Recumbent Riders
News and Ride Schedule
[Last Updated August 17th]
Ride Schedule:
This Saturday August 19th, for our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride this month, most of us will meet near Fire Station 25 at Seacliff, just west of Exit 78 from US-101. Please plan to arrive about 9 AM, and we'll try to get rolling at around 9:30 AM. This first five miles of this venue will take us up the coast, with most of those miles on the recently constructed Class I trail between the freeway and the beach. After a fairly challenging half-mile grunt beside the highway up Rincon Hill, we'll have a zippy little downhill zoom to a pit stop at Viola Fields.
PLEASE NOTE: If you'd prefer to skip that climb up Rincon Hill, and shorten the ride by about 12 miles, you should plan to start from Viola Field, which is most easily accessed by auto from the Bailard Avenue off-ramp (Exit 85) of US-101, turning toward the beach then east on Carpinteria Avenue to the parking lot. The folks starting from Seacliff will probably arrive there between 10 and 10:30.
From Viola Fields we'll continue down Carpinteria Avenue to Casitas Pass Road. [PLEASE NOTE: The bikepath beside Carpinteria Creek is probably still closed, which makes Via Real west of Bailard a dead end!] From Casitas Pass we'll follow El Carro (and connecting bikepaths) to the Santa Monica Creek bikepath, then Via Real to Padaro, and up the long shallow grade to Summerland. Some of the Faster Folks may opt to go a bit farther to Montecito or Santa Barbara. Depending on the turnaround selected, the longer ride will be about 30 to 50 miles, while those starting from Viola Fields may ride between 15 and 20. If our turnarounds and timing work out, the Faster Folks will catch the Pokey Patrol on our return so that we can all have lunch together in Carpinteria. My 'straw man' suggestions are the bargain lunch at Pizza Man Dan's on Linden Avenue or Carl's Jr at Carpinteria and Reynolds Avenue, just east of the Santa Ynez Avenue overcrossing. On this venue, of course, there is always a strong possibility that some folks may make another refueling stop at Foster Freeze. The highlight of the return for most of us is likely to be the slalom run down Rincon Hill Road.
This is a brief listing of preliminary plans for upcoming VCRR Group Rides:
- Saturday, August 19th: Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride: Seacliff to Summerland
- Saturday, September 2nd: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride: SUGGESTIONS?
PLEASE[!]: 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:
Recent History:
8/5/2017: Our First VCRR Group Ride of August started from Pitts Ranch Park in Camarillo, with a dozen folks, including newby Tony who had just purchased Dawn's GT3, showing up for this muggy mid-Summer cruise. After the usual coffee and donuts, we split into two groups, with the Faster Folks heading straight to the coast and down to Sycamore Canyon. The Pokey Patrol turned left on the Calleguas Creek bikepath, heading for Upland Road. We had to deal with a chain lockup and an odd innertube failure before the climb, but the group stayed together as we flew back down from the heights to a pit stop at Mission Oaks Park. With fluid balances restored, we zoomed down Oak Canyon, along Santa Rosa Road and Mission Oaks back to the creek. After a quick loop around Camarillo Village we rode on down to the food court at CSUCI. The good news there was our timing was pretty close to meet the Faster Folks; the bad news was that all the reasonable lunch spots were closed. Some of us indulged in mini-market snacks before the direct return to Pitts Ranch Park. This route varied from about 25 to 40 miles with some climbs, the most serious of which, oddly enough, was reserved for the foo-foo riders. The temperature was fairly decent, but it was a bit muggy, with some sunshine and a gentle tailwind for our return.
7/15/2017: We had a fairly typical turnout this weekend, with 14 of us, including 'minimal participant' Lora meeting to cruise around the Oxnard marinas and down to the Port Hueneme Pier and Lighthouse. It was great to have Cheri riding with us again. The weather was also pretty nice, beginning with an overcast that was almost cool enough to be chilly as our cycles began moving through the dampish air. Very unusually, everyone was riding on three wheels this time around. It was also one of those delightfully rare group outings where no one had any hint of mechanical trouble, not even a flat tire. The riders kept together as a single group, except that Deena and Stephen (on his first ride after his recent head injury) took a cautionary shortcut after we had looped around the Seabridge MUPs. I chose the most direct but sort of unappealing route, using Hemlock Street to take us across to J Street. We cruised down J to a quick pitstop, then down the Bubbling Springs bikepath to the pier and over to the lighthouse. Since it was open for tours, seven people from our troup checked it out, some even spiralling up the top for the breeze, the views and the photo op. They eventually succumbed to the pressure of less patient trikeys to get back on the road heading to lunch. Phil persuaded us to take the 'sort of bikepath' along the west side of Ventura Road back to Channel Islands, and finally we pulled into Panda for a well-earned bite (or two) to eat. Just before the end of this route, it's always a mix of grunt and grin to pop over, then under the CI bridge, and cruise back beside the boats to where we'd parked. Bottom line: 25 easy, very pleasant and sociable miles; pix are from BobF and me.
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.
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 no one has been willing to admit having ridden down here that weekend...
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.
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: