Recumbent Riders
News and Ride Schedule
[Last Updated January 16th]
Ride Schedule:
For our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride this weekend, January 18th, the group will meet at Marina Park in Ventura, located at the eastern end of Pierpont Boulevard, about a mile from the Seaward Avenue off-ramps (Exit 68) of US-101. Please plan to meet at 9 AM as usual; Kay and I expect to be there with coffee and morning munchies. The route will be an up-the-coast-and-back cruise past the pier, with a quick pit stop at Surfer's Point, then continuing on up the Class I Omer Rains bikepath and the old beachfront highway. The turnaround point(s) this weekend will probably vary, depending upon the speed and endurance of individual riders or subgroups, somewhere between the fire station near Seacliff and the top of Rincon Hill. On the way back, most riders will probably try to hook up for lunch; if there are only a few riders we're likely to stop at Faria Beach. If the crowd's a bit too large for that venue, we may go to Pizza Man Dan's on Santa Clara Street in downtown Ventura. The rides should vary from about 25 to 40 miles, with any semi-serious climbs strictly optional. Temps should max out in the mid 60s, with a mild tailwind for most of the ride. If you're planning to meet us for lunch without riding, please call me or someone else who's riding for arrangements.
This is a brief listing of preliminary plans for upcoming rides:
- Saturday, January 18th: Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Marina Park to Rincon Beach
- Saturday, Febuary 1st: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride – SUGGESTIONS?
PLEASE[!]: If you have any suggestions for group rides for 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.
Recent History:
1/4/2020: Our first VCRR Group Ride of the new year started from Pitts Ranch Park in Camarillo. After the typical morning munchies and hot coffee, nine of us cruised up and down Calleguas Creek and around the rest of southeastern Camarillo. We had lunch at Snapper Jack's in the Camarillo Courtyard. The base ride was fairly short, only about 16 miles, with a few short climbs. The weather was cool enough for long sleeves and pants, mostly pretty sunnny, with winds less than 10 MPH. We may see some video from Rolly a little later...
Our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride started from West Channel Park in the Channel Islands Marina. We rode up the coast, with one group riding to the beach in Ventura, and the slower folks using the Arundell Barranca bikepath to the Main Street Restaurant. The others met us for lunch, along with a few other VCRRians who couldn't make the ride this time. After lunch we split again with some returning along the barranca and others taking advantage of the thrill ride down Seaward and back through the Pierpont Marina area. This route is about 20 to 30 miles, pretty much as flat as practical in SoCal.
October 2019: The group's first ride this month was an up the coast and back from Marina Park. So far, no one has offered any feedback or fotos for it. On the 19th about a dozen of us started from El Carro Park in Carpinteria, and rode up the coast. Turnaround points varied from Summerland to East Beach in Santa Barbara. On the way back, we all met for lunch at Pizza Man Dan's in Carpinteria. The rides varied from about 20 to 40 miles, except for Vince's which began and ended in Ventura.
9/21/2019: Our final VCRR Group Ride of the Summer – and it was very definitely still Summer! – stayed with our recent pattern of venues near the coast. We met in the Seabridge Marina, enjoyed a few quick munchies and rode away to cruise around the marina MUPS. As we reached 5th and Harbor, the plan was for the group of eight remaining riders to split into two roughly equal subgroups. There didn't seem to be much enthusiasm for enough folks to do the longer loop up north with Q, so I joined her. It was only after we were well on our way up Harbor that I realized everyone but Kay and Keith was tagging along with us. We managed to work out the timing by going to meet Kay near the parking lot and everyone regrouped for lunch at Pizza Man Dan's. Oddly enough, both routes covered about 20 mostly very flat miles.
9/7/2019: For our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride of September, about 17 folks in our group met at Marina Park in Ventura. After a few indulged in coffee and morning munchies we rode off for an up-the-coast-and-back cruise past the pier. We made a quick pit stop at Surfer's Point, then continued on up the Class I Omer Rains bikepath and the old beachfront highway. Turnaround points this weekend varied, depending upon the speed and endurance of individual riders or subgroups, from the fire station near Seacliff to the top of Rincon Hill. On the way back, most riders met for lunch at Faria Beach. The rides ranged from about 25 to 40 miles, with the semi-serious climbs reserved for the longer venue. Temps stayed in the 70s, with a nice tailwind for our return.
8/17/2019: For our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride of August, about 15 of us met at the Seacliff Fire Station. After a quick indulgence in munchies and iced coffee, we rode up the coast, separating as each subgroup chose its own speed and turnaround point which varied between Rincon Beach Park and Padaro Lane. Most of the gang reconvened for lunch at Faria Beach Park, but an untimely flat tire scuttled our efforts for coordination. The weather was really nice: overcast, clearing around noon, peaking around 70 degrees. Mileage for this venue ranges from about 15 to 40 miles, with the only hills in the northwestern section.
8/3/2019: Our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride for August kicked off by meeting at West Channel Park in the Channel Islands Marina. About 14 folks showed up this weekend, and the riders split into the usual two groups.
The faster group rode east through Port Hueneme, while our NVF2 bunch cruised a bit up the beach and back around the marina until our coordinated lunch meet. We were joined by Max and Chicago, who was a little concerned about a broken spoke. The day was great, with sun peeking out by midday, and our timing worked okay for lunch as we met Team ZOOM-ZOOM and a few non-riders at Pizza Man Dan's in the Seabridge Marina shopping complex. The routes this weekend ranged from about 20 to 30 miles, pretty much as flat as practical in SoCal, except for the CI bridge.
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 IN 2020, 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 Summer, either in person, by phone or email. We expect 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 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: