Ventura County Recumbent Riders - News

Ventura County Recumbent Riders News and Ride Schedule [Last Updated July 10th]
Ride Schedule: This weekend, for our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride of July, Saturday July 15th, in deference to the expected high temperatures in most parts of the county, our group will meet around 9 AM at West Channel Park in the Channel Islands Marina. There's no real address for this park, located on Barracuda Way just east of Harbor Boulevard, but 3800 Harbor Boulevard should get your GPS close. Kay and I expect to be there with the typical coffee and munchies. The actual route will be chosen by the folks who actually show up, but for an initial suggestion, we may opt to ride down to the harbor entrance and up to a pit stop at Oxnard State Beach. From there, we'll probably cruise around the Seabridge Marina MUPs, then take Hemlock, J Street and the Bubbling Springs bikepath down to the Port Hueneme Pier. On our return we may stop at Panda Express for a bite to eat. After lunch we'll most likely make a fairly direct return over the Channel Islands overpass and back through the marina. Except for that overpass, this ride's pretty flat, a mix of Class II bikelanes, Class I bikepaths, MUPs and very low traffic residential streets. There should be lots of public restrooms available along the way. This is a brief listing of preliminary plans for upcoming VCRR Group Rides: Saturday, July 15th: Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride: West Channel Park, Oxnard to Port Hueneme Pier Saturday or Sunday, July 29/30th: Fill-in Ride?: SUGGESTIONS? Saturday, August 5th: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride: SUGGESTIONS? As noted, if you have a suggestion for any of our next few rides, 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:
As noted last month, we've added a new section and service to this 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 month 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. Next month we're 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.

Recent History:
7/1/2017:This weekend a dozen members of the group met at Vineyard Park near The Collection in northwestern Oxnard; it was great to welcome DaveM back for a ride. We started the ride with a loop around the Riverpark area, then down Ventura Road and across the river on the freeway bridge bikepath. On our way up the Johnson Barranca, our newby Bonnie opted for an early turnaround, accompanied by JimH. The rest of us hung in for the rocket ride down Montgomery (maybe the highlight of Rolly's Video) and the (bumpy but still fun) ess-curves of the Riverview Linear Park before climbing up to Chumash Park for a pit stop. Riding west along the bikepath beside CA-126, we met up with JimH again and continued on to meet Dawn for our lunch stop at Gateway Plaza. After lunch we rode a fairly direct return along Ralston, zoomed down Johnson Drive and back through The Collection. This route is about 20 to 25 miles. Pix are from Rolly and me.
June 2017: About a dozen and a half folks showed up at some point for this First Saturday VCRR Group Ride. Most of us started from Mission Park in downtown Ventura and rode up to Ojai. For the first few miles we had a heavy cool overcast that felt a little muggy, but after our pit stop at Foster Park the sun took over big time. The projected high temp of a bit more than 80 degrees might have been accurate, but unless there was a shady spot to tuck under (even if only for a few yards) that glaring sun got pretty uncomfortable. The weeds along the bikepath were profuse and prolific, and two of our guys got big wads of green stems and such tangled in their rear derailleurs. Clearing Gerry's was a challenging task, requiring the (mis)use of available hand tools. At Eggs N Potatoes, our Pokey Patrol met the faster folks returning from the eastern end of the bike trail, and we had a nice lunch with lots of water. The ride home was – as always! – a fast FUN downhill zoom, and it felt good to get back into the cool damp mist creeping down to ground level back in Ventura. No pix this time... For the third Saturday in June eight folks who've ridden with our group participated in TaterTOT up in Idaho. We had a great time, but I'm not at all sure who rode down here that weekend. Anybody?
5/20/2017: We started from Channel Islands Marina this time, beginning with a ride down to the harbor entrance and back up through Oxnard State Beach. After a quick spin on the MUPs of Seabridge, eleven of us headed up the beach toward Ventura. The Breath of Life Triathlon had closed some streets but our timing was great; their bike course turned right from westbound Fifth onto Harbor, and the last riders had gone through just before we got there to continue straight up Harbor. The course monitor let us onto their bike route, and we had all six lanes of Harbor all to ourselves for the next two miles or so. Some folks in our group behaved maturely and responsibly, but (of course!) not everyone. From Harbor we rode up the Arundell Barranca bikepath and over to Main Street Restaurant. After a nice, but not necessarily low-calorie lunch break, we returned home, taking full advantage of the high-speed swoosh down Seaward. Pix are from Rolly and me, but his video, especially the parts going up Harbor and down Seaward win the prize for best visual record of the day.
4/15/2017: Our Third Saturday ride in April was another missed opportunity for most VCRRians, as fewer than a dozen folks showed up at Pitts Ranch Park this time. However, those who did come had a nice ride in absolutely perfect weather. We were glad to see Dave Brown come over from Santa Clarita, and join us for the grunt up into Camarillo's Mission Heights. After the zooming descents, broken up by a pit stop at Mission Oaks Parks, we rode back to the Calleguas Creek bikepath and then did a loop around the Village at the Commons. Q had some difficulty with a rear flat on her borrowed front wheel drive recumbike, but managed to make it back to the start area as the rest of us rode through the farming areas over to Souplantation for their buffet lunch. Phil and Lora left us there, riding back home to Ventura, while the rest of the crew swung out wide to return to Pitts Ranch Park via Springville, Ponderosa and the creek. This was a good day to be out on a trike (or bike) in SoCal's great Spring weather, about 25 miles with a good mix of riding, both vertically and horizontally.
4/1/2017: This first VCRR Group Ride of Spring started from Marina Park in Ventura, with about 15 folks showing up for this up-the-coast-and-back cruise. After the usual coffee and donuts we rode through SanBV State Beach, and past the pier to a quick pit stop at Surfer's Point, where we met Dawn and the very rarely encountered DanC. With fluid balances properly adjusted we continued on to the Class I Omer Rains bikepath and the (now nicely paved) old beachfront highway. The group strung out and separated a bit before the turnaround point(s), which for some of us was the fire station near Seacliff, while others grunted on up Rincon Hill to have lunch in Carpinteria. On the way back, our Pokey Patrol popped into Carrow's on Seaward for lunch. This route varied from about 25 to 40 miles, with the serious climbs reserved for the long distance riders. The temperature started out almost chilly and maxed out around 70 degrees, with bright sunshine and blue skies all day long; however, as it turned out, the weather wizards were just teasing us about those gentle tailwinds both going and coming. For the record: I was properly and serially chastised for failing to deliver on that half-hearted promise, as the wind shifted to the west before we topped the small hill above Emma Wood Beach. Still, that tailwind on the return was pretty nice... No pix this time around.
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 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 FOR 2017, AS WELL AS FEEDBACK FOR THIS WEBSITE, RIDE NOTICES, PHOTOS, RIDE VIDEOS, ROUTE SHEETS, MAPS AND VIDEO FLYOVERS. We are seriously looking for fairly immediate suggestions for the next few VCRR Group Rides, either in person, by phone or email. 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. If you have any other suggestions for rides, new topics or other contributions, please ping me. For convenience my email link is: wayne@vcrr.org