Day 3: The Coastal Route was a lovely Surprise

First off, a big thank you to Tom and Robin for hosting me at their lovely retreat on Block Island. Not only was it restful, but Tom, who's been an amazing cook for the entire time I've known him, made a great Bolognese (that nicely came out as "bowl of knees" when first dictated) for dinner in order to carbo load me, and then made some egg and potato tacos for breakfast in the morning, with extra strong Java, to get me going. 

More importantly, it was great to see them both and catch up. Among other things they have both migrated to being amazing artists, having originally each practiced medicine for a zillion years, and I got to see their amazing photo works in one of the local galleries.

Tom's elegant description of his work

The doctor background came in handy as Tom met me prepared with a home covid test kit - not the easy instant kind, but an actual 30 minute PCR equivalent test (an important step because Tom basically nannies their 2 year old grandchild, Theo, every day).

Phew. Negative.

Oh right the ride. Well this was the day that worried me most, because the Block Island ferry to New London wouldn't arrive and let me start riding till about Noon, and however I mapped it out, getting to New Haven was going to be 60 to 65 miles. I originally was going to go inland, which is what Ride with GPS suggested, but it had a whole lot of climbing. The coastal route was a little bit shorter, and certainly flatter, but I figured it was going to be a while lot of riding on Route 1.

Serendipitously, while waiting for the ferry, I started talking with two bicyclists who had just disembarked. They strongly recommended taking the coastal route, and that seemed as good a way to choose one route over another as any other.

And it turned out to be lovely! You definitely have to be comfortable riding on a 40 mph road with a shoulder, but most of those stretches were fairly short, and the beneficial side effect was that it was much easier to find food and water to keep me fueled (which I don't always succeed at).

But there were also a ton of back roads, with great scenery, that I was able to take in parallel to Route 1 or 95 and often right along the shore, or through wetlands.

That was a mixed blessing because by the end of the ride it was windy and rainy and I got soaked, all the more so when I chose to take the alternative roads that took me close to the coast. But it really was a fun ride overall, which just goes to show, once again, that going in with low expectations can sometimes pay great dividends.

And, before I forget, here's the route. And here is the photo.