What Have We Here?

Recent History:

5/29: As a fill-in for the folks who opted to skip the trek up to Paso Robles this Memorial Day weekend, Twain hosted another tour of the paseos in Santa Clarita. He selected a different route this weekend, avoiding that long uphill grind beside the Santa Clara River, and making two short loops through other paseos that bisect local housing tracts. Of course, he had prepared Google maps for this route well in advance of the ride. Several of the locals who frequently ride with our group joined him, along with newby Steve. No one got lost this time; Twain thinks it may have something to do with the group being smaller – or maybe smarter? Anyway, the guys (no girls this time except for lunch) had a great ride, and didn't miss the rest of us too much... Pix are from Twain.

GREAT WESTERN BICYCLE RALLY, 5/28 thru 5/31: We had about 25 to 30 folks who've ridden with VCRR at the rally this year, depending on how you count, I suppose. It was great to see JohnA, BobW and some of the other recumbent riders we haven't seen for awhile. We camped out in our same old spot, and also manned an exhibit for the trike store, but mostly we were there to socialize and to ride some of the best trails along the central California coast. On Friday our core group cruised up the hill east of town to zigzag down the small arroyo I call the bobsled run, and then bumbled around town a bit. On Saturday most of the folks we know ambled out to Star Farm; James, Pete and I took the long way around to pop in at Mission San Miguel, risking our dental work on that rough road, but the zip across the bridge is almost worth it. Everyone had a great time at the Farm, of course, and a few of us even took advantage of the opportunity to splash in the CHILLY water. The ride home was sunny and a bit on the warm side. Sunday was a strange day for us, with only a short, somewhat somber ride, complete with a few flat tires. On Monday we rode up to my favorite coffee shop and bakery, Touch of Paso, and had a nice brunch before loading up and tackling the traffic on our way home. Pix are by Pete and Wayne.

6/5: The group's First Saturday ride in June managed to attract about 15 of us, in spite of my forgetting to send out ride notices. The group met at Thille Park and rode through east Ventura, down into Oxnard and toward the (overcast) beach before returning via Victoria or Los Olivos and Telephone Road. Kay and I had overnight company, and wound up mostly doing photo and SAG support this time around. Santa Barbarans Perry and Joella were our newbies, and seemed to enjoy the experience. Stephen was plagued by a broken rear derailleur and a flat, and Fiona's LoGo contracted the contagion, requiring a tube patch just past the freeway underpass on Ventura Road. We had lunch at Gateway Plaza's food court. Pix were shot by the two Waynes this time.

6/19: The weather was almost perfect for our last group ride of the Spring, and we were happy to take advantage for our last ride up the Ventura River Trail until Summer temperatures begin to taper off again. There were twenty-one of us, I think, this time around, including Diane for her first group ride in a while. Stephen's WindCheetah had an odd rash of flats on the way up, and by the time we got it sorted out, he had to turn around to meet other commitments of the day. Most of us rode on up to Lake Casitas, with me way behind the group; after lunch we zoomed down Santa Ana Road – always a thrill, especially for first timers on this route, JimA and Joe. As we popped into Foster Park on the return, both Fiona and I found goatheads in our right front tires. Odd that it was Stephen's left front on the way up that had problems passing that same patch of puncture pellets...

7/3: Kay and I barely made it back from Idaho for this group ride, but as usual for a holiday weekend, not many other folks turned out to meet us at Thille Park. Quality matters more than quantity, anyway, and we managed to have a good time in spite of it all. About 15 of us rode over for a pit stop at Chumash Park and then down into Oxnard before turning toward the beach. We had a big surprise when we tried to cross the river on Harbor Blvd, since some goober had crashed an auto into the bike path on the east side of the road. We made it through by using the ocean side bike lane and then cruised up the Arundell bike path to have lunch at the Gateway Plaza. No fireworks, but all in all not a bad ride, even for those of us who were still a little road weary... Pix are from the two Waynes.

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 17th: Santa Paula Citrus Festival Parade, Downtown Santa Paula - RSVP! RSVP!
• Saturday, August 7th: First Saturday VCRR Group Ride – Seabridge Marina, Oxnard

Other News:

Our next group outing will be the Santa Paula Citrus Festival Parade through downtown Santa Paula. Please let us know ASAP if you're planning to ride with us – RSVP! The theme of the parade is 'A Rainbow of Citrus', so for costumes we'll all wear bright solid colored jerseys in some kind of citrus color - lime, yellow, orange, pink or red. Kay and I will bring some safety flagpoles with small placards for everyone. We'll meet at about 8:30 AM, parking in the public lot off Railroad Street just east of 10th Street (CA-150), across the tracks from the depot. The line-up area will be Santa Barbara Street, along the south side of the railroad tracks. After the parade we'll take a short ride out to the park at Limoneira, and then pop into one of the restaurants in the picturesque 1940s small California town. Again, we'd like to get an RSVP from everyone who's interested in doing the parade this year ASAP, especially if you'd like to borrow a trike.

For our First Saturday ride for the month of August, we'll try to avoid the hotter weather inland by meeting at the small public parking lot in the Seabridge Marina complex, just off Wooley Road between Victoria and Harbor, at around 9 AM as usual. We'll probably ride around the marinas, with maybe a trip down to the Port Hueneme pier.

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. If you have any other suggestions for rides, new topics or other contributions, please ping me. For convenience my email link is: