What Have We Here?

Recent History:

5/16: Kay and I were supporting her folks through a medical crisis out in the desert this weekend, and the reporting is just not the same without her on a ride. We think there were about 15 folks on this ride, including maybe a newby or two, one maybe named Ed, maybe riding a yellow Bacchetta. We're pretty sure that the guys rode from the museum in downtown Ventura up to Lake Casitas, with the fast guys doing the extra loops. As usual lately, the pix were shot by Wayne – but this time it was a different Wayne, aka Twain or the other Wayne. Purportedly, Bob was better behaved without Barb than Barb is without Bob... If there are any other interesting notes anyone would like to add, I'll pass them along as I get them.

5/19: When Kay and I returned from HELL, we persuaded our neighbors Pete and Linda to celebrate with a cruise from Carpinteria up to the beach in Santa Barbara. We took a few pix, mostly just to make Deena feel really bad that she had let a little thing like work make her miss her favorite ride.

5/20: Deena and Stephen joined Tuesday's group to participate in the Ride of Silence in Thousand Oaks. The police escort was nice, while it lasted, but their posted '12 MPH maximum' was a bit of bad joke. The hot dogs from CVC were actually tooling along at more like 15 MPH as we started up that slight grade going east from the mall, with some folks dropping out, and others of us just getting dropped. Stephen and Pete peeved the prissy putzes in the peloton by persisting at the pace of the lead group, but the girls and I brought up the rear, falling even farther behind as we lost traffic control at the 9000 busy intersections and then bagged a flat tire. Our lights worked well and it was kinda interesting to ride through that much traffic as it got darker and darker. Still, my most pleasant memory of this (not to be repeated!) event is the post-ride muffins and coffee at Dupar's, visiting with great friends.

Great Western Bicycle Rally, Paso Robles, 5/22 - 5/25: The rally this year was a little bittersweet, in that attendance was probably as low as it's been in the last twenty years, what with higher costs and our droopy economy. However, the weather was probably as good as it's ever been, cool and overcast in the morning, going up to 80-ish in the afternoon with moderate winds. We missed a lot of the VCRR folks who usually go to GWBR, but about 20 of us still made the trek, staying in tents, tent trailers, motor homes, motels or local private residences. Our subgroup rode to Star Farm and the mission at San Miguel on Saturday, and then wandered around near Templeton on Sunday, figuring out the error in an official route sheet that we were (intentionally) riding backward. We encountered some rough pavement, road construction, narrow roads and HILLS(!), but not nearly enough to dampen my enthusiasm for this great cycling venue. As always the social interaction with old friends and new is a huge plus. There's a cute story I've added to the Quips webpage of the POW section of our shop website. Pix are by Brent, Stephen, Dawn, Kay and me.

Sadly, on Monday morning, just after we had zipped down that great bobsled run by the city pool and enjoyed a great breakfast at Vic's Cafe, we had to say a fairly serious goodbye to John, who was packed up to make his way north, semi-permanently relocating to Oregon. Kay and I first met John at GWBR, something like 30 years ago; I guess it's appropriate that this more-or-less major parting should also be there... That last shot in the accompanying gallery may be all we'll see for a while of the guy who, more than anyone else maybe, was responsible for VCRR surviving the phase-out of recumbent bike sales when Cycle Scene, the Ventura LBS that originated it, was swallowed up by megamarketer Performance Bicycle a few years ago. On the other hand, in one sense maybe, that photo might well be about as much as anyone wants to see of our token psuedo-Santa! ;-)

I'm pretty sure that some of our VCRRians also rode in the LA Marathon Bike Tour this same weekend. If I get any comments or pix, we'll post those here as well.

Special Almost Impromptu Ride, 5/30: If when you read the poem at the top of the notice for this ride or saw it posted on BROL's Trikes forum, you worried that I might have injured Barb's ego, I suppose I should offer this apology (or at least explanation). In fact, Barb did a great job of planning and executing this field trip to Simi Valley. We started from her home and rode up (and up and up and up) into the hills along the north side of Simi, before taking a couple of high-speed descents back to a pit stop at Rancho Tapo park, and finally (blessedly!) brunch in a great food court. Although Barb's route was planned to please the hairy-legged, hyper-heman hotdogs in our group, the 10 folks who showed up were actually a bit closer to Pokey Patrol people. However, with Barb's outstanding leadership and Bob scooping up the strays and stragglers, we all had a nice workout. Pix are from Stephen and me. There is still some lingering doubt about the true purpose of her neck brace...

