Ride Schedule:

PLEASE NOTE! For the fourth weekend this month, since the weather weenies are threatening us with blustery Santa Ana (or Santana) winds on Saturday, we've opted to bump our VCRR Group Ride to Sunday, January 23rd. We plan to meet at Pitts Ranch Park in Camarillo. This park is located at the intersection of Flynn Road and Calle Brisa, with an approximate address of 1400 Flynn Road. Please plan to arrive at 9 AM and ride away at about 9:30. Kay and I expect to be there with coffee and morning munchies. Depending upon who shows up, some folks may climb Upland Road into the Mission Oaks area, while others stay close to the Calleguas Creek MUP before pedaling out into the farming area south of Camarillo; some may even go as far as Pacific Coast Highway. We will most likely stop for lunch at the CSUCI Food Court or in the Premium Outlet Mall.

A Google Earth flyover video of one of our previous rides in this venue is available on YouTube:

As usual lately, it will be up to each person who visits this site to choose whether to join the group for this ride, with your own (hopefully apropriately updated) individual preferences for masking and social distancing, meet the group for lunch, drive by and wave 'Hi', or meticulously avoid the venues. If any of this confuses or doesn't work for you or if you need any more info please contact me by phone or email.

This is a brief listing of preliminary plans for upcoming rides:

• Sunday, January 23rd: Fourth Weekend VCRR Group Ride – Pitts Ranch Park, Camarillo
• Saturday, February 5th: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride – PLEASE INPUT ANY SUGGESTIONS!

Recent History:

12/18/2021: Our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride of December, the last of 2021, started from Oxnard College. We rode down to the lighthouse at Port Hueneme, then stopped for lunch at Pho Saigon. A more detailed ride description in rhyme is posted here on the POW section of our 32GO website.

12/11/2021: We did a very special VCRR Group Ride on the second Saturday this month. The estimable First Lady of Recumbent Triking and preeminent vlogger Sylvia Halpern was visiting our area, and about 20 of our local recumbent riders took advantage of the rare opportunity to ride with her. We rode an up-the-coast-and-back cruise from Ventura, with alternate starting points. Kay and I met a few other Pokey Patrol people at Emma Wood Beach near the southeastern end of the Old Coast Highway; we had coffee (unfortunately a bit too watery for some reason) and pre-Christmas muffins for the other riders who [somewhat surprisingly!] all gathered there before we began to ride. Sylvia and Dawn started out with Ann and Alan from their home near the Pacific View Mall. Other VCRRians started from a bit farther up the coast.

About half the riders this weekend were on motorized trikes, but we also had purely pedal-powered tadpoles, two velomobiles, one P38 bike and a handcycle. Some of the group made a turnaround near Seacliff, while others flipped after the climb up Rincon Hill. For various reasons about half the group opted out of our post-ride remeet at Main Street Restaurant. The weather on Saturday was, as promised, bright and sunny, but cool enough that some of our group were enrobed with four or five extra pieces of outerwear.

Sylvia has posted this article with her commments on this ride on her blogspot. For anyone whose Read Aloud web browser needs a good workout, I've also posted a much more verbose narrative of the day.

12/4/2021: For our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride five of us started from Pitts Ranch Park in Camarillo, riding along the Calleguas Creek and Village Sports Park MUPs before venturing into the farm lands and pedaling over to the Camarillo Premium Outlets mall for a lunch stop at Chipotle Grill. Our return continued with a extended loop out to Springville, then back to the creek on Ponderosa. The day started with an overcast, but cleared to sunny blue skies as we began to ride, with temps in the mid-60s and a light wind.

November: The Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride this month was something of a catch-as-catch-can affair, with alternate starting points and lunch stops. Kay, Gerry and I started from Emma Wood Beach on the Old Coast Highway and rode to a turnaround at Rincon Beach Park. We encountered seven other VCRRians taking a longer route along the way, including Phil and Lora with their new motorized Catrikes. After we discovered that Hobson Beach Park was closed, some of the group opted for lunch at Faria Beach, while most of the group met at Main Street Restaurant, some riding and others driving.

Our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride was a sort of experimental blast from the past, starting with coffee and muffins at West Channel Park in Oxnard's Channel Islands Marina. Our ride started with a loop to the harbor entrance, then up the coast past Oxnard State Beach, Harbor Boulevard and the Arundell Barranca on our way to lunch at Main Street Restaurant in Ventura.

October: Weather was great for our Fifth Saturday VCRR Group Ride. Seven of us rode from Crescent Park in Oxnard's RiverPark complex around the big gravel pits, across the river on the freeway bridge, up the Johnson Barranca bikepath and from the eastern end of the bikepath beside CA-126 to its newly opened western end. Our group, all trikes this time including three with motors, stayed together for the whole ride. Ann and Alan joined us for lunch at Gateway Plaza before we zoomed back down Johnson Drive to the start area. This route is about 20 miles, with a few shallow climbs along the way.

