BRISTOL — A rider on a machine he described as a bicycle covered the long straight south of Riverside at a recorded 80 miles per hour early Sunday, establishing a new outright speed record for the East Bay Bike Path and, by the Gazette's reckoning, for any bicycle path in the state.

The previous mark of 27 miles per hour was set in 2023 by a Barrington teenager on a Class 3 pedal-assist and had stood unchallenged, largely because nobody was keeping track.

Conditions were fast. Wind from the southwest at four to six, pavement dry, path traffic light for a Sunday. The rider, who asked not to be identified pending ratification, said afterward that the bicycle "has pedals on it" and declined to say whether he had used them.

The record is subject to the usual review. Under the law that took effect in 2024, only Class 1 electric bicycles are permitted on state bike paths — pedal-assist only, motor cutting out at 20 miles per hour. Class 2 bicycles, with a throttle, and Class 3, which assist to 28, are barred from the paths and restricted to roads. The Department of Environmental Management holds regulatory authority over the path under the same law. Signs along its 14.5 miles from India Point to Independence Park state that motor vehicles are strictly banned. The record therefore exceeds the legal ceiling by a factor of four and the practical ceiling by a factor the Gazette has not been able to establish, there being no practical ceiling.

The path is the most visited park in Rhode Island, with roughly a million visits a year by the state's last estimate.

Reached through a family member, the previous record-holder offered congratulations and noted that his own mark had been set on a bicycle. Asked whether he intended to make an attempt, the Gazette's cycling columnist said he would not, citing his equipment. "Mine has pedals," he said. "I use them."

The mark now awaits ratification by the East Bay Bike Path Records Committee, which has not yet been formed, at a meeting that has not been scheduled, under rules that have not been written. The Department was not present for the attempt. Neither, the Gazette notes, was anyone else, which is the ordinary condition of the path on the question of speed and is expected to continue.

A second attempt is planned for the fall, conditions permitting.