trace

Can anyone recommend any areas of the New England coast where there'd be a decent uninterrupted stretch of sand for fatbiking? Doesn't have to be "nice" sand, rocky is fine as long as it isn't boulders you have to climb over. I live in RI near Narragansett Bay and there are some short stretches where I can ride my fat bike along the shore, but there are a lot of inlets, marshes etc that are uncrossable (and not easily bypassed with a road) so there's never a very long stretch. I have heard that Block Island is pretty much sand/small rocks all the way around the perimeter of the island and could be entirely rideable on a fatbike (with a couple of on-road detours to cross breachways, etc, which is fine.) Or how about the CT coast? The National Seashore on Cape Cod is a long stretch of uninterrupted sand but being national park land I am pretty sure fatbiking on it would not be allowed.

autonomy

You're correct about the National Seashore, https://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvis...l-seashore.htm Bicycles are not permitted on hiking trails or on beaches.
Some more ideas, mostly around what I know about MA (lots of rocky or private coastline here)
- I have heard/seen good reports of fat biking on Block Island.
- Nantasket Beach in Hull, MA looks like it has about a 2.5mi stretch and I've seen people biking there.
- Duxbury Beach allows vehicle oversand access (with a permit) so I would imagine bikes are OK; quick search produces https://rootsrated.com/boston-ma/cycling/duxbury-beach
- Sandy Neck Beach in Barnstable https://www.town.barnstable.ma.us/sa...20Tire%20Bikes - probably your best value for the driving effort
I would check out the state reservations, maybe give them a call - a couple others in MA are South Cape Beach, Salisbury Reservation. Plum Island is going to be closed to even walking on the beach during the summer because of birds nesting.

trace

Great suggestions, thanks! Another MA state reservation that might be a possibility (and is not far from me) is Horseneck Beach in Westport (and the nearby Goosebury Island.)

Steve B.

Log Island. Longest beaches in the NE

trace

What are your favorite long LI beaches?

Steve B.

I dont have a fat bike but you can ride east from Robert Moses State Park for 18 miles or, I think there might be restrictions at the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness area. You can also find sand at Montauk and ride west for a long ways.

trace

Cool, thanks. Montauk looks like the better bet ... from the info I found, there are a lot of restrictions on riding a bike on Fire Island and even getting a bike there in the first place. (I mean, you can bring one in your car. But apparently you can't take a bike on the Fire Island ferry and you can't ride it across the bridge either.)

Steve B.

When I looked at the Fire Island Nat'l Seashore website, I didn't see any beach restrictions. This is likely because they allow permitted cars to have access from Robert Moses State Park east to the assorted communities that are not federal land. I only saw the restriction noted above. Thus I'd bet you could pay to park at RMSP ($8), then ride east. You could as well pay to park at Montauk Point SP and ride the north fork shore west on the north side. That too is open to 4WD vehicles (with permit) so I'd bet bikes are allowed. Then there's the Cedar Beach lot just west of Fire Island Inlet and close to the Robert Moses causeway. You could park there and ride west as far as Jones Beach. There are some town beached (Babylon and Oyster Bay) where the lifeguards might say something.

Attilio

The Sakonnet River seems bikeable and now you've given me an idea.....

The "island" side with Portsmouth, Middletown and Newport can get rocky until you get pretty far south but isn't bad. Consider parking up north like in Island park. There is a long beach the north part of Portsmouth going East/West and plenty of parking there and you can keep riding south. Parts of the beach get pretty rocky though, other parts not so bad. It depends on your tolerance for boulders I guess. We kayak that stretch a lot and some sections are less rocky than others. If you kayak the Sakonnet is awesome though and maybe that could be the best way to recon it. Alternatively you can stop off at McCorrie point. Only people from Portsmouth can stop there but there is no visible enforcement. Sandy Beach point is more enforced.

The other shore is also nice. You can park at Sapowet marshes in Tiverton and just keep going. The beach there is definitely better for fat biking. How far south you go depends on your preferences. Some areas again are rockier than others in my experience the mainland side of the Sakonnet is less rocky than the island side. Almy brook area is neat you can go inland a lot especially at low tide. If you go north Nanaquacket pond is also neat.

LAstly it's not a very long stretch but an extremely beautiful area is the Sakonnet point. You have to be from the area to park there in summer you will be competing with the locals but I've been there a few times off season like January or November and no one cares. You can also park at the boat ramp area further north only if you "have boating purpose" such as having kayak racks on your car or some kind of trailer but again, if you go off season the area will be practically empty.

trace

Great idea, and convenient location for me too. I'll have to try this!