This feature writing page includes a travel short and Q&A story. The travel short promotes the delicious and local Newport, RI, restaurant, O’Brien’s Pub. The Q&A talks about indoor cycling and owning your own business with interviewee Chloe Snyder.

Travel Short

O’Brien’s Pub 

Located in the heart of Thames Street, Newport, is the big sign with a green mustache that reads O’Brien’s Pub. The infamous magnets, stickers, bandanas, hats, and other merchandise are found everywhere in Rhode Island and surrounding states. O’Brien’s is a popular bar and restaurant that welcomes all ages and is pet friendly. Seating is offered in the sunny garden patio with the beautiful water fountain, inside at one of the high-top tables, or along the bar top. Lively PG-13 music is played throughout the restaurant at a low level to enhance everyone’s dining experience. Children are constantly kept busy, laughing and playing at the blue water fountain filled with rubber-duckies and other water toys. Each outdoor table has a retractable green umbrella, so that you can choose whether you want to get toasty in the sun or cool down in the shade. In the winter time, the patio is closed and separated from the inside restaurant by garage-like doors to keep the warmth from the fireplace inside. 

O’Briens offers a wide variety of refreshing ice cold beer, with about fifteen different beers on the rotating draft list, signature alcoholic drinks such as frozen chocolate mudslides, fountain drinks, as well as delicious hand-crafted pub food. Appetizers range from $7-$16.50 and vary from spicy buffalo wings to jumbo shrimp cocktail. You can also start off with a hot bowl of clam chowder or a fresh garden salad for about $7. There are many entrees to fulfill everyone’s wants and accommodations, including a gluten free and kids menu. My personal favorite meal from O’Briens is the fresh grilled chicken BLT wrap with a side of spicy buffalo sauce, for just $12.99. Sandwiches are served with one side option including colorful pasta salad, tangy coleslaw, crispy potato chips, or golden brown and perfectly salted french fries. Every time I’ve been to O’Briens I was delighted with the friendly work staff, ice cold drinks, and savory meals. On August 4, 2021 O’Briens Pub, Newport, was voted best neighborhood bar. The atmosphere is welcoming to everyone, fun for all ages, and energetic, especially with the live music playing every Friday and Sunday. Bingo and trivia are also offered on Thursdays and Saturdays. Arrive early to skip the line since there are always people going in and out of the lively pub. 

O’Briens is open everyday, except Wednesday, 12:00pm to 1:00am. However, the kitchen is only open from 12:00pm to 8:00pm. The exact address of the pub is 501 Thames Street, Newport, RI 02840, which is on the corner of Thames and Waites Wharf. Masks are not required, but safe dine-in and curbside pick up are both offered here. Reservations are not accepted, so all tables are first come, first serve. If you have any questions you can sign up for their newsletter or follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp, and/or Tripadvisor. If you would like to call and talk to a staff member, the phone number is 401-849-6623. 

Q&A Feature

Ride The Wave With Chloe Snyder to Feel Alive Again   

If you’ve ever thought about cycling, definitely visit Wave Cycle Newport. Chloe Snyder is the owner and one of the instructors of this new hot spot in Newport. Snyder is so energetic and upbeat, that she makes exercising fun. Snyder’s enthusiastic voice fills the dark and cool room, with neon strobe lights and 11 bikes. Her energy goes along with the pump-up music, so much so that you forget you’re doing a 45 minute workout. Follow along as I ask Chloe Snyder to explain her business and her choices regarding it.

Q: I feel very motivated and inspired everytime I ride at Wave Cycle. How did you ensure that all riders would feel this way and how did you go about picking the instructors?

A: “We hope that everyone feels that same exact way at Wave! Something that we really take pride in is that you can be any fitness level, never even been on a bike before, just everyone should feel like they have a place at Wave. One of the biggest things that we want to ensure we always have is a great community. We want to make sure that our employees have the same values that we want in our studio. Our instructors are such strong pillars of what Wave Cycle is. They create the vibe. I have a variety of different instructors. Everyone is unique in their own way, but always have such a good vibe about them. They’re all awesome people. They just create such great energy in and outside of the studio.”

Q: How would you explain to someone who has never ridden before the benefits of cycling?

A: “You get such a great cardio workout, but it very much is an upper body workout! At Wave, we kind of take it a step further. We have weights incorporated with our classes. So it’s a 45 minute class, but one song is around five to seven minutes of upper body work. With that, people are able to use two to eight pound weights, or no weights at all. It all depends on what you want to do. Overall, it’s a good strength training and endurance builder. I feel like people come for all different reasons, as well as being part of a community, especially with the pandemic. Sometimes working out at Wave is the only time that you can see familiar faces in a safe environment. I feel proud that we created that.” 

Q: Can you explain any hardships that you faced when opening your own business?

A: “I feel like every small business has their highs and their lows, you can never fully prepare yourself. Brian and I thankfully had a lot of friends and family who were rooting for us and helping us along the way, but we definitely had some very high and low times. We rebuilt all of the Wave Cycle space, so we did all of the contracting and everything. We were actually supposed to open in October, but something came up and it got pushed back until November.”

Q: Did any covid regulations affect your business? If so, how did you deal with them and come back?

A: “Definitely. The fitness bubble was shut down for longer than a lot of other businesses around here. There was actually a time when only fitness studios had to be shut down for three weeks. At the beginning of Wave, we started off with a room full of 22 bikes, but we currently only have 11 bikes in the room. We had to shift our business model when COVID first started and we were shut down completely. But, then we could only have classes outside on the pier last summer. Once people got more comfortable, we started moving classes back inside the studio. We’re blessed that we can workout inside again, even at the capacity that we are, 50%. We’re being very cautious about everything with COVID, but it has definitely affected our business dramatically.”

Q: In terms of womanhood, can you explain what it’s like to own your own business?

A: “I had previously been fundraising when I was in Boston, and all my mentors were women.

Overall, I just had amazing women mentors in my life, including my family. My grandparents especially helped me, because they own a small business in Western Massachusetts. 

Just seeing how hard they worked and owning their own small business, I guess very much encouraged me to know that we could do it as well. Brian and I own the business together, so it was great having his support. But I would never have thought that I would be where I am today.”

Q: What would be your biggest piece of advice for a young woman? Including exercise, following your dreams, and/or opening your own business. 

A: “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Take everything day by day, not looking ahead, but not looking behind. I would always ask questions and look for new things. Just keep on moving forward, but also enjoy the time that you’re currently in as well. Brian always says that we have to take ten seconds to just look around and take it all in. Especially with owning our own business, we feel like we always have to be looking ahead and planning the next thing. But, lately we’ve really enjoyed seeing Wave Cycle come together and now the studio is it’s own working wheel.”