Ventura County Recumbent Riders - News

Ventura County Recumbent Riders News and Ride Schedule [Last Updated November 16th]
Ride Schedule: After watching weather and fires this last week, we had hoped to plan a ride for this weekend that would have a high probability of distance from active fires, with minimal impact for respiratory problems. Until the small blaze popped up at Briggs Road we had expected to revisit the Port Hueneme pier, but it looks like the best plan now is either to postpone until next (Thanksgiving) weekend or cancel this one altogether. There's been pretty minimal enthusiasm for returning to Bakersfield for our classic TWeRKY TROT, but we're still wide open and eager for suggestions. We'll update next week and send out ride notices as applicable. This is a brief listing of preliminary plans for upcoming rides: Saturday, November 24th: Makeup VCRR Group Ride - SUGGESTIONS? Saturday, December 1st: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride - SUGGESTIONS? PLEASE[!]: If you have a suggestion for a group ride for any of the next few months, please share. We're always especially eager to hear from anyone who's been aching to plan, execute and lead the gang on his, her or their favorite venue.
RECUMBENT CYCLES AND SUCH FOR SALE:
We've added this new section and service to our webpage: free listings for recumbent bicycles and tricycles up for sale, trade or wanted, either by or of potential interest to the folks who frequent this website. In its first weeks of operation, this new option may have helped, along with BROL's Classified section and the local Craigslist, to transition more than a dozen trikes and bikes from unwanted clutter to actually used cycles. We're also planning to add a section for cycle parts, accessories and clothing. If you'd like to post here and/or if you need help putting any cycles gathering dust in your storage areas, please ping me by email or by phone for the info you'll need to get your ad into the mix. CAVEAT AND RED-FACED ADMISSION: I have been procrastinating a bit to post new additions; more later... maybe better?

Recent History:
11/3/2018: For our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride in November, we met at Marina Park in Ventura, said 'Hi' and indulged in coffee and morning munchies. Ann's Scorpion electrics weren't playing nice, but the rest of the group rode an up-the-coast-and-back cruise past the pier, with a quick pit stop at Surfer's Point, where we met Dawn and even our long-time MIA Dan Cowell. From there we continued, with the group stringing out, on up the Class I Omer Rains bikepath and the old beachfront highway. Turnaround points varied from the fire station near Seacliff or Viola Field in Carpinteria. On the way back most of this 20-member group hooked up for lunch at Faria Beach. This ride ranges from about 25 to 40 miles, with semi-serious climbs limited to the longer distance. This was yet another nearly ideal Autumn day, with temps maxing out in the high 70s, and the unusual bonus of a light tailwind, pretty much in both directions. No pix this weekend.
Sunday, 10/21/2018: Only nine cyclists of our group met at Vineyard Park in the RiverPark development near The Collection in northeast Oxnard. After a bit of prep, some low-cal munchies and coffee, we pedaled away, riding around the RiverPark housing complex. We were hoping the new bike paths beside the river would have been opened by now, but the gates were still locked. We rode across the Santa Clara River and up the Johnson Barranca bikepath to our first pit stop at Barranca Vista Park. From there we cruised through the Ventura Community Park and then zoomed down Montgomery Street. Some less than gracious members in our group failed miserably to hide their smirks as we easily outpaced a couple of roadies on that long downhill. After a fun slalom along the Riverview Linear Park we grunted back uphill to another short pitstop at Chumash Park, and then rode the trail beside the Santa Paula Freeway (CA-126) to our lunch stop at Sharkey's in Gateway Plaza. After lunch a short jaunt via Ralston Street rewarded the group with another long fast downhill on Johnson Drive. The almost perfect weather conditions for this easy 25-mile ride definitely justified its postponement from Saturday's hot winds. It ended with us window shopping through The Collection on our way back to Vineyard Park. Pix are from Vince, but Rolly has posted a really nice video for the ride at the link below.
10/6/2018: About a dozen riders of the group met at Mission Park in Ventura and rode up to Ojai. Photo by Vince
9/15/2018: For our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride of September, most of our sixteen riders met at the small public parking lot located in the Seabridge Marina. Vince, Barb and Bob rode up the coast to turn around at Faria Beach, while the rest of the group rode around the marina MUPs, then over and under the Channel Islands bridge to the mouth of the Channel Islands. From there we headed up the coast to a pit stop at Oxnard State Beach, where Deena left us, riding on a tread-bare tire and accompanied by Bonnie. The rest of the group continued on up Harbor Boulevard. Max had a flat tire there, and the group was separated a bit. We followed the Arundell Barranca bikepath, and amazingly, everybody – including Bob, Barb, Vince and Dawn – got together to to have lunch at the Main Street Restaurant. After lunch we rode over to take the plunge down Seaward Avenue, and then back down the coast to our autos. This was a great day, with virtually perfect weather for the 25 to 35 mile cruise.
9/1/2018: About 16 of us met at Pitts Ranch Park; there were no real newbies, but we haven't seen George's nephews very often. After the usual socialization and munchies we started up the Calleguas Creek MUP. At its northern end we split into two groups with most folks opting for the climb into Mission Heights while the rest of us returned south and made a loop along the creek. We got back together again for a pit stop at the Village Sports Complesx. From there George took his nephews back through town, Vince led a group down Las Posas to the freeway, and the rest of us rode past CSUCI before returning to Cawelti and across to Las Posas. This wasn't a good day for powered trikes; Ann and Alan missed the ride because of problems with his Scorpion, then Vince's electrics took an inconvenient break as he rode back up Las Posas. We all met for lunch at Souplantation, and then looped up to Ponderosa for the return to Pitts Ranch Park. But once again, gremlins attacked Stephen's RideKick and almost caused him to drop out, before it magically recovered. I was (very atypically, I'd like to think) a bit careless and let the group separate on the return, but with the aid of cell phones and GPS, I managed to meet up and ride with the Lost Patrol back to our vehicles. This route varied from about 25 to 35 miles, with a nice grunt climb for the folks who tackled Upland Road. Pix are from Vince and me; deja vu...
8/18/2018: This ride started for most of us at El Carro Park in Carpinteria. Sixteen of us enjoyed the mild weather as we traveled up to the beach at Santa Barbara. The group separated a bit, mostly into two bunches, with the Pokey Patrol riding a bit slower than the other team. We made a pit stop at Loon Point just before that first little grunt climb up Padaro Hill. The GT3 that Deena was riding had a low tire which demanded a little attention, but we were back underway pretty quickly, cruising through Summerland. We endured the first serious climb of the day over Ortega Hill, and then opted to ride through Montecito Coast Village rather than around the Biltmore and up Cemetery Hill. A fast cruise down Cabrillo Boulevard and around the lagoon brought us to our turnaround at East Beach. The faster folks went a bit farther, and on the return we all made it to the Padaro Beach Grill at about the same time. With fluids replenished and fuller tummies we pedaled that last two miles back to the park, where Alan decided to ride with Vince back down to where his ride had begun in Ventura. Pix from Vince and me.
8/4/2018: We tried a kinda new mix of old routes this weekend, starting from Barranca Vista Park in east Ventura. About 14 folks made an appearance during this ride. We started off up the Johnson Barranca bikepath, and rode through Ventura Community Park to a quick pit stop at Chumash Park. We lost Vince and Chicago along the way and failed to find them with a quick search southward which at least gave us an excuse to sample the rarely ridden MUP just west of Petit Avenue. We rode back to the west, crossing the Santa Paula Freeway on Victoria, then riding through Camino Real Park and the Pacific View Mall, finally zooming down Seaward Avenue to our turnaround at San Buenaventura State Beach. At the beach we picked up Dawn along with prodigals Vince and Chicago, and returned via Pierpont, the Ventura Marina and the Arundell Barranca to our lunch stop at the newly opened StoneFire Grill. After lunch most of us sampled another rarely ridden MUP from the CA-126 freeway down to Ralston. The basic route is about 20 miles, mostly pretty flat; posted pix are from Vince again, but more pix and/or video may show up from Rolly.
Other News: PERSONALIZED VCRR SAFETY FLAGS: Some of you may have noticed the new safety flags that Kay and I had on our trikes for the last few rides, as shown in the ride pix. These flags are sloppy prototypes for a similar attention getter specific to VCRR that some folks have suggested over the last few years. We're still trying to come up with a good design, hoping for a practical flag, printed double-sided on a durable, slightly flexible material (which should have a very long useful life), with a sleeve for attaching to a standard 1/4" or 6mm fiberglass pole, hemmed with a binding and including optional fluttering ribbons with or without reflective stripes. We seem to be pretty close now to finalizing a design so that flags can be individually personalized with pretty much any photo that's been published on our VCRR website over the last five years or so. Materials for a flag will cost less than ten dollars; if Kay and I attach (sew on) the sleeving, edge binding and ribbons, the cost for each finished flag will probably be about $20, and there will be no guarantee of impeccable workmanship. [PLEASE NOTE: No slave or child labor will be employed in production.] So-o-o... if you're interested in getting one of these flags, please ping us, either by phone or email. Let us know if you want a specific photo image or our generic choice on your flag, and whether you want raw materials only or a finished flag. GPS – FUNCTION OR FUN?: I've been setting up some GPS-based aides (or entertainment) for some of our VCRR group rides recently. Even if you have no interest in riding with a GPS unit for routing, I'd suggest that even one of the simple units which have only 'bread crumb mapping' or none at all may be an appealing alternative to a wheel-driven speedometer/odometer. It can be a very pleasant way to avoid the annoyances of cable routing or wireless connectivity that doesn't work well, especially on a tadpole. Virtually all cycling GPSs will record the course (path) as you ride and allow you to transfer it to your PC for post-ride viewing and/or statistics (distance, speed, elevations). I wholeheartedly recommend using Google Earth's flyover for a dynamic (video) look at where you've been; I've posted a sample screen capture video of a flyover for the Pokey Patrol route from Pitts Ranch Park to CSUCI on YouTube. You can also use recorded tracks to interact with one of the internet sites like RideWithGPS, GPSies or MapMyRide. 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 expecting 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 REGULAR GROUP RIDES THOUGHOUT 2018, 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 the Summer, either in person, by phone or email. We will 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 cell phone: 805-201-5107. Text messages will not work on our home phone, and are seriously discouraged for the cell phone. Don't even think about Facebook or Twitter! For convenience my email link is: wayne@vcrr.org