The morning was riding around town getting things done. After the post office run and before the market I took the time to visit the Pokeymon people who have invaded our Revolutionary War era Fort Phoenix. Most in town are pining for the day when Pokeymon fever recedes. They are there every day all day. It’s like listening to the same song on the radio over and over again. It may be a good song but eventually one tires of hearing it. The town folk are tired of Pokemon players occupying the beach area.
The beautiful summer evening screamed for a bike ride. We left home around 5:30 for a 27 mile spin on one of our regular routes. Although we have done this ride often, we saw things that had obviously been in place for years. Today we just happened to look over and spotted a couple of gems.
We got back at dusk and withing 20 minutes the sky opened up with off and on heavy showers. It’s all in the timing.
2016 marks our 7th Annual bike-a-thon fundraiser for the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council! Ride 60, 40, 30, 10 or 5 miles with full support from our brilliant and steadfast team of volunteers.
2016 marks our 7th Annual bike-a-thon fundraiser for the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council! Ride 60, 40, 30, 10 or 5 miles with full support from our brilliant and steadfast team of volunteers.
Our Rides Include:
8:00 am – 60-mile ride
9:00 am – 40-mile ride
10:30 am – 30-mile ride
11:00 am – 10-mile ride
11:30 am – 5-mile ride or wal
This one is a really different and scenic ride through Providence and northern R.I. I’ll be riding my 4th and in the past I have done photos and videos. Lots of food entertainment and swag at the end of the ride in Waterplace Park are all part of the registration fee. September is a great time of year to ride and Northern R.I. is a great place to ride in September. Click Here to register. It’s well worth the fee.
The Washington Secondary Bike Path is the state’s longest bike path at 19 miles from Cranston Street in Cranston to Log Bridge Road, just past Route 102, in western Coventry. It is named for the abandoned rail corridor once served by the Providence, Hartford, & Fishkill Railroad.
The path is often referred to locally by the segment names given as the path was built, and these include, from west to east: Trestle Trail, Coventry Greenway, West Warwick Greenway, Warwick Bike Path, and Cranston Bike Path.
One of the RR bridges converted to MUPs
Trestle Trail in Coventry R.I.West Warwick, R.I.Lunch in Coventry, R.I. on the Connecticut border.40 miles, 4 cities, 5 bike paths
I have been reading Bicycle Times for a few years. It’s one of the half dozen magazines to which I subscribe and I have to say I’m most impressed with the content of this one. They also publish Dirt Rag for the off road bike riders. Bicycle Times is more about bike riding than selling bikes if you know where I’m going with this.
I took a group of riders on a casual ride of my favorite places. During the ride, Nick from our bike club joined us. There is a small cruise ship in town that allows passengers to bring their bikes. We were joined by a couple from Pennsylvania who joined our group of six, Kate, Leighann and Jeff from Pittsburgh, Nick and I from Cape Cod and Fabio from Milan, Italy. Two classic bikes, two fat bikes, a Scott SUB 40 and a Cannondale were our choices of rides.
We visited Fort Phoenix a Revolutionary War era Fort protecting the last free port, New Bedford, Ma, from the British Invasion in 1778, when they landed 5000 troops and marched into the city burning everything as they progressed. We didn’t stay long because the historical site has been overrun by Pokeymon players for the past three weeks.
Our second stop was over the bridge to New Bedford Bakery, where we stopped for a light breakfast of Portuguese linguica stuffed bread and cod fish, chicken and beef stuffed cakes. However, no stop in the Whaling City would be complete without a visit to the Whaling Historic National Park and into the Whaling museum to be eaten by a sperm whale.
Riding over the bridge into New Bedford.Best Portuguese bakery in the city.
Nick joined us at the bakers as we rode along the west side of the New Bedford pennisula along Clarks Cove. Newlyweds Kate and Fabio had a moment as we rode along the beach to the WWII era Fort Rodman and Nick got to try out Frank’s fat bike. Inside Fort Rodman sits, Fort Taber that was engineered by Captain Robert E Lee and built by Henry Martyn Roberts better know for the writer of Robert’s Rules of Order.
West Beach along Clarks CoveNick on a fat bike
We rode along the east side of the penninsula along Buzzards Bay. The city in the early 60’s had built a hurricane barrier of local granite. Two years ago, New Bedford built a walking/biking path atop the barrier, which allows a commanding view of the bay. A short ride took us to the middle of the harbor on this bike way where we stopped for a visit to Palmer’s Island Lighthouse.
