SCRC Loudoun VA Featured Member - March, 2011

Name:   Pete & Nancy Peterson

Nickname:   Stripes & Cruzr

Marital Status:  Married for 37 years

Location:  Ashburn, VA

Hometown:  Clinton MD and Washington DC

Children:  3

Age:  Boys ages 32 & 28, daughter age 25 (she’s in the Navy)

Grandchildren –
Grandson – age 2

Occupation:  I’m retired from the Federal government after 31 years.
Now we own our own travel business and we’re both Cruise & Land Specialists. Plus, I’m an Ice Hockey Referee with 28 years experience and at age 61, I’m still working over 400 games a year.

Current motorcycle(s):  1999 Yamaha V-Star 1100 Custom

How did you hear about the SCRC and when did you join?
We were looking around for local riding clubs that we could join for the occasional ride and to share a common interest with others. We found the club on the website and went on a group ride – we were immediately attracted to the club and it’s wonderful members.

How long have you been riding?
Have owned my own bikes for 25 years, but I first started riding about 40 years ago.

Have you ever taken a motorcycle safety course?
Yes – highly recommend it to everyone even if it’s not a requirement to get a license.

What was your first bike?
Yamaha 650 – I think it was a 1978.

How many bikes have you owned?
3

Why do you ride?
I started riding for the commute to save gas, but now only ride for the pure fun of it.

Have you ridden with an organized group before?
No. This is the first club we’ve ever joined.

What modifications have you done to your bike?
When I first found it on eBay, I went over to look at it in Reston and the tins were painted a gold/silver two-tone. The seller said he had several people interested, but nobody liked the color. So the first thing was to get the tins painted black. I then changed out the stock seats with Mustang seats, changed all the pegs, handgrips, and highway bars with Kuryakyn replacements, got a luggage rack and saddlebags, and then added the best thing, a very loud Rivco air horn.

What accessories do you want to add to your bike?
The only thing I’d like to add would be hard-side saddlebags and super bright LED brake lights, like the ones on www.brightasslights.com

What is your dream bike?
Brand new fully-loaded Yamaha Venture touring bike.

What kind of riding do you like to do — straight-aways or twisties?
Probably a combination of both. Love to sightsee, so I prefer slower to faster and backroads to highways.

If you have a nickname, how did you get it? Tell the truth!
Mine is Stripes because I’ve been a hockey referee for 28 years. Nancy’s is Cruzr because she loves to go on cruises, both on the bike and on cruise ships.

What is your favorite riding route?
All of them as long as they don’t spend the whole time on interstate highways.

Do you ride your bike to work?
When I first started, I did every day possible. When we moved to the Washington, DC area I would ride every Friday (dress down day) year round even during Winter.

What is the fastest you’ve ridden?
I rarely go over the speed limit on a bike. I’m not into speed and don’t ride for the speed. I ride for the pure enjoyment of riding. When going fast, my attention and concentration on what I’m doing has to be more intense, so it does not give me the opportunity to relax and enjoy the ride as much.

What is your favorite time of year to ride?
Spring and Fall are our favorite times, but we ride whenever we can.

Have you ever been down? If so, how were you hurt and what did you learn from the incident?
I can honestly say I’ve never been down (knock on wood). I’ve come close a few times, but I’m a VERY defensive driver, I don’t take any chances, I’m always very alert, and I take nothing for granted. I take my time and prefer to error on the side of safety.

Have you ever done an "Iron Butt" ride?
Nope – that’s for the younger folks. We prefer to stop about every 45 minutes to an hour so that we don’t get too tired. I like to be very alert when I’m riding, so as soon as one of us starts to get a little tired or stiff, we pull over if only for 5 minutes. Besides, at 61 years old, we just don’t have the stamina we use to.

If not, what is the furthest you’ve ridden?
As much as we’d like to do a long ride, usually nothing over about 200 miles in a day. Perhaps if we ever get our dream bike, we’ll do longer rides.

What was the worst weather in which you’ve ridden?
I’ve ridden in some really bad rain storms, but only once at night, which was the worst. It was the only way home after work, so I took the back roads and took my time.

Do you know how to work on your bike?
Nothing internally, but I’ve done some of the exterior work. Most of the time, I’ll hire someone just because of physical limitations (tough getting old).

What is your favorite road song?
Born to be Wild – Steppenwolf (theme song from Easy Rider).

What was your most adventurous ride?
Within the last 10 years, it’s been Sky Line Drive. Love to do it during the Fall when the leaves are at their peak. We’ll spend a few days taking our time, enjoy the scenery, and spend a couple of nights on the road.

What rallies or events do you like to attend?
Being a Vietnam vet, my favorite is Rolling Thunder. Gives me the opportunity to show my support for the POW/MIA cause as well as pay my respects to my comrades, especially one particular friend, who gave their lives in service to our country. Other than that, we try and do as many events as we can that support charities.
Our neatest ride was the 9/11 ride on the boardwalk in Ocean City during the Delmarva Bike Week a few years ago. We’ve been walking down that boardwalk since we were little kids. We spent many weekends there when we first got married. And we’ve pushed our children in strollers when they were young. So for us to ride our bike on it was a real treat, plus it was in support of the local fire department.

I started and have tried to keep a ride going for the last 6 years for the NOVA Cool Cats. This supports a group of special kids, most of them suffering from autism, who have developmental problems and use hockey as a means to teach them skills needed to be successful in life. Everyone wants to do rides to support the police or fire fighters, so it’s tough to get support for such a wonderful charity. But the kids are absolutely wonderful and we really enjoy helping in any way we can. We have appreciated the support SCRC Loudoun has given us. Just wish we got more support to make the ride more productive and enjoyable.

Is there someone who rides "two-up" with you?
Nancy and I are always a two-some riding more together than me by myself. It just doesn’t feel as good without her behind me and it’s definitely not as much fun.

Off the cuff from...Stripes & Cruzr
We love to travel! We’ve spent a total of 62 days in Europe over the last year and a half, visiting 19 countries by train and cruise ship. We’ve been on a total of 39 cruises all over the world. We’ve cruised to Canada, Alaska, the Greek Isles, Turkey, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, England, and Russia, plus we’ve been to several all-inclusive resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean. So we’re enjoying retirement as much as possible and have become very knowledgeable as travel agents. You can check out our website at www.storybookcruises.com if you’re interested in traveling. A few SCRC members have utilized our services and can testify as to our services.

Unfortunately, since I retired from my government job, I’ve had to spend much more time refereeing hockey games to help make up the loss of pay. So we’re unable to make a lot of the social gatherings at night during the week, which we always loved to do and miss the opportunity to visit with the many friends we’ve made. Also, owning our own business takes a great deal of time and effort, so often we’re not available for weekend rides. We miss these gatherings and the chance to participate with the club and wish we could spend more time with them than we have recently. We had plan to sell our house and move to Florida where we had hoped to buy a bigger bike and spend more time riding, but the economy has precluded us from doing so. Hopefully, in the near future, things will come together. But you can bet we will definitely be looking up the local SCRC chapter as they truly are a wonderful group of people.