Recumbent Riders
News and Ride Schedule
[Last Updated July 18th]
Ride Schedule:
Summer has arrived, but it looks like we may get one last chance to visit Calleguas Creek before the really hot dog days set in. For our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride, this Saturday July 20th, we'll meet at 9AM at Pitts Ranch Park in Camarillo, at the corner of Flynn Road and Calle Brisa, about a mile north of Exit 53 of US-101. Kay and I expect to be there with morning munchies and hot coffee. We'll plan to cruise up and down Calleguas Creek, and then ride over for lunch, most likely either at Souplantation or the unofficial extended food court on Daily Drive between Carmen and Arneill. The base ride will probably be about 20 miles, with a few short climbs at most; the weather should begin with a slight overcast and top out at about 70 degrees with winds less than 10 MPH. The faster folks may add a few miles down toward Mugu Rock, hopefully timed to meet the NVF2 Group [for not very fast, not very far] for lunch.
This is a brief listing of preliminary plans for upcoming rides:
- Saturday, July 20th: Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Pitts Ranch Park, Camarillo
- Saturday, August 3rd: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Marina Park to Carpinteria? SUGGESTIONS?
PLEASE[!]: If you have any suggestions for group rides for Summer 2019, 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:
7/6/2019: Our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride in July was a slight twist on a ride we haven't done for a while. Eight of us rode around the Seabridge Marina and then east on Channel Islands Boulevard and down Ventura Road to the beach at Port Hueneme. We returned up to Channel Islands via the Bubbling Springs bikepath, 6th and M Streets, then stopped for lunch at Pizza Man Dan's. This venue was about 20 miles, pretty flat all the way, with a cool overcast and a light sea breeze.
June 2019: For our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride in June about a dozen folks in the group met at Marina Park in Ventura for 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 for most riders was the fire station near Seacliff, and they stopped at Faria Beach for lunch. The basic route was about 25 miles, with no semi-serious climbs, temps in the high 60s, and a light onshore breeze.
Our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride was a short road tripto El Carro Park in Carpinteria. Oddly, we had fewer VCRR folks riding down here than were up at TaterTOT in Idaho. One plus resulting from that was that the five of us were able to squeeze into Summerland Beach Cafe for brunch/lunch. Temps for the day were almost perfect, a little less than 70 degrees as we rode up and back down the coast. The basic ride was a bit less than 20 miles round trip, taking it easy on Kay's first group ride with her new knee, but Q managed to stretch it a bit by continuing on up to Santa Barbara after lunch. No pic this time...
Since the only input offered for our late Spring VCRR Group Rides was a fairly general suggestion for riding near the coast, our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride for May started from West Channel Park in the Channel Islands Marina. We had more than a dozen folks in the group this weekend. The weather was ideal, with temps topping out in the high 60s and a light ocean breeze. We began the day by changing a defective tube on Deena's Micro, but were quickly underway again. We rode down to the mouth of the marina, then up the coast. Rolly popped another tire just past Fifth Street, then raced with Bob and Barb to catch up to the other Faster Folks near their turnaround in Ventura. Our Pokey Patrol flipped just before Gonzales, but then added a couple of loops around the Seabridge area so that the whole group met at Pizza Man Dan's in the shopping complex for lunch. Ann and Alan joined us there. After lunch, instead of climbing the bridge on Channel Islands Boulevard, we returned via Wooley Road and back through Oxnard State Beach, then under Channel Islands to the parking lot. This route varied from about 15 to 30 miles, pretty much as flat as practical in SoCal. No pix so far...
3/30/2019: About a dozen of us met at Marina Park in Ventura, to ride an up-the-coast-and-back cruise. 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. The turnaround points for this ride didn't vary as much as expected, with Vince riding alone up to Viola Field, while most of us flipped at the Seacliff Fire Station. On the way back, almost everyone opted for lunch at Faria Beach. The ride to Seacliff is about 25 miles, with no semi-serious climbs. Vince tacked on another 12 or so, as did Phil and Lora who rode round trip from Carpinteria. It was good to ride with Todd and Cheryl, who began their ride from home in Ventura. Dawn also rode down and back from Ojai. The day was absolutely beautiful, and the weather was very pleasant, with temps maxed out in the high 70s, plus we had a nice tailwind on the way home. Pix are from Rolly; his video for this ride is linked below.
3/16/2019: For our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride we avoided strong winds by riding from Ventura's Avenue district to Ojai. About 10 of us ultimately did the ride, most meeting at Harry Lyon Park. After routine coffee and munchies, we headed up to a pit stop at Foster Park. From there we climbed upward, splitting into multiple groups as expected for speed differentials. Some of the faster riders chose to ride up Santa Ana Road to the Lake Casitas marina, while the Pokey Patrol people chugged up the Ventura River Trail to our lunch stop at Subway near Mira Monte. After lunch we fully enjoyed the reward of our morning climb, zooming back down the hill to our starting area.
3/9/2019: Our first (but Second Saturday) VCRR Group Ride in March was a repeat road trip to ride in the western San Fernando Valley. This was a nearly perfect day for this area, cool with a mix of blue sky and drifting clouds. However, most VCRRians missed this great opportunity, as only six folks showed up for the ride. With such a small group we opted to stay together on a simpler route, starting from the Balboa Sports Center and riding up and back along the busway bikepath. We rode up to a pit stop just beyond the Chatsworth Station, and then returned down a (too) short section of the Browns Barranca bikepath and the Orange Line to our lunch stop at the Victory curve. We opted for Chinese and got lucky, enjoying the hot soup, hot tea and a good low-cost meal. After a few more blocks beside the busway, we detoured over to ride the LA River trail. I was a bit surprised to see that the recent flooding had really cleaned up the river channel, leaving it looking as though it had been thoroughly and professionally scrubbed. Water flowing in the bottom notch of the riverbed looked clear enough to drink. This route is about 25 miles, a shallow climb going out and a nice cruise back to the finish. Pix are video frame grabs from Rolly's action cam.
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 2019, 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: