge by riding my bike from the head of the East Bay Bike Path in East Providence R.I. to the Head of the Blackstone River Bikeway, in Cumberland, R.I. I have a few coffee shops from which to choose in downtown Providence.
I got a call that my niece’s football team was playing their final home match of the season. Also the team was celebrating senior night. A 5 PM start under a full moon made this a great night for a bike ride. There are a few Full Moon Fiascos going on around the country. If your not familiar with them it’s worth checking out. There are chapters in Chicago, Illinois, Sandpoint, Iowa, Spokane, Washington, St. Louis, Missouri and of course, Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Check the website for next months ride.
The stadium was around eight miles away from my home and there was a busy city between her town and mine. Fortunately I grew up in the city and knew every which way to avoid most of the traffic and still have a very direct route to the stadium. It was so direct that I got there an hour before the scheduled start. It was getting chilly and I was starting to Jones for some coffee. The nearest spot was a -11 around a mile away. Having done many long distance tours, it’s not a big deal to back track a few miles for trivial reasons. Coffee was not trivial which made back tracking a mile kind of a no brainer. It was a coffee stop but doesn’t qualify for my coffeeneuring challenge.
The Dartmouth girls team was far superior to their opponent from Fall River which gave the coach a chance to play the seniors who normally don’t get a lot of playing time. With the score 2-0 and Dartmouth in full control, the officials awarded them a penalty kick. All the regular players gathered around one of those seniors and told her to take the spot kick. It was incredible. No keeper in the world at any level could have made the save on this one. It reminds me of a quote by golfer Lee Trevino when he said, “Every golfer has professional shots in him. The only difference is that the pros do it regularly”. This day #24 for Dartmouth had a world class moment, and everyone loved it.
The day began cool enough to dress like a bike riding chef from upstate NY. Well not that cold but you get the point.
chilly start to the ride.
It was 47 F when the ride began in East Providence R.I. this morning. The sun was shining and the wind was just a whisper. On the subject of the shining sun. It was 9 AM and I was riding east. All I could see was the sun and not the four people I almost rode into.
The East Bay Bike Path is a rail to trail conversion. It’s 16 miles from East Providence to Barrington, R.I.. When riding most rail to trail conversions, there is very little to see. Most were freight rails and towns are often quite a way off the trail. Much of the riding is on lonely dirt paths with miles and miles of nothing much. The East Bay rail road was a passenger rail that carried people to and from Providence for school, work, or connecting trains to New York or Boston and had stations in all five towns along the route. Main St. in all these places are no more than a block away.
Willie Wier , author and Adventure Cyclist has traveled all over the world on his bicycle. He set out to ride the KATY trail in Missouri a few years back. Hours and hours of riding on this trail and seeing no one really bothered him. One of the best things about bike touring is seeing things and meeting people. With that in mind, he got off the trail and did the rest of his week long bike ride on the streets and roads. Today I got off the trail on Warren R.I. in search of a decent coffee shop. While riding down Main St. I spotted a coffee shop with lots of activity. Even on this chilly day, the sidewalk tables were occupied. One thing I learned traveling is that good restaurants have full parking lots, and in this case, few available tables. I was pleasantly amazed when I entered the joint. It was very eclectic and looked very much like one of those men’s clubs you see on old movies. The Coffee Depot offered comfortable chairs, a library, and a counter from end to end filled with coffee shop goodies.
The Coffee Depot goodies section
Cappuccino and ricotta honey danish.
The temperature rose to the high fifties and I was treated to the full colors of fall in New England during my 20 mile ride.
This is a new route of an old favorite, updated by Pete Rice, which is designed to keep us off busy roads and is especially suited to late fall and early spring rides. The short ride travels the famous Ocean Drive with its majestic bay and ocean views, and then continues up Bellevue Avenue past the mansions.
The longer ride heads further up the island past Middletown’s farmlands and beaches.
Larry & Sue Rollins will lead a beginners/new riders group on the 18 mile loop.
Off Season – safer riding for cyclists
Towns & Villages we travel through
Newport – Middletown
Some of the landmarks we pass by
Fort Adams
Castle Hill
Ocean Drive
Bellevue Avenue
St Georges
Start:
10:00 AM Start
Fort Adams
The GPS address is 84 Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI
I don’t really care about my average speed, but it is a good indication of improving fitness. Today was the last warm day for a while and I decided to get one more comfortable long ride under my belt. Tomorrow is movie day, so I doubt if I will get much of a ride in. Could happen, but probably not. I didn’t stop much on this 27 mile ride. I lost two miles on my Garmin trying to figure out again how this Touring one works.
I lost my Edge 200 which is nothing more than an expensive speed o meter. I do like it for long rides though. The Touring Garmin I own was used when I downloaded a gps route with turn by turn directions. The Edge will show up. I’m guessing when I clean the work bench in my bike shop which was nothing more than a junk draw all summer.
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Abandoned Hiking TrailClydesdalesOld House Foundation in the middle of the woods.The Bogs Hiking Trail in Matapoisett, Ma
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It’s my second time on the road bike since May and it feels good. I’m glad I didn’t sell old Gertrude. A friend asked if I was going to blog today’s ride. I said no, I was going to ride hard and make it a fitness ride. A point and shoot camera was next to the Garmin and as I was leaving, I grabbed both. Today was the first day that the fall colors were noticeable. Funny how one day everything is green and two days later the colors have burst like a Hindi Festival of Color.
Today’s ride was 27 miles at a moderate speed with a couple of photo stops. I couldn’t help myself. Not much to say about the ride except the sights were pretty groovy.
The Coffee Depot goodies section
A Midnight Rider 