Providence to Newport

On a gray New England morning, Jason and I set off for Newport. We rode over the Seekonk River and flew down the East Bay Bike Path with a brief stop at Your Bike Shop (winner of the best bike shop location ever) in Warren, so I could buy a much-needed pump. The guy in the shop even managed to attach my new pump to the ridiculously curved top tube of my bike. Thanks!


With fully inflated tires, we pressed on, through Bristol to the Mt. Hope Bridge. Now, I'd heard stories of the Mt. Hope Bridge. I'd heard that it was narrow -- only one lane in each direction -- and thus, terrifying. As we rounded the bend towards the bridge, Jason yelled "Good luck!" at me and I took a deep breath. I wasn't prepared for how tall the bridge was but after the long flat bike path I had plenty of strength to power up the bridge and then coast, white-knuckled, down the other side, to Aquidneck Island.

From here, the path was more confusing. We made a wrong turn onto 114 instead of 138 and encountered some of the biggest hills I've ever ridden (ok, smaller than the Appalachians, but still big.) We rode up and down and up and down until we managed to find a road we knew. We took a brief stop for a wander through an old-growth beech forest I'd been to before (I ignored Jason's grumbling about cycling with a biology major -- it was beautiful.)

From then on, it was downhill, through farms and suburbs until we reached the beach.


And even better than the beach, lunch!


So after lunch, we just maybe got lost, and spent an hour riding through the farms in Portsmouth and Middletown. And just maybe, we got tired and turned around and took the ferry home. Not that I consider that giving up or anything, because all together, we rode 50 miles (!!!) and had a great time.

The End.





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