Our 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.
We began our cycling tour on a Sunday in late September 2009 with a group called Bike and the Like. Our tour hosts, Suzie and Roger Knable, welcomed us along with about 30 other cyclists. We had rain showers all day on Sunday so everyone took the day off as this was more of a "meet and greet" day anyway. Weather the remainder of the week couldn't have been better. We had cool starts with it warming up every afternoon.

Our first day of riding took us into Connecticut. We followed along the beaches and waterfront of the Block Island sound, making a few sightseeing stops along the way. BF Clydes Cider Mill offers some of the best cider around... whether you like it hot, cold, or even spiked. 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 day sightseeing around Mystic or add a few extra miles and ride down to Noank and Groton Long Point. We opted for the extra miles.

On Tuesday, we caught the ferry to Block Island. Once there, we explored the island on bicycle riding along the coastline to the lighthouse on the south end of the island, the Mohegan Bluffs, a stop for lunch at the island airport, more cycling, a tour of the Block Island historical museum, and ice cream to finish off the afternoon.

Heading to Newport on Wednesday, we first take the ferry back to the mainland. We cycle along the ocean road, passing beautiful Narragansett and crossing over the bridge to the small island of Jamestown. Once in historic downtown Jamestown, we cycled to the south end of the island to Beavertail Lighthouse, the third oldest lighthouse in the U.S. We lunched at the Ferry Deli and took a bus over the toll bridge to Newport.

With Newport's miles of scenic coastlines, mansions, museums, walking history tours, local vineyards, quaint wharfs, and cobblestone streets, there is plenty to do and see. Of course, we chose to cycle. We cycled 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 Cliffwalk, and numerous beaches along the way to the wildlife conservatory in Middletown.

Our last day of cycling was fairly uneventful as we headed back to where we started in Westerly, RI. We shuttled back across both the Newport and Jamestown bridges, then started cycling through rolling and wooded Rhode Island countryside back to Misquamicut Beach. Once back, we collected our luggage and headed toward Cincinnati to visit family.

This has been one of our favorite trips. We saw a few leaves changing color but we were probably just a couple weeks early for the real "fall foliage". The terrain was flat to gently rolling. We had a couple good hills but, otherwise, just some long gradual climbs. The wind blows in Rhode Island just as it does here in Texas. We highly recommend this trip to anyone wanting to ride about 40 miles a day and also take in some great sightseeing along the way.