Hundreds ride through town in the name of environmental conservation

Every year, hundreds of cyclists hop on a bike and ride through the South Coast’s beaches, cranberry bogs and more in the name of environmental conservation.

The Buzzards Bay Coalition’s 19th annual Watershed Ride took place Sunday, Oct. 5 that brought some cyclists from as far as Little Compton, Rhode Island to Falmouth to raise money and awareness for the coalition.

The ride consists of three overlapping courses of 100, 77 and 41 miles. Each route brought riders through Wareham as they made their way towards Cape Cod. Riders entered town through Rochester on Fearing Hill Road and made their way to Main Street, up Gibbs Avenue and onto High Street. They then followed High Street to Cedar Street and took Minot Avenue onto Onset Avenue before heading straight for Cape Cod.

One of the event’s riders was Wareham resident Jason Webster. This is Webster’s fifth year participating in the first cycling event he ever tried.

“I wanted to get into biking for exercise and this was the first event I ever did,” Webster said. “We’ve turned it into a company event and I did it with my co-founder and his wife. Every year we’ve grown the team.”

Webster co-founded the Bristol, Rhode Island based aquatic engineering company, Jaia Robotics, which builds aquatic drones that skim the surface of water collecting data.

“[The Buzzards Bay Coalition] aligns with what we’re trying to do as a business and help the environment,” he said. “The ride being for the watershed is really close to home for us.”

A life-long environmentalist, being able to support the environment on his bike is another reason Webster said he keeps coming back.

“I’ve always been into recycling and conservation and trying to leave the world a better place than we found it,” he said. “It seems a little crazy to me that I can just peddle my bike and that helps with raising funds but it really does work.”

Webster said he has participated in each of the three courses the ride has to offer. During his second year, he biked 60 miles through hurricane-esque conditions.

“We couldn’t go over the bridge and having the wind blast us in the face off the beach in New Bedford made for a pretty wild day,” he said.

This year, Webster is taking on the 100-mile ride for the third time and despite having proven he can do it, he said he still gets nervous and isn’t sure if he has trained enough.

“My longest ride this year was 75 miles down the Cape Cod Rail Trail…but it’s a whole day,” he said. “It’s not easy telling my girlfriend I’ll be gone for a whole day on a bike ride, but it is nice to get the exercise in.”

The event is one of the coalition’s largest fundraisers and as of Sunday, Oct. 5, the organization has raised over $210,000 with a goal of $500,000.