BAD WEATHER BRUNCH with a twist? Since the temp for our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride was already in the mid-80s at 9 AM with the threat of Santa Ana winds, the few folks who showed up at Harbor Cove Beach opted to postpone the ride until the next day when the weather was much more favorable. Instead of a ride, we chose to indulge in a delicious brunch at Main Street Restaurant. On Sunday, four of us met again in eastern Venutura and enjoyed a nice ride in a much more pleasant environment. No one regretted or felt the least bit guilty about that choice.

The First Saturday VCRR Group Ride this month was basically a repeat of other recent rides, with the longest route starting from the parking lot at the Ventura Mission in downtown Ventura, located between Main and Santa Clara Streets at the north end of Junipero Street, going about 35 miles round trip to a turnaround in Carpinteria. Other riders met for a shorter ride at a slower pace and with fewer hills, starting from Emma Wood Beach near the eastern end of the Old Coast Highway. About half the group stopped for lunch in Carpinteria, while the other half popped into Hobson Beach Grill. This ride went very well in great weather, without any mechanical issues.

Summer 2021: The Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride of September was planned to start one more time from the Ventura Mission, climbing Rincon Hill to Carpinteria for the turnaround. There was, I think, a new record minimal turnout for this ride, but the guys who did it still enjoyed the pleasant weather atypical of late Summer in SoCal, as well as the scenery along the beach.

The First Saturday VCRR Group Ride of September started (again) from the Ventura Mission. Since a 95 degree temperature was forecast for the last climb up the hill to Ojai, the group of about eight opted for a cooler out-and-back cruise up the coast. With no Pokey Patrol people again this weekend, this gang chose to turn around after their lunch stop at Pizza Man Dan's in Carpinteria, racking up almost 40 miles round trip � to the delight of folks who have been eager for a longer ride with a larger group.

On the Third Saturday of August, seven riders, including one newby on a hand trike, met at the Ventura Mission, and most rode up the coast, turning around at the top of Rincon Hill. Since Hobson Beach was experiencing a power failure, most of the group dropped (literally!) down to the snack bar at Faria Beach before those final few miles back to the mission.

Our First Saturday Ride in August started from Harbor Cove Beach, and we rode down to the Channel Islands Marina before taking a slight detour for a lunch stop at Pizza Man Dan's near the Oxnard Airport. Eight folks showed up to take advantage of yet another inexplicably pleasant Summer day, with temps peaking in the low 70s and a light west wind. The group stayed together for the whole route, and there were no mechanical or routing issues.

For the unusual Fifth Saturday of July, a small group of us rode from the small public parking lot in the Seabridge Marina, located just south of Wooley Road between Harbor Boulevard and Victoria Avenue. We looped around the Seabridge and Channel Islands Marina MUPs, enjoying the cool overcast morning and light sea breeze of early afternoon. We met Deena as she completed her puppy prep school and went to Seafresh, a new location for us, for a very satisfying lunch.

On the Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride we pedaled up and back on the coast northwest of Ventura. Kay and I met riders coming from both directions at our unique landmark on the Old Coast Highway just northwest of the end of Omer Rains bikepath. We rode about 16 miles, with a turnaround at Rincon Beach Park, but most other folks in the group racked up a bit more distance. Most of the group of almost a dozen riders popped down to Hobson Beach Park for lunch on our return. Weather was again almost ideal, starting with a coastal overcast, clearing to a peak temp in the mid-70s with very light winds as we returned to our midivan.

For the First Saturday of the Summer (and July) we opted to start from a new venue: Windrow Park in the RiverPark area of northern Oxnard. Since only a few Pokey Patrol people showed up, we changed from our original plan to ride to east Ventura, making a few loops of the MUPs around the large pits near the river and The Collection instead, before popping into the food court at The Annex for lunch. We had a nice ride (and lunch) on a great early Summer day in SoCal.

Other News:

RIDE VIDEOS AND OTHER PIX: Rolly has posted videos from several recent VCRR Group Rides for public viewing on YouTube at this link. We are hoping to post more videos over the next few months, and, of course, your feedback is eagerly solicited. There is also a series of older video clips posted on YouTube, on 'TheVCRR' channel, at this URL. There is a VCRR photo archive on Flickr; to view it, start at this URL. Vincent has posted some of our ride pix to the Recumbent Trikes Group on Facebook (one of several).

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T FORGET!: COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE EAGERLY[!] SOLICITED FOR OUR GROUP RIDES IN 2022, AS WELL AS FEEDBACK FOR THIS WEBSITE, RIDE NOTICES, PHOTOS, RIDE VIDEOS, ROUTE SHEETS, MAPS, CUSTOM VCRR SAFETY FLAGS AND/OR VIDEO FLYOVERS. We are seriously looking for suggestions for VCRR Group Rides for this year, either in person, by phone or email. We plan, contingent upon feedback, to continue sending email notices a few days before each upcoming ride, at least for the next couple of months. Please let me know if you want to make any changes to our email list.

If you newbies or folks who haven't ridden with the group for a while need help or more information for getting to any of our rides, please email or phone me. Our home phone number – usually the best way to talk to us – is 805-981-0339. If we're not home you can also try my NEW CELL PHONE: 805-612-7662. Text messages will not work on our home phone, and are slightly discouraged for the cell phone. Don't even think about Facebook or Twitter! For convenience my email link is: