After a rainy day pn Saturday, we woke up to sun Sunday. My phone rang at 7:45, with my friend asking if we wanted to drive to the south coast of MA/RI and ride. I was surprised, since she rarely awakes before 8 on weekends, while I am up by 6:30 at the latest. So, although we were barely up, we decided to go. I had done this ride once before, on one of my first group rides where I was so nervous, I hardly remembered any of it. We got down there at around 11 and took off from Tiverton, RI high school where we parked. After about 4 miles, my husband and my friend's husband had stopped on a corner to wait for her. She is slow, but not that slow! So, her husband rode back and found that the chain on her new bike (like just got it Thursday) had seized. She got it going and right away my husband diagnosed the problem. The LBS didn't put on a long enough chain, and every time she went into the big ring, boom. We told her just stay in the middle, but it happened two more times during the ride. I feel badly for her, since she has been riding a 10 year old Trek touring bike and she got a nice carbon Giant. Well, despite that, it was a gorgeous day. It's a very rural area, near the coast, with beautiful scenery. We stopped and ate a picnic lunch after about 13 miles. There were lots of casual cyclists out on some type of marked ride and we also saw a lot of serious looking riders. I didn't remember that there was much climbing on this ride, but most of it was a false flat, which was quite deceiving. We thought it would be cooler out, but it got up to about 78. I am fighting a sinus infection and by mile 30 I was ready to be done. The ride was 39 miles and I felt like I had done at least 50. But I wasn't too sick to stop by the Wesport River Winery and pick up 3 bottles of sparkling wine on the way home.
If anyone ever wants some nice coastal riding, without the crowds of the Cape, this is the place. Beautiful views, fairly nice roads, and not too much in the way of hills.