Recumbent Riders
News and Ride Schedule
[Last Updated April 7th]
Ride Schedule:
UPDATED PANDEMIC INFO: CA-state guidelines for our area allow "small private gatherings" of "2 hours or less" which "no more than 3 separate households attend". I don't know of any prohibitions against riding solo or in small groups, or without wearing masks. Revised limits for parameters have transitioned Ventura County's status from Purple to Orange. The primary impact of this upon VCRR is that most restaurants are now reopened for indoor dining; bathrooms are still closed in most parks.
Since the First Saturday of April coincided with Easter Weekend, and there are five Saturdays next month, we've postponed the 'official' VCRR Group Rides of April and May to the second and fourth Saturdays. For the first 'official' VCRR Group Ride of April, this weekend (4/10), we will meet at Barranca Vista Park on Ralston Street just east of Johnson Drive in east Ventura. We'll ride up to the combination of Class I bikepaths, Class II bikelanes and low traffic suburban roads between Saticoy and the Gateway Plaza food court. If we have two groups who prefer very different speeds and distances, we'll separate with early turnarounds for the Pokey Patrol, so that those who want can have lunch together, probably at Gateway's food court. Please plan on an arrival time of about 9 AM, planning (or hoping?) to ride away around 9:30. We are supposed to have a cool day for what may be our last inland ride for a while.
On the Fourth Saturday this month we're tentatively planning to meet at Mission Park in Ventura and ride up the coast, perhaps as far as Rincon Beach Park, again with some folks (Dr. Deena's infamous Pokey Patrol?) making an early turnaround. Lunch may be at one of the beach parks or at Pizza Man Dan's back in Ventura. As usual, we strongly suggest checking this website for last minute updates. Of course, as always, it will be up to each person who visits this site to choose whether to join the group for either of these rides, meet us for lunch, drive by and wave 'Hi', or meticulously avoid the venues. If any of that confuses or doesn't work for you or if you need any more info please contact me by phone or email using the data below.
This is a brief listing of preliminary plans for upcoming rides:
- Saturday, April 10th: Second Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Barranca Vista Park, Ventura
- Saturday, April 24th: Fourth Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Mission Park to Seacliff/Rincon Beach Park?
- Saturday, May 8th: Second Saturday VCRR Group Ride – SUGGESTIONS? COMMENTS?
PLEASE NOTE: As always – PLEASE! – if you have any suggestions for an upcoming ride date, share it. We're still especially eager to hear from anyone who's been aching to plan, coordinate and/or lead the gang on his, her or their favorite venue.
Recent History:
Our Third Saturday ride this month, the first VCRR Group Ride this Spring, launched from Pitts Ranch Park in Camarillo. Only a half dozen folks joined us this weekend, as we cruised along the Calleguas Creek bikepaths, aroound the Village at the Park and down to Camarillo Courtyard for brunch. The ride this weekend was relatively short, but it was a great day to be out on the trails.
2/20/2021: Once again we were a group of ten, most of us starting the ride near Faria Beach, braving an unexpected stiff headwind up to the turnaround at Rincon Beach Park. A tad frustratingly the northwest west calmed considerably so that it was of very minimal assistance for our return. Most of the group stopped at Hobson Beach Grill for a quick lunch before cruising back to the start venue.
2/6/2021: Somewhat surprisingly, ten folks showed up for this first 'sort of official' VCRR Group Ride of the year. We met at West Channel Park at the Channel Islands Marina in Oxnard, and started the ride by rolling down to the harbor entrance. We rode up the coast, through Oxnard State Beach and then into the Seabridge Marina. After a tour of the MUPs along the channels, most of the group stopped for brunch at the Golden Egg Cafe. We returned to the beach, then rode under the Channel Islands bridge back to the parking lot. It was a great day for a ride and it was great to see a bunch of our fellow VCRRians back on the road together.
On the last Saturday of the month only five of us met at Seabridge for a short – but pretty nice – ride around the Marinas and brunch at the Golden Egg. Our 'formal' group rides for September, November and December were more or less cancelled, either from concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic or loss of enthusiasm...
August 2020: On the First Saturday, about 10 of us met at Seabridge Marina and rode up Harbor Boulevard and the Arundell Barranca bikepath to have lunch on the newly covered parking lot at Main Street Restaurant. After lunch we zoomed down Seaward, and recovered from a bit of separation at the turn onto Harbor. Passing the Ventura Marina I noticed a goathead protruding from the shoulder of my right front tire but it didn't seem to have penetrated. However, just past Gonzales, I had to repair the slow leaking flat. The group got back together before we reached the parking lot, and there were smiles all around, as we wound up another nice ride in our great coastal weather.
For our Third Saturday ride our starting venue was once again the Seabridge Marina. But this weekend we looped around the Seabridge MUPs for a start; with all the local public restrooms closed, some of the group took advantage of Keith's offer to use his residence to achieve proper fluid balance. From there we split into two subgroups and rode down to the Port Hueneme pier. Gerry's rear shift cable broke as we passed the navy base, but he managed the rest of the ride with only three gears. We regrouped at the lighthouse for our return up the Bubbling Springs bikepath, and most of us indulged in a lunch stop on Pizza Man Dan's before riding back to the parking lot. This ride was about 20 miles, mostly flat, with fairly mild weather that close to the coast.
On the unusual Fifth Saturday of the month, about a dozen folks in our group met at the Mission parking lot in downtown Ventura to ride our familiar up-the-coast-and-back cruise up the coast to the Seacliff fire station, with a few folks heading on up to Rincon Hill. On the way back most of us met for lunch at Hobson Beach. We had more than our fair share of chaos this weekend. Gerry was delayed and didn't catch up to us until lunch. Alan had a trike crash on the way, damaging his derailleur and rear wheel. I drove him home and then up the beach to meet the gang as they were on their way. Deena had breathing difficulties and missed the turn into Hobson, and then took advantage of Ann and Alan's offer for a lift back to the mission in their SUV. Kay and I ended our ride where I'd parked our van near Faria Beach. Still, a few riders managed to cover the full suggested route of 20 to 30 miles in sunny weather more like late Spring that mid-Summer.
There's a new ditty posted on the Poetry on Wheels section of our 32go.us website which was instigated by a thread in the Trikes section of BentRiderOnLine's forum, and includes a narrative of the last ride of this month.
7/18/2020: The group met at the Mission parking lot in downtown Ventura and rode up the coast and back to the fire station at Seacliff. A few more ambitious riders cruised on up to the base of Rincon Hill, but I don't think anyone grunted up to the top. On the way back, most of the group stopped for lunch at Hobson Beach. Ride distances ranged from about 20 to 30 miles, with only a few short climbs. The day started out with an overcast but turned sunny by afternoon; temps maxed out in the 70s, but with a bit more humidity than ideal. The tailwind on our return was a nice bonus.
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 REGULAR GROUP RIDES IN 2021, 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: