Ventura County
Recumbent Riders

News and Ride Schedule
 [Last Updated September 13th]

Ride Schedule:

IMPORTANT NOTICE – LAST CHANCE?: If you still haven't ridden the new Class I bikepath between Carpinteria Avenue and Padaro Lane, this weekend may be your last best opportunity before closures begin for additional construction on Monday September 18th. As an incentive, our Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride this month, Saturday September 16th, is planned for this venue. Fairly typically, we expect riders to use various starting and turnaround points as well as 'average' ride speeds. Kay and I – and maybe a few other Pokey Patrol people – plan to start from El Carro Park in Carpinteria, on El Carro Lane just west of Casitas Pass Road, arriving at about 9AM and heading northwest at about 9:30. Our tentative plan is to ride a first loop, probably along the salt marsh, State Beach and maybe even up to Viola Field before returning to the start for a second loop.

We expect some riders from our area to start a bit farther down the coast, and encourage them to coordinate with others, either on their own initiative or by pinging me for contact info. We're suggesting the Fire Station at Seacliff as a possible second meetup location, riding up the coastal Class I bikepath and Rincon Hill to a pit stop at Viola Fields. I'm suggesting that this group detour across the freeway, on the new(ish) bike lane to Casitas Pass Road and up to El Carro, before emulating the Pokey Patrol's second loop across El Carro to Santa Monica Creek, across the freeway on Santa Ynez Avenue to Carpinteria Avenue, the new bikepath and Padaro Lane to turnaround at Loon Point.

We will probably stop for lunch, probably at Padaro Beach Grill or Pizza Man Dan (again), hopefully meeting riders from other starting venues. Weather is forecast to be in the low 70s, possibly with a morning overcast and light breezes midday.

PLEASE NOTE: We're hoping that everyone who can will join us on Saturday. Please ping me if you need more info or would like contact info to coordinate an alternate meetup location or for anyone else that you'd like to invite to join us on the ride.

This is a brief listing of preliminary plans for upcoming rides:

  • Saturday, September 16th: Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Carpinteria to Summerland
  • Saturday, September 30th: 'Unofficial' Group Ride? – SUGGESTIONS?

Recent History:

Dino Deena September 2023: The First Saturday ride this month 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've 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.

August 2023: This month 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've been staying 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 VCRR Group Rides 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.

Kay in Camo 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.

4/15/2023: This ride started from Marina Park in Ventura and we rode up the coast and back. The Pokey Patrol, just Kay and I that weekend, flipped at the fire station near Seacliff for about 25 miles. The turnaround point for the larger subgroup was the top of Rincon Hill (about 35 miles). We had a bit of unscheduled drama at the park when I discovered that I had lost the key to our van, and the backup key was locked up at home 10 miles away. House keys were locked in our van. While the rest of our group indulged in lunch at Pizza Man Dan's, Kay and I rode back to Surfer's Point, vainly hoping to spot the wayward car fob. Finally Gerry rescued us, giving Kay a ride home in his truck whle I racked up a bit more than 40 miles for the day. Our neighbor Pete had a backup house key, which we had all forgotten, and we retrieved our van and trikes. On Monday Kay and I retraced our Class II route, and the guys at the Fire Station handed us our lost key, which some other rider had apparently found and left in their public access bathroom.

4/1/2023: This weekend our ride started from the Seabridge Marina, on a fairly direct loop down to the Channel Islands Marina harbor entrance, then up the coast past Oxnard State Beach, continuing up Harbor Boulevard to the Arundell Barranca on our way to lunch at Main Street Restaurant in Ventura. The weather was great and even though only a few folks opted to join us, we had a nice ride with no serious issues, and a fun chatty lunch.

3/4/2023: A small group of us met at Barranca Vista Park, and separated into two subgroups as we cruised up to the bike path beside the CA-126 freeway, riding east to Saticoy and then returning for lunch on the food court at the Gateway Shopping Center. The faster subgroup added some miles by zooming down to the Riverview Linear Park along the river, then up to Telegraph Road for the rocket ride down Brown Barranca.

2/18/2023: We started from Channel Park in the Channel Islands Marina, and after the usual morning munchies and coffee, we rode off in two subgroups with intermingled ride venues, both looping to the northeast, then returning to turn around at the Port Hueneme lighthouse. The longer route was 25 to 30 miles long, looping up to Olivas Park Drive; the Pokey Patrol took a more twisty and entertaining shortcut through the MUPs of Seabridge Marina for a ride of about 20 miles. Our groups hooked up again as we rode down J Street and rode together down the Bubbling Springs bikepath, past the pier and as close as we could come to the lighthouse, which was blocked by a road closure. We had a nice lunch at Pho Saigon on our return to Channel Islands, making the most of a cool, sunny Winter day in coastal SoCal.

Marina ParkClick for More Pix 2/4/2023: In accordance with our commitment to 'Socialize Before Exercise', this weekend's ride started with a mini-surprise birthday celebration for Ann at Marina Park in Ventura. About 12 folks, happily including some relative newbies plus a few VCRR-eterans we hadn't seen for awhile, rode our usual up-the-coast-and-back cruise. After a quick pitstop at Surfer's Point, we separated into smaller subgroups with diferent speeds and continued on up the beach and by the river. We encountered a huge pile of post-storm debris blocking the trail and had to detour near the end of Main Street. The riders spread out as we pedaled up the Old Coast Highway to our different turnaround points, but most of the group reassembled for lunch at Pizza Man Dan's in downtown Ventura. Alan had to deal with some minor mechanical issues, but there were no other serious difficulties; the weather was cool with bright sunshine.

1/21/2023: Our second VCRR Group Ride of the year started from Barranca Vista Park in eastern Ventura. Ten folks showed up this weekend, including two new trikeys. We split into two groups, with the faster riders racking up more miles and climbs on a cruise out to Saticoy. The subgroups met on our return to visit on a pit stop at Chumash Park, then rode together for a mile or so before separating so that faster riders racked up a few more miles. We managed to coordinate our timing so that all the riders and a couple of folks who opted to sleep in a litte longer got together again for the group lunch at Ventura Gateway Shopping Mall's food court. After lunch, the gang fragmented as everyone returned to Barranca Vista.

1/7/2023: Our first VCRR Group Ride this Winter was on the most common – and most popular, at least historically – venue: Marina Park to Rincon Hill. Like most of our rides over the last few months participation was pretty minimal, but the guys who did the full route had a good ride on one of the rare weekends when the weather was a bit more inviting than those before and after. We were intending to arrange for more non-riding folks to meet for lunch, but the logistics bogged down for that effort. We're hoping for a better turnout and much better coordination the next time we opt to cruise up the beach.

Other News:

RIDE VIDEOS AND OTHER PIX: We're hoping that Rolly finds time to add his videos from this year's rides to the older VCRR Group Rides for public viewing on YouTube at this link. 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). We are always eager and hoping for more, newer videos, and, of course, your feedback is eagerly solicited.

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. 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: