Heading down to Newport, RI for the weekend and will be stayingnear gGoat Island. Is there any good riding around that area?
tourists + crappy road conditions + tourists = not really. If you plan to just tool around its ok but if you are looking to improve your FTP then you need to get off Aquidneck Island.
I had a couple of great rides a few years back in Newport. I’m pretty cautious about where I ride. I found some routes on Strava, and then ended up running into a local cyclist who let me tag along on the rest of his ride. I just replicated that route with a few changes afterwards. It was slow-going in places, but we ended up on some really nice roads out of Newport. I really enjoyed it. Beautiful scenery.
Ran their marathon so no riding, but the east side Indian Avenue and 3rd Beach seemed like the riding would be okay.
With touristy areas early mornings are the best. Usually before 9am there is rarely any activity. After that time the tourists are in full force until they collapse in a drunken stupor at 2am.
There was a lot of blowing sand so watch yourself on all turns.
If you can, get over the bridge to Jamestown. Theres a good 20 mile loop around the island. I haven’t ridden there in 2 years so I can’t give you an accurate recommendation on road conditions, but that was my go-to place to ride for my 4 years in college.
2x for going over the bridge to Jamestown.
Much more quiet roads with a loop just shy of 20 miles. If you are looking for more keep going west crossing the Jamestown bridge and ride route 1A which has a nice shoulder all the way to Point Judith and back 30 miles back and forth total. The best part of the state is west of rte 95 near and around the reservoir. Much more rural and quiet.Short climbs, country roads. Lots of Strava stuff out there. A little peace of heaven.
Hated Newport both times I lived there (once as a little kid while my Dad was going to the Post Graduate school and as a young adult when I attended NAPS). While at NAPS, I created a tri club specifically so I could ride in the spring since they didn’t have a cycling club then. Went out maybe 4 days a week. Roads sucked, traffic sucked and you had to do a lot of overlap to get any sort of decent ride without going over the main bridges.
As a former resident of Newport its not quite as bad as some of the other posters have mentioned… but its not great.
If you need to get a ride longer than 20-30 miles in then you should DEFINITELY get off the island and head towards the Tiverton / Little Compton area where some of the area’s best riding is and where I did all my long iron distance training rides. However if you just want to get some fartlek style interval rides in, and you are willing to get up early, and keep your head on a swivel you should head off of goat island towards ocean drive. You will essentially follow the perimeter of the island and ride around the ocean drive, past Breton point, then around the rest of the ocean drive, then down past all the mansions on Bellevue avenue, and then turn down Memorial avenue past 1st beach, then to Purgatory Road and along past 2nd beach to the parking lot at the end of Sachuest Point Park. Then you’ll start to retrace your route, but turn right towards 3rd beach and then follow Indian Avenue to its end. Turn around and retrace your route back to Goat Island. You can ride on the interior of the island but the roads suck, there is little breakdown lane, and tourists are everywhere. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Some ground rules…
-Go EARLY before the tourists are out. They are AMAZINGLY unpredictable and will do everything in their power to suddenly turn in front of you. I would yell out “Crazy Ivan!” from
“Hunt for Red October” when this would happen.
-Be VERY cautious on the descent down memorial at first beach and again on the descent into 2nd beach. 3 cyclists have been killed there and its just not worth bombing the descents.
-Did I say go early yet? If you want to get some good intervals in, the earlier the better. There are often some EPIC headwinds on the ocean drive and they make for fantastic intervals. If you don’t go early there will be way too much tourist traffic and you will have to ride very carefully. Which is fine if you want to lollygag, but sucks if you actually intend to get a workout.
It really is a gorgeous ride scenery wise, so well worth doing once. Be sure and have your nastiest expression of disgust ready for all the tour-ons who rented electric bicycles or segueways.
Enjoy your visit. Some fantastic food in Newport. I miss being able to walk to all those restaurants all the time.
I live and ride from Newport and have a couple of 70+ rides mapped out from downtown Newport where I live. The advice here is solid - GO EARLY. There is a group of ten or so cyclists that leave from 2nd beach at 8AM every Sunday. They are organized out of Ten Speed Spokes (a shop in town). If you want to do your own long ride map out Sakonnet Lighthouse which is about 35 miles away and off island. Travel north on Aquidneck Island this way: Indian Ave, Old Mill Rd, Whopping Rd. W Main, Middle Rd. Point Rd. Cross the designated bike bridge and then head South on 77 (Main Rd) to the END. The scenery is incredible and it is flat and fast 70+ round trip. Map it out ahead of time but this is the safest way off island from your location. I would join you but, hey, I got hit by a car last week on my ride and I’m out for a few months!
I grew up in R.I. What they are saying here is definitely correct… during tourist season it is quite busy in Newport. I second the idea of getting off Aquidneck Is. and heading towards Tiverton… (I actually grew up in Tiverton, specifically, so I know the area quite well) You can find a good, rural, scenic ride from North Tiverton through Little Compton and into Westport, MA. It makes a good loop, and even though there is little shoulder, there are few cars in the mornings (some of the roads might have one or two cars you might come in contact with altogether). Enjoy your trip!