Revving It Up With PCC's 'Easy Riders'

When it comes to hobbies, PCCers are all over the map.

PCC's got home brewers, baseball statisticians, ice hockey enthusiasts, zombie fanatics, musicians and maze doodlers. Even a fire breather/twirler dwells among us. See what we mean? ALL OVER the map.

Except, that is, when it comes to the motorcycle thing.

Be they weekend warriors, waxers or down-right serious about their scooters, an impressive 22 percent of PCC's employees ride, and we think that's worth some ink.

Jan Blanchard, the PCCer who first pointed out our little motorcycle phenomenon, rides the '85 Honda Shadow that Romni Palmer sold her. She and husband, Drew, an inveterate motorcyclist, enjoy cruising Vermont's scenic roadways together.

“I'd always been intrigued by the idea of riding, but it was an itch I'd never scratched until 2007,” says Blanchard, who named her bike 'Satchel,'  after the dog in the comic strip 'Get Fuzzy.' “Riding for the first time got my heart racing and I latched on immediately.”

Romni, who's ridden motorcycles for nearly 20 years, agrees with Blanchard that nothing compares to the solitude and sensory overload of riding.

“You can breathe in the alternating smells of freshly-cut grass and freshly-fertilized fields around you,” says Palmer, “and I love feeling the cool of the shade suddenly turn into warmth as I come out from under the trees.”

PCC Sales Team member Chris Forleo bought his 1983 Yamaha Maxim in 2010, when gas was peaking at $4 and $5 a gallon. The motorcycle, he says, has kept his pocketbook fuller and his daily work commute more enjoyable.

“You get a very different perspective of your surroundings and where you're going, which is what I love about it,” Forleo says.

PCC's Doug Brosseau was about 4-years-old and still in short pants when he started riding … as a passenger on his father's Triumph. “My dad used to bring me to pre-school on it,” he said. “I'd sit on the seat in front of him and hold on to the gas tank.”

Technical Writer Douglas Beagley is only a year or so into the motorcycle scene but says the sensation of riding reminds him of his childhood. “It takes you back to when you were 12-years-old, and you were on a bike for the first time and feel that power.

Newest to PCC's motorcycle club is Simonne Gratton. As a limber 20-something, Gratton was drawn to the streamline Kawasaki Ninja 250, more affectionately known as a “crotch rocket.”

“I always wanted a motorcycle and now I have the time to appreciate it,” says Gratton. “It handles turns really nicely on the curvy, twisty mountain roads of Vermont.”

PCC's Easy Riders:

Jay Schuster: Yamaha Road Star 1600, rider since 1996
Phil Greenwood: Kawasaki Ninja 600, rider since 1990
Simonne Gratton: 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 250, rider since February
Lynne Gratton: 1997 Honda Shadow VT600CD, rider since 1997
Chris Forleo: 1983 Yamaha Maxim, rider since 2010
Cliff Wanner: Honda VTX 1300, rider since 2002
Nancy Bean: Harley Davidson Sportster 1200, passenger since 1984
Doug Brosseau: Harley Davidson Sportster 1200, rider since diapers
Shawn Carroll: Yamaha DT175, rider since 1986
Douglas Beagley: Kawasaki Vulcan Limited Cruiser 500
Jan Blanchard: 1985 Honda Shadow, rider since 2007
Romni Palmer: Kawasaki Vulcan 750, rider since 1993
Lisa Legge: Yamaha V Star 1300, passenger since 2007