Climate Ride 2015: Cape Cod (again)

So, for Labor Day weekend, my family was heading back up to Cape Cod again, this time with our older son, Ben, recently returned from graduating college (and working during the Summer) in Minnesota to start work with the DOT in New York, but missing our younger son, Stephen, who had just left to start a Junior year semester abroad in Barcelona. These kids lead interesting lives!

Inspired by their example, I took a look at the calendar and saw that I could spare two days for riding my bike back to the Cape (Tues. and Wed.), with Laura and Ben picking me up during the third day (Thurs.) on their drive there, if I could figure out an appealing and practical route.

OK, maybe "if" was the wrong word there -- I mean, once I figured out the route.

My key parameter at this point was to try to do something a little bit different. In all my prior rides to Cape Cod, I always went out through Long Island and took a ferry from Orient Point to New London before continuing onward. So this time, I decided to stick to the other side of the Long Island Sound and take the MetroNorth train to New Haven (bikes allowed, without the requirement of boxing, unlike on most of Amtrak (although they've recently started a trial run on the DC to Chicago corridor)), and start my ride from there. That also had the benefit of avoiding what I anticipated would have been a difficult routing task -- getting from NYC to New Haven on a bike without spending too much time on a busy Route 1.

From New Haven, because I didn't want to repeat my route by sticking to the coast and going through New London, I decided to head North, up towards Hartford and Manchester, enticed also by about 20 miles of a bike path along the way. From there, I could head East, go through Providence mostly on bike paths (a small repeat from last time, but very pleasant) and then into Massachusetts passing through Fall River.

So that's what I did. Using, of course, the excellent resources of both Ride with GPS and Google Maps. The only difficult part was figuring out where to stop each night that would get me enough mileage for the day, but also end up somewhere with lodging and a restaurant within walking distance. This was harder than it sounds -- on Day 1 I ended up in the itsy-bitsy town of Chaplin, CT at the Passport Inn & Suites (a grander sounding name than the accommodations actually warranted) -- but managed to upgrade to a Hampton Inn just outside of Fall River for Day 2.

On Day 3, I made it all the way to Sandwich, at the base of the Cape, before Laura and Ben (who had left that morning from NYC) caught up with me and, ahem, gave me a lift.

But that's not all! (As they say on late night TV.) With Climate Ride looming a little over a week away, I also worked in two shorter rides in and around the Cape over the weekend. Dare I utter the words? I actually think I've done enough training now to be in good riding shape and well-prepared for the 390 miles from Bar Harbor, ME to Boston! (Knock on wood.)

But just in case, I also tossed in 75 miles of the Transportation Alternatives Century Ride this past Sunday!

If you've stayed with me this far, you've earned a few routes and photos:

Day 1: