Ventura County
Recumbent Riders

News and Ride Schedule
 [Last Updated November 30th]

Ride Schedule:

Our First Saturday VCRR Group Ride of December will start from Shiell's Park in Fillmore at the corner of C Street and Old Telegraph Road. Please plan to meet at 9AM, hoping to ride away at 9:30. This venue has a number of short steep climbs, two longer ascents, some interesting MUPs, a nice flattish traffic-free cruise beside the river and two long fast downhills. Some of us will probably have lunch at El Pescador near the end of the 20-mile ride. Temps should be in the 60s with a light wind.

FWIW: A small number of us have been meeting fairly regularly to ride together on 'off weekends' and during the week. We'd be thrilled to have others join us for these almost impromptu excursions, and if you're interested, please ping me or one of the other regular attendees to coordinate times and venues. But please remember: you will need to initiate contact if you want to meet the rest of the group, either by email, phone or texting, each time you want to ride. I'm happy to notify 'serious' potential participants by request, but I'm not the least bit enthusiastic (or tolerant, maybe?) about contacts which are repeatedly a waste of time.

PLEASE NOTE: We're hoping that everyone who can will join us this weekend or on one of our other rides during next week. Please ping me if you need more info or would like contact info to coordinate a ride with anyone else that you'd like to invite.

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

  • Saturday, December 2nd: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Shiell's Park Fillmore
  • Saturday, December 16th: Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Ventura to Rincon Beach Park?

Recent History:

November 2023: Our First Saturday ride this 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. Several of us have continued to get together for two or three rides each week, enjoying a variety of venues and velocities.

Deena Riding a Retro ReptileClick for More Pix 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.

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.

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: