SUMMER 2024: Our VCRR Group Ride schedule for the Summer kicked off with a repeat performance by the Bee Team at the July 4th Parade in Channel Islands. Simply summarized, this was the most FUN we have had at a parade in a long time, for both us and the spectators.
SPRING 2024: Our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride in April was a cruise up the coast from Ventura to Rincon Beach Park. We used a sorta staggered start, with some folks riding a bit farther than others by starting from Mission Park in Ventura, while Pokey Patrol people began about 2 miles up the old coast highway. Slightly atypically we didn't regroup for lunch this weekend. Our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride in April was a cruise from Thille Park to a turnaround in Saticoy, with a few side trips for hillier terrain, ending with a lunch at Stonefire Grill in the Gateway Shopping Center.
In May we took advantage of a last chance to ride from Pleasant Valley Fields to one of our favorite buffet brunch spots at CSUCI's Islands Cafe, with an up-and-down cruise of Calleguas Creek for added mileage. On the Third Saturday we disguised ourselves as giant bees, complete with matching yellow and black striped shirts, yellow helmets with antennae, oversized insect eye glasses and colorful hummingbird themed windsocks to participate in the Polliator Palooza at Barranca Vista Park. Our quartet of unusual trikes was a big hit at the event. We also had so much FUN that we did a repeat performance at the Insect Festival in June, and the Bee Team will almost surely be part of our ride schedule in the future.
For our final VCRR Group Ride of the Spring, we hosted a visiting group of trikeys: BACK, the Bent Afficionado Club of Kern, from Bakersfield, who made a special trip to join with us for a ride from Marina Park in Ventura up the coast. This ride had the highest turnout of the year so far, with 21 cyclists in all. Everyone had a great time before we splintered on the return to Ventura, with about half the group opting for lunch at Topper's Pizza.
March 2024: For our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride, the weather weenies apparently decided that we should settle for yet another meeting of the Bad Weather Brunch Bunch. The biggest news for this month was a blast from the past. Nine of us (and two dogs) participated in Ventura's fun and famous St. Patrick's Day Parade. We indulged in our trademark swooping and swirling along Main Street in Ventura to amuse 5000 spectators. We almost surely had more FUN than those spectators or other entrants. Although we had planned a ride for the unusual Fifth Saturday this month, once again our rare rainy weather changed those plans to another Bad Weather Brunch at Marie Callender's in Camarillo.
January/February 2024: This has been an unusual and difficult time for our group, with way too many of us trying to recover from accidents, illness, mechanical problems and family death, as well as the more common hindrances of the Winter holidays. I received a small compensation for our first sort-of-official VCRR Group Ride of the year, when three women showed up to ride with me around the Oxnard marinas and down to the Port Hueneme lighthouse. Stephen and Deena also met us for lunch at Pho Saigon to cap a great day for a trike ride. Our Third Saturday ride was rained out, but about 10 of us indulged in a Bad Weather Brunch at Main Street Restaurant. Kay and I have still been riding two or three times a week this Winter, but we haven't had many ride partners lately, including for our 'official' First Saturday ride in February. Despite feeling a little lonely and neglected we still managed to make the most of a great day to ride from Thille Park to Brown Barranca and Telegraph Road. Fortunately, we had some company for the last ride of February, as seven of us rode from Marina Park in Ventura up the coast to Emma Wood Beach, and then up the Arundell Barranca. The day started out chilly, overcast and a little damp, but we were surprised as the sun burned off the low cloud cover and warmed up enough so that folks were shedding layers of clothing.
November/December 2023: Our First Saturday ride last month started from Pitts Ranch Park. We separated into two small groups, one tackling the steep climbs and zooming downhills of the Mission Hills area before regrouping at the Village Sports Park and continuing on to the CSUCI campus. We had a great brunch at the Islands Cafe, then wrapped up the day with a quick return to the park in great Autumn weather. On the rain-dampened Third Saturday we met for another (in?)famous Bad Weather Brunch at Main Street Restaurant. Although no one has had a non-trivial accident on our group rides for years, our last ride in November ended with an injury crash at a dangerous dead end of the levee trail in Fillmore. Sadly, that was also the second serious accident for the group that week as one of the riders collided with a car on his way to a ride start. Several of us have continued to get together for two or three rides each week, taking full advantage of our near-ideal Autumn weather to enjoy cycling with a variety of venues and velocities. Our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride of December started in the Pierpont area near the Ventura Marina; five of us rode tadpole trikes up the coast to the Seacliff Fire Station on another almost ideal day for an Autumn trike ride.
August to October 2023: August sort of marked a transition in the operation of our VCRR Group Ride series. Over the Summer there continued to be fewer folks showing up, for a multitude of reasons. As a result a much smaller core group of us have been meeting for rides much more frequently, often on Tuesday and Thursday as well as most Saturdays. To take advantage of the cooler temps and morning overcast, we almost always stayed close to the coast, scheduling most of our rides between Seacliff and Port Hueneme. Of course, almost all of those rides included an option for our Pokey Patrol people, but there's been ample opportunities for other riders who opt to go faster and farther. The two 'officially' scheduled VCRRGroup Rides in August were typical, the first starting from the north end of the Bubbling Springs bike path and the second from Blanche Reynolds Park in Ventura. A few flat tires and one dead battery were corrected, and no other problems interfered with our fun. The First Saturday ride in September was a bit of a misfire, with most folks opting for a Bad Weather Brunch rather than challenge the damp but drying roadways. Only Gerry and Q relocated to Camarillo to log some miles. We indulged in some other rides, with small groups in various venues, most notably on the second Saturday along the coast from Ventura to Rincon Hill. There have been some minor disasters, including unusually frequent flat tires and one dead motor, and some fun moments like the brave lady who risked a ride on a retro-reptile. The next two group rides were returns to ride from the Pierpont area of Ventura up to Seacliff, usually finishing with a group lunch at Main street.The last ride of this series was a bit of a surprise in that only Barb and Bob showed up to ride with Kay and me from Ventura to Saticoy.
May/June/July 2023: Actually, there isn't much to report for the few months' group rides that will be of much interest to the folks who weren't there. The photo of Kay wearing camouflage may be about as fun as it gets. Kay and I missed a ride in mid-June as we were stricken by a wayward norovirus (aka 'cruise ship crud', but we didn't even get to go to sea). Several of the trikeys in our group have been getting together for impromptu short rides on weekdays, including one return to Santa Paula to check out the bike routes in the new housing tract northeast of town, with a patio lunch at La Cabaña. Jumbo margaritas were half price... Our Third Saturday ride in July finished with an impromptu birthday celebration for Kay and me, with a huge, delicious carrot cake; THANKS AGAIN, EVERYONE! We also discovered that the gravel pits bordering RiverPark in Oxnard have been partially filled with water; no one seems to know the ultimate plan for this recent development.Other News:
We are semi-desperately looking for suggestions for new, different or retro/classic VCRR Group Rides for this year, either in person, by phone or email. We're also very eager to expand the number of cyclists to participate in any of the rides we're planning over the next year. 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: 805-612-7662. 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: