Conference noted::bicycle

    
    There aren't any "bike paths".  There is basically only
    one ride on Block Island, it's 18 miles around the island,
    and you can toss in a few more by riding out to the
    lighthouse (?) and back on a side road that goes out.
    
    You can see all of Block Island on your bike in 1/2 day.
    
    The ferry, as I recall, is about 45 min or 1 hr one way.
    
    Favorite beach: Clay Head, located out the road out to the
    lighthouse.
    

    There are also some dirt roads that cut across various parts of the
    loop that the main roads form.  What kind of bike are you riding ?
    
    Mohegan Bluffs is my favorite area.  There is a beach at the base of
    the bluffs and a stairway to get down to it.
    
    A word of caution from someone who has ridden around the Block 
    many a time:  
    	There are many tourists who rent mopeds.  Not all of them
    	have a working knowledge of the difference between the throttle
    	and the brake.  Few of them are aware that the rules of the
        road apply to mopeds.  Please be careful of them.
    
    The advantage to having a mountain bike is that you can go on the dirt
    roads where the mopeds are not allowed.
    
    
    Terry

    
    re .2: more on Mopeds.  I HATE them!!  Block Island
    is absolutely littered (like every 50 feet!) with ignorant
    morons on rented Mopeds and rented bikes.  I couldn't
    *believe* it, but one woman was actually *walking* her
    bike up a very, very, *very* slight "incline", if you
    could call it that.  What a pitiful, painful sight!
    
    Not only was I, a moderate bicyclist by any standards,
    who averages 14-16 mph, outdistancing *every* bicyclist
    on the entire loop around the island, but I was also
    outdistancing *many* Mopeds!  Go figure...
    

best way to handle mopeds is to just stay in front of 'em - that way, if they
don't know the difference 'twixt brake and throttle, who cares? :-)
Rent-a-peds tend to be pretty feeble most of the time, easy to chase down
and overtake, esp. going up hills. Some privately-ownd models, where the
owner has taken care of it or soupled it up, tend to be a bit more challenging!
                                    ken

    
    Also, if you see somebody on a rented bike (believe me, you can tell
    if its rented :-), there usually just as unconcerned about others on
    the road as the mopeders are, but at least they do less damage.
    
    If you are staying on island, the best time to ride is early morning
    when the roads are relatively clear of mopeds.  The tourists start 
    arriving by ferry about 9:30 or so, but aren't usually released from
    the "training area" till around 10 or 10:30.  After 3pm is usually
    pretty safe as well.  Most of the moped riders are in town shopping,
    or on the beach.
    
    Don't let any of this scare you off...  Block Island really is a very
    lovely place to visit.  It's just those durned tourists :-)

    Just re-read your base note that said you were planning a day trip...
    Try to take the early ferry (8:00am, I think) and that should give you 
    more time before the moped crowd arrives
    
    Terry

    
    In order to make sure you get the early ferry, arrive
    an hour early.  I have gotten there half hour before
    it was supposed to leave and it's been sold out.
    Standing in that stupid ticket line isn't any fun either.
    

Notes I entered in the Rhode Island notes file on Block Island..

         <<< SPOCK::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[NOTES$LIBRARY]RHODE_ISLAND.NOTE;1 >>>
                       -< ...and Providence Plantations >-
================================================================================
Note 20.11                        BLOCK ISLAND                          11 of 36
VICKI::DESMARAIS                                     35 lines  13-JUN-1989 14:13
                           -< Block Island tidbits >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Mopeds are frowned on by Block Islander's.. A few years ago they
    wanted to withdraw from the State of Rhode Island over it. The problem
    is people ride the mopeds with 5 minutes training and they end up
    in an accident or causing an accident in 5 minutes. Block Island
    is ideal for bikes. Just get a map of the Island with a list of
    things to stop and see on your trip. The boat ride from Galilee
    is 1 hour and 10 minutes which is about as long as I want to be
    on a boat. Make sure you stop and see the Mohegan bluffs and the Southeast
    light house. See the lowest point on the island Codman's hollow.
    Beacon hill is the highest point on the Island (I'm not sure if
    it is private property.) Stop and read granite monuments which you
    will see by the road to add some tourist information. Settler's
    rock... I could go on and on. Stop at the Island airport watch
    small plane come and go (have an ice cream cone while you watch).
    Go to the marinas and look and walk the docks. Visit the Historical
    Society. Stop by the library.  Walk the lenght of Cresent beach.
    
    I've been going there since I was 2 years old. Lived on the Island 
    for a year when I was 10. Worked there in the summer when I 
    was in High School. The boat company use to be Interstate Navigation. 
    Call information and tell them you want the # for the Block Island
    boat and they should give you the number. They also have boats from
    New London Conn. and Providence which stops briefly in Newport. If 
    you like a long scenic boat ride 3 hours plus take the Providence
    boat. I believe from New London it's about 2 hours.      
    
          Write to the Block Island Chamber of Commerce.
    
    I would avoid 4th of July and Labor day weekend. toooo crowded.
    I would even try and avoid weekends during the summer.

    The only problem I have is that too many people are going to the
    Island. There is just something about being seperated from the
    mainland. You can mentally leave all your problems in Galilee..
    
    Boat info..
    
    Interstate Navigation Co./Nelseco Navigation Co. Min offices
    Box 482, New London, CT. 06320
    
    Main office phone number in Conn. 203-442-7891 & 203-442-9553 8am - 4pm
    
    Point Judith, RI 401-789-3502 or 783-4613
    
    On Block Island 466-2943



    Block Island Chamber of Commerce, Drawer D, Block Island, RI. 02807
    phone 401-466-2982

    This was acouple years ago but I got a free night on the island
    for listening to a timeshare program..

    The Neptune (a time share) is offering a free night on Block Island
    to come and hear there pitch on buying into their timeshare. They
    will pick you up at the boat. All they ask is for you to listen to
    a 1 hour presentation.. I've been told that weekends are pretty well
    filled up. This is not an endorsement of Neptune just a way to let
    people know how they can stay on the island for free.. The fall is a
    nice time to visit the island.  Neptune (401) 466-2100
    
    For those who have never been to a timeshare presentation be prepared
    for HIGH pressure.. If you can't Take it don't go.

    
    I was there on July 3. It was worth trip but there were pretty crowded
    on the island, mostly are cyclists. It is like that the cyclists own
    the road everywhere I go. Nice, isn't it?
    
    But the one thing that I do not like is standing in that stupid ticket
    line. It is no fun at all!
    
    I do not mind going there again on the dull weekend, not during the
    holidays.
    
    Kevin
    

    	The best time to go to Block Island is in May or September.  There 
    are very few tourists and the boat seldom sells out.  Beat the lines 
    with a reservation and then don't try to load until the last minute 
    when everyone else is already aboard and there is no line.  
    	The best place to stay on B.I. is at the islands only campground.  
    There is a catch.  Camping is illegal on B.I. and the chief of police 
    will be there when the boat arrives to send you back if you are carrying 
    camping gear.  However, the Boy Scouts of America maintain a camp on the 
    nicest piece of inland high ground on the island.  Donated to the B.S.A.
    years ago, it affords one the best way to get the feel of the island at
    night.  Just round up a group of your favorite scouts, scrounge up a 
    small dump truck to carry all the bikes and equipment(the scouts can
    walk onto the boat for a significant savings), and make reservations 
    through the local council office.
    	The B.S.A. camp is divided into two areas to accomodate male or 
    female scouting parties so no one need be left out.  When the chief 
    sees you getting off the boat, he will welcome you to the best night 
    on the island.  Lying there on the hill, under the stars, listening 
    to the twin fog horns placed at either end of the island;  high... 
    low... high... low... all night long.  Add to that the sound of a 
    runaway freight train from somewhere down in the valley, the train 
    that labors constantly and yet, goes nowhere...  
    	It's actually the sound of the big diesel submarine engines, 
    constantly making power at the Block Island Power and Light co.  
    Privately owned and operated, the caretaker is a crusty sort who is 
    only too happy to let you damage your hearing while he shows you 
    around the sheds.  He chuckles as he tells you about the lawsuits 
    brought against him by the yuppies who have recently built luxury
    homes in the inland hills.  They are chock full of modern electrical
    conveniences and their owners are constantly complaining about their
    right to more and more power.  It seems as though every damn one of
    them owns an airplane and wants to fly in or out at 2:00 A.M.  Some
    nights I just lie there and pray for fog... Well, if it weren't for 
    the natives, the Power and Light co. would just close down.  The owner 
    is ready for retirement and he's just ornery enough to dismantle the
    whole kit and kaboodle and leave the place in the dark.
    	I agree about bringing a mt. bike, it's the only way to ride the
    bluffs to the sea.  It also opens up the long sandy stretches of
    beach out to the lighthouse to a bike rider.  And don't you miss those
    interesting side roads, which afford encounters with some unusual
    architecture and some very friendly natives.  But then again, almost
    everyone welcomes the scouts.  Not seen as a threat but as a symbol
    of what's right with this country, scouts have always been able to
    open the most stubbornly locked local doors.  And after all, that's
    the only way to really get to know someplace, through the eyes of the
    locals.  And the B.I. locals are very colorfull indeed.  
    	If you visit the abandoned light house at sea level, you can 
    almost hear the grunts of the men who dragged the massive granite 
    blocks from the shore where they were unloaded from the barges.  Up
    and up, higher and higher they piled that granite until they had
    finished the magnificent structure which stands alone and aloof
    today.  A monument to the low tech era of sailing ships and time
    for real craftsmanship.  Today, the Coast Guard comes every six
    months to change the batteries in the tiny strobe light at the top
    of the 20 ft. tall steel tower which somehow can't convey the misery
    and hardship, lonliness and despair of the long gone lightkeepers and
    sturdy seamen who sometimes survived the great storms which took the
    ships and lights where they toiled and perservered.
    	The island is also home to an authentic, abandoned, haunted house 
    that goes way back and many of the natives can tell you tales that will
    curl the hair on the back of a scouts neck.  Tales often recounted
    on a dark night, around a dancing fire, while the phantom frieght 
    train rides the fickle wind and the foghorns moan eerily in the
    cold mist by the sandy shore.  Definitely save this magical place 
    for off season adventures.  I can't wait for May, 1993...
    
    								Don