No. 7 - Tiverton/Little Compton Loop - 66 Miles - 14 Scenic Sites & Ice Cream!

So how DO you feel about 66 miles on a warm day in July? This one starts at the Park & Ride lot off Fish Road, just north of Route 24. Before you know it the Sakonnet River Bridge is passing over head, with Grinnell's Beach and Nannaquaket Bridge on the horizon. Emily Ruecker Wildlife Refuge and Seapowet Marsh slip by on the way to one of the last scenic sites in Tiverton: Fogland Beach. Then, just-like-that, Little Compton delivers Town Way and Taylor's Lane, two classic Rights of Way on the way to Sakonnet Harbor and all the the activity down there. Scenic views abound along the southern Rhode Island coastline, but one of the greatest is South Shore Beach. A short walk along the beach, across a shallow tidal creek, and Goosewing Beach appears. The Beach is owned by the Nature Conservancy, who is doing everything it can to protect the piping plovers that nest there. Then it's a do-not-stop-at-GO cruise up to Gray's Ice Cream at Tiverton Four Corners.
Given the opportunity to go on a such a bike ride, in our little Ocean State, there is quite simply nothing else to say, save this:

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when when man invented the bicycle.
-- Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills p. 19
The Quotable Cyclist, by Bill Strickland, 1997

No. 6 - Conanicut Island, aka Jamestown, aka "The Jackpot!" = 37.5 Miles + 22 Scenic Sites + A "Feed Zone" on Steroids

Truth in Advertising Disclaimer: My Miyata's bicycle tires have never done a single rotation on Conanicut Island. The car, a few... But from everything I can gather as I pulled together information for this ride, this could be one of The Best Places on the Planet to roll bicycle wheels... This summer I intend to fully test that theory when I roll about 37 miles out there one fine day. Of course there's always the getting there part. From the west, on a good day, the Jamestown Bridge allows this to be accomplished on two wheels. From the east the only option is the Pell Bridge and four wheels. However you transport your bike and yourself over there, plan to park at Fort Wetherill State Park and set out. The MapMyRide route shown below describes the specific meanderings, but suffice to say any place that presents this much coastline in such a compact setting has got to be something pretty special. As usual, my "bible" was Public Access to the Rhode Island Coast. It was initially published in 1993, updated in 2004, by our great friends at Rhode Island Sea Grant. Copies are available for downloading off the Internet or from the Sea Grant Communications Office, URI Bay Campus, Narragansett, RI 02882-1197 (Order P1696).

The route identifies twenty-two scenic Right of Ways to the RI coastline on the 37.5 miles route it travels. And that's not even counting the numerous "Feed Zone" locations along Narragansett Avenue. Running from East Ferry (#11) to West Ferry (#20), these are the Narragansett Avenue addresses that jumped out at me as I researched the area:
14 - Tricia's Tropi-Grille (www.triciastropigrille.com)
23 - House of Pizza
25 - Narragansett Cafe (www.narragansettcafe.com
32 - Slice of Heaven (www.sliceofheavenri.com)
34 - Peking Garden
35 - Xtra Mart
40 - Chopmist Charlie's (www.chopmistcharlies.com)
Hey, Bon Appetit! If I've somehow missed any of your favorites or you discover something particularly remarkable on your travels, don't be shy!

If the scenic vistas live up to their billing, the whole 37.5 miles, from beginning to end, will probably take a lot more than a day. Hey, track down a B&B and soak the place up! At least that's what I'm think today, months away from actually heading over there. The route exists as a "draft" of an idealized set of points, heading up the east side of the island to Conanicut Point, then down the west coast to Beavertail State Park. This is one ride that will definitely need to be fleshed out by actually rolling across the landscape and it is one I am especially looking forward to...

No. 5 - Chafee Nature Preserve to Aunt Carrie's Restaurant and/or Iggy's Chower House - 31 Miles

OK, admittedly a long title and, at 30+ miles, not all that short a ride either. But at the end of this particular ride a choice can be made: Aunt Carrie's or Iggy's? For my money they are both awesome, especially after four hours on the bike, and perhaps you'll need both places.
But I digress.
Today it's more about the following quote from The Quotable Cyclist: Great Moments of Bicycling Wisdom, Inspiration and Humor, by Bill Strickland (www.breakawaybooks.com, $13):

"I ride a bicycle -- not because I hate General Motors but haven't the courage to bomb the plant. I don't do it as a gesture of great stoicism and personal sacrifice....You ride a bicycle because it feels good. The air feels good on your body; even the rain feels good. The blood starts moving around your body, and pretty soon it gets to your head, and, glory be, your head feels good. You start noticing things. You look until you really see. You hear things, and smell things you never knew were there. You start whistling nice little original tunes to suit the moment. Words start getting caught in the web of poetry in your mind. And there's a nice feeling, too, in knowing you're doing a fundamental life thing for yourself: transportation."
-- Nicholas Johnson, Journalist, at page 315

And today it's also about the numerous scenic stops and right-of-ways you'll discover as you make your way down the Narragansett Bay coastline, from Chafee Nature Preserve in North Kingstown to the "twin" sea food destinations in Narragansett. So why not tick them off:
#61 - South Ferry Road
#58 - Route 1A Overlook
#54 - Old Sprague Bridge Overlook
#53 - Narrow River Inlet
#52 - Canonchet Farm
#51 - Narragansett Town Beach
#50 - Casino Park
#49 - Ocean Road
#48 - State Pier #5 (Tucker's Dock)
#47 - Hazard Avenue
#46 - Newton Avenue
#45 - Bass Rock Road
#44 - Black Point
#43 - Scarborough State Beach

Public Access to the Rhode Island Coast www.crc.uri.edu/download/GB_AccessGuide.pdf has excellent descriptions of everything you can expect to find as you roll up on these Narragansett Bay landmarks. This is what the route looks like:



This route is certainly not all that complicated. But as cool as these MapMyRide map are, to print out a barpack-able copy of the specific map "cues" you may need to grab a minimal membership to MapMyRide for about $30/year. Their capacity to allow people to crank out these things more than justifies that kind of expense, so I've just signed on for a year to see what comes of it. Now that I am on-their-bus, I'm also considering printing out copies of the various Narragansett Bay bike riding routes that will ultimately find there way into this "blogging" exercise. The concept of sharing said printouts with people in the biking community who are interested in such a thing ought not be alien to me...
Just get the through this freakin' winter and out the other side into some warm weather. At this point all I know for sure it that I'm really looking forward to hitting these routes in 2010!

No. 4 - Quonset Point (Compass Rose Beach) to Chafee Nature Preserve

Now for something completely different...
Let's just say someone found themselves on Quonset Point, maybe even at Compass Rose Beach. And let's also assume they had some time on their hands and wanted to go for a bike ride that would keep them near Narragansett Bay and also would deliver them to the Chafee Nature Preserve. There's a 26.63 mile route that would do the "trick" and this is what it likes like, as immortalized by my new friends at MapMyRide, complete with "Route Notes/Cue Sheets." OK, so it's still just a bit early in the "season" for me to have test-ridden this thing. But I'm still thinking it wouldn't be a bad way to spend a day, once it finally warms up out there. Just finding out exactly what awaits someone on a bike when they arrive at the Chafee Nature Preserve is reason enough to do this thing, so I will...
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