Riding the elevated bikewayPalmer’s Island and light station
Fabio and Kate sailed their 28 foot sailboat from Brunswick, GA over the past couple of weeks and “Tranquility” is moored in the bay. They took Frank and Leighann on an afternoon cruise while Nick and I continued home. We will all meet in the evening for dinner put together by Fabio and Kate.
I had mentioned that when you ride with a local, you get to see the secret places. Another perk of riding with a local around here is fresh caught seafood. Tonight menu has freshly caught sea scallops, recently picked local mussels and our friend Larry who is a commercial diver, brought us a bag of quahogs he dug up a few hours ago.
Kate and Fabio held their wedding reception in the Italian Alp last August. Some of those in attendance will be gathering in Fairhaven this week for a reunion of sorts.
Bicycle Times and Dirt Rag magazine’s Frank, is one of them. We are going to give him and his lady a tour of the area by bike. They are from Pittsburgh and are doing the grand tour of New England. He wants to get the feel of coastal New England and he will be doing an Air B&B stay on a 28 ft. sailboat moored in the bay, on Sunday night. Before that the Italian Chef, Fabio and his wife, Chef Kate will be cooking us all an Italian pasta dish using fresh scallops and littlenecks. They recently arrived after sailing their 28 Columbia from Brunswick GA.
As an added bonus, my buddy Larry who is a commercial diver will be delivering quahogs that he will dig up in the morning.
If time permits we will take a ferry out to Martha’s Vineyard on Tuesday to ride to Chappaquiddick and cruise around Vineyard Haven, Tisbury and Edgartown.
Being a native of the area I get to take friend on a bike ride to the “Secret Places.” That’s a title I give when a local takes friends off the tourist path to the places we don’t share publicly.
It was the usual Friday night ride to Music on Pier 3 in New Bedford, MA. Agian, no one showed for the ride so I went alone. I packed two beers, (beeyahs) for this warm evening ride to the event. Beer is sold there in a plastic cup for 4 bucks a pop. My preference for a beer is in a frosted glass, a bottle, a can or a beer bong. A plastic cup is last on the list and one way to avoid it is to bring my own.
The waterfront was bustling including the local shuttle boat that takes people to the different waterfront restaurants and events. $3 per person and it’s a very popular shuttle. The boat from Cuttyhunk arrived in time for the concert and one of the local Monks was wandering around taking in the sights and sounds.
I stopped at a coffee shop on the way home and by the time I left it was very dark. Made more so by the cloud cover. The MUP (multi use path) was very busy at 9 PM. Bikes, walkers, skateboarder and a runner. It was such a nice night to be out and many took advantage.
The band was playing Sympathy for the Devil. Very ironicWaterfront shuttle.Cuttyhunk ferryCalm watersPart of the New Bedford fishing fleet
Because of the heat, it makes sense go get out early for a bike ride. 9:30 AM was not early enough here on the edge of Cape Cod. It was freak’n hot. So hot that the ride had to cut off 10 miles from the planned route. Actually it was the humidity and the fact that I had not recovered from Tennis on Tuesday night.
After riding today I flipped my stem to the factory setting. I have retired from racing and there is no need for the racing posture on my carbon bike. The stem is now set to AARP and I like it. Actually the “slammed stem” was doing a job on my shoulders and elbows which was reeking havoc on my tennis game.
We have a 50+ mile ride in the works tomorrow, Friday, but it looks like it’s going to be a wash out. Unless of course those who want to ride are willing to finish by 5 AM. I’m banking on no one wants to do that.
In past posts I mentioned Clydesdale horses on one of my routes. I ran into the owner and the horses today and was told they are Belgians, which are much bigger than Clydesdale, who are taller, but in general a much smaller horse. They were in training for pulling competitions and they had their new pulling shoes on.
I also saw some sheep, a babbling brook and a comfort bike rider who was intent on not letting me catch up. I eased up to let him win a stage. He will surely be wearing yellow tomorrow.
Belgian horsesNew pulling shoes.
He will surely be wearing a yellow t-shirt tomorrow.
As usual, only two of us showed for the ride to Yoga. Five miles on a bike to Fort Taber joining in the group of around 50 or so like minded people. I use like minded because this was a yoga class where the leader suggested we do some advanced poses, and there were universal groans of not only people trying to get into these positions but also those, like me, who would never every attempt them. For example.
This is about the most extreme I can manage. Maybe I’ll get to the above poses someday. Nah. It’s not going to happen. At my age, I don’t have enough time to get that strong and nimble.
Then there was Pokeymon Go. I told Nick, the 16 year old who rode with me to Yoga about the number of people at the Pokemon gathering at Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven, MA. He questioned my numbers, about 1000 every night, until we arrived. Needless to say he was mortified.
