My wife and I have been going on long weekend bike rides for several months now. The COVID pandemic has given us extra time in our busy family schedule to discover a new date night-exercise opportunity.

We schedule our start time so that we’re arriving at Colt State Park just in time to see the sunset. Regardless of the weather conditions or cloud cover, that’s our goal.

The East Bay Bike Path offers great views along the Rhode Island coastline, passing through various areas including an industrial seaport, small cottage home neighborhoods, parks, and large estate homes.

Some weeks the temperatures are extremely cold and we’ve had to pack hand and foot warmers. On other weeks the wind is the biggest challenge. We even attempted the trip when ice cover large sections of the route.

Once we see the sunset at Colt, the ride back to East Providence is dark and temperatures drop fast. Views on the return trip switch to nighttime city lights.

The rides have become a routine and something to look forward to on the weekends. We always take photos of the sunset regardless of the weather, we have a growing collection of photos that I hope to create an album with at some point.