One More for Bicycling Month, Sunday 5/31: Again, ten of us, mostly trikeys, showed up for this last of NINE rides with various members of our group this month. It was great to see Mel again, but a little bittersweet to know that it would be Stephen's last ride for a few weeks as he recovers from foot surgery this week. Deena's favorite route starts from Viola Field in Carpinteria, petty much paralleling the coast highway as it meanders over Ortega Hill, around the Biltmore Hotel and cemetery on its way up to Santa Barbara beach. On our return we had to cross under the freeway and navigate the road construction there before popping into Xanadu in Montecito for brunch. Pix are from the Waynes. Yes, we stopped at Foster Freeze again...

6/6: As Kay and I got ready to drive up to Santa Barbara for this ride, there was moderate overcast and The Weather Channel's radar images showed a few small patches of green flitting around the area. As we crossed the Santa Clara River we were in full sunshine. When we stopped at the shop in Ventura, it and the hills behind were under dark cloud cover. Before we got to Santa Barbara, we were driving in bright sunshine again, with a clear view of the off-shore Channel Islands, and we didn't see any fluffy fuzzies above us until after lunch. There were seventeen of us, including newbies Janice, riding with Henry on their tandem, and RichS on his homebuilt tadpole. The other nice surprises were seeing Nick on a trike(!) – Michael's low rider Trice Micro – and Michael's NEW Greenspeed SLR (short for super low racer?). We cruised from La Cumbre Plaza up the Coast Trail, stopping at Michael's for a quick pit. We had a slight tailwind for the first few miles along the creek, rolling down to Goleta State Beach. We climbed the short coastal bluff into the UCSB campus and beyond before stopping for a nice lunch at the food court in the Camino Real Marketplace.

As we were leaving, the wind had changed and we had a nice 20 MPH tailwind pushing us home. We also had increasing cloud cover, and finally a few spitty sprinkles that didn't do much more than spot our sunglasses. Fifteen minutes later the sunshine was back and we climbed that last hill up Modoc Road to reach our motherships. Folks, if you've got to ride in the rain, that's the way it should be – timed to cool the warmest part of the day, accompanied by a brisk tailwind, and barely enough moisture to dampen the pavement. But just so there's no mistake with you those folks dodging hail and tornadoes in the Midwest this Summer, we're NOT sharing... Most of the straight pix are by the original Wayne; the 'funny' ones are from Christy and Twain (the other Wayne). How does he come up with those captions?

Ride Schedule:

This is a brief listing of some of the upcoming cycling events that may be of interest to our group. Links are provided for more info where applicable.

• Saturday, July 4th: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride – VC Museum Parking Lot to Eggs 'n Things, Ojai
• Saturday, July 18th: Third Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Thille Park to Saticoy; Lunch with Phil & Lora

Other News:

For the First Saturday ride this month, lacking any meaningful response from the group, and with Kay and me still hanging around Idaho, we've opted for the simple plan of riding from the mission up to Ojai [EDIT: not Ojia, a small town in the California coastal foothills, just west of Chicago, Toledo and Des Moines, as originally suggested!]. The plan is to meet around 9 AM at (or maybe more accurately, NEAR) the Museum of Ventura County (Mission) parking lot, located downtown between Ventura and Figueroa, between Main and Santa Clara. About half of the parking lot has been closed off by chain link fencing for some kind of construction project; if you can't find a space there, it's probably best to park to the south on Junipero Street, between Santa Clara and Thompson Boulevard. We hope to get underway as close to 9:30 AM as practical. Click for a map or driving directions. Kay and I aren't going to be there, so please don't count on hot coffee or morning munchies. To avoid the holiday traffic at the lake, we're suggesting the Eggs 'n Things restaurant as a destination, just before crossing CA-33.

For our Third Saturday group ride in July (on 7/18), Lora – feeling compelled to become an unpaid volunteer for our charitable cause, perhaps, following her retirement last month – is planning a ride/lunch based at their home near Thille Park in Ventura. As always, please contact me with any comments, questions or anything on any topic you feel is pertinent (or impertinent), that you'd like to share with the group. For convenience my email link is:

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 business (cell) phone number is 805-794-0718 (Hours roughly 11AM-3PM Tuesday thru Saturday). If it's more convenient you can also call our home phone: 805-981-0339.