Chuck was born and raised in California. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. "The City" remains his favorite city in the world and he remains a loyal 49ers fan. He went to high school at Army-Navy Academy in Carlsbad (just north of San Diego) and college at Claremont Men's College (although it's no longer a men's college and now named Claremont McKenna College) outside of Los Angeles. He moved to Washington, DC in 1980 (to do his graduate work at George Washington University) and has lived in the area ever since
.
Baby Chuck with mom and
dad at the old house on Belvedere in San Francisco.
Chuck is the youngest of three
children (older sister Joannalynn and older brother Rich) of Max
and Alice Peņa. He is a senior
defense policy analyst at the Cato
Institute, a libertarian "think
tank" in Washington, DC.
Chuck's bike racing career started at an early age
Much of Chuck's spare time used to
be spent riding and racing bicycles, but he is now
"retired" from competitive cycling. He still rides, but
just for fun, and is still a member of a bike club - Lanterne
Rouge. His road bike is a custom Hollands Signature
frameset (upgraded with a Kinesis carbon fiber fork) which is
painted in an updated 90s retro-Eddy Merckx Molteni orange paint
scheme. His other bike – a Bridgestone MB-2 equipped with a Rock
Shox Indy SL fork –
has since become Karen's commuter/mountain bike.
Chuck's newest two-wheeled adventure is motorcycling. He has taken the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) class and also attended (May 2000) Keith Code's California Superbike School (at Virginia International Raceway). Chuck is the former owner of a 1993 Suzuki GSXR 750, commonly referred to as a "Gixxer", aka crotch rocket, rice burner, canyon carver, death ride, widowmaker, slider, hanger and dragger, and scratcher, just to name a few. With it's distinctive double-cradle frame (until replaced by the current aluminum perimeter frame in '96), his vintage Gixxer was an oldie but a goodie. In its day, the '93 GSXR was near the top of the heap – developing 105 hp, a top speed of 158 mph, and 11.29 second quarter-miles @ 120 mph (according to British motorcycling magazine Performance Bikes). And here's what Fast Bikes (another British publication) had to say about the GSXR: "Always the bad boy nutter's bike the GSXR has never ceased to be the seminal 750... 1993 and the GSXR boasted more mid corner lean than just about any bike in production."
R.I.P.
1993 Suzuki GSXR 750
January 1999 to March 2001
Chuck's new ride is a 1993 Yamaha FZR600 (another oldie but goodie sportbike).
In his previous life, Chuck was a competitive tennis player, ski racer, and hack golfer (his current handicap is 14). And whenever he has the chance, he enjoys shooting in PPC (Police Pistol Combat) and IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) matches at the NRA Range. He has also given long-range shooting a try (as a member of the Quantico Shooting Club).
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