Since I can't ride anymore...and an update with some pics.

So like the title says, since I can't ride any more I figured I'd share some fun stuff that I've been up to and give a little update on how my leg is doing.

First...the update. Yesterday was surgery number five since breaking my leg last April. They took some bone spurs out of my ankle that had grown and debrided some arthritis. These were things that grew while being non weight bearing for months last year. Being that I'd already broken my ankle pretty badly in 2000 was a big factor in the growth. Hopefully after this, it'll be some more bearable "arthritis pain" that will be easier to control as opposed to the severe pain from the spurs coupled with bad arthritis.

Since I can't ride and my wife isn't comfortable with me jumping from airplanes any more, I've decided to check something else off my bucket list. I've been working on getting my private pilots license. Nothing will replace the thrill of motorcycles for me, but I have to confess that flying planes is pretty fun. I should have my license wrapped up this fall. I actually got to solo at just 12 or 13 hours which is very low time to be endorsed. I was hoping to have it done before surgery, but I ended up working a lot knowing I'd be out 4-6 weeks for surgery.

The other decision my wife and I made was to actually get rid of my truck. I had a Ford Raptor that I loved. But as my wife said, "the big reason for the truck was riding, and you can't right now." Put that with my daughter going to an independent high school twenty miles away each way that we have to drive her to (somewhat of a sore spot with me the whole independent school thing...have to drive her and pay tuition)...13 mpg wasn't cutting it. So away went the truck for a Subaru Crosstrek of all things. Certainly not a bad little ride and way more economical. My wife also knew I was looking at Corvettes a while back and suggested with getting rid of the truck, maybe it was time to get a sports car for me to play with. I was looking at C6 Z06'a and maybe stretching to a ZR1. When I started looking, I had an epiphany...since my early 20's I swore that in my lifetime I would own an exotic car; specifically a Lotus. After showing my wife the Lotus, she forgot about the Vette idea and was fully on board with the exotic. Everyone knows what a Corvette is. And unless you're a Corvette person, most can't tell the difference in models. A Vette is a Vette. The Lotus is unique. You know it's different. My wife's requirement...it had to be a louder color. No black. No white. No silver. It had to be a car that got attention.

Through the search we found a 2011 Lotus Evora with 750 miles on it in bright orange. I decided to go with the naturally aspirated version since it was considerably less expensive than the supercharged version and keeping my license is a requirement to keeping my career. The car goes pretty well regardless since it only weighs 3000 pounds. And a couple of fun facts...in 2011 there were only 347 Lotus Evora'a brought to the United States (which is actually a high number for most years). Mine appears to be one of nine that year in the orange color.

The only things it really needed was some stereo love since the stocker was downright horrible (even by my wife's low audio standard of "it plays music"). Off to a local shop that has experience doing custom work on unique vehicles and it has Nav, SiriusXM, an amp, new JL audio components and a small JL 8" sub in a custom foberglsss enclosure in the footwell. And we can now enjoy great music as we cruise.

It's been a fun car to own so far and my wife and I have been enjoying our Sunday rides in it. Usually on the weekend we would just drive and look at houses, explore or catch a farmers market here or there. Now we still do that, we just do it with more regularity. The best part is that she actually drives it and enjoys the car as well. It's certainly a conversation starter. The strangest conversation so far has been "what kind of car is that?" I answered saying it's a Lotus Evora. Their follow up question..."Who makes that?"

Anyway, that's what I've been up to and thought I'd provide some pictures. I still miss riding though and would give it all back to get to be back on a bike...the risk is simply too great right now for me to do so.

Hope y'all are well!

The little Piper Cherokee I'm learning to fly on. Pretty simple plane to fly that's very forgiving. Getting to fly a Cessna Saratoga from Hartford to Newport next month with a buddy that's a flight instructor too (he's a private jet pilot for his real job).


And the Lotus Evora...






Custom enclosure they made for the car.


And my Evora and my buddy's ZR1...