My Initial Review Of This Retirement Thing

I fully retired about 4 months ago.  Apparently I still have a small cadre of readers (you da best!) so I thought it’d be nice to give an update with my initial impressions. 

One thing to note about my situation is that I did not go from 40+ hours a week to a full retirement like many others do.  I went part time in 2017 and enjoyed almost 8 years of blissful semi-retirement by working only 20 hours a week during that time at my W2/career job.  So unlike many new retirees I’ve become very accustomed to having Tuesday afternoon to do whatever I want.  That said, being fully retired is still a change. 

Firstly, I know it’s semantics and silly, but realizing I’m retired kinda makes me ‘seem’ old.  I didn’t write “feel” old because I feel healthier than ever physically, but saying to someone “I used to do blahbiddy-blah, and now I’m retired” is a stark realization that Father Time ain’t letting up on the gas pedal. 

And I now collect a pension.  Of course that’s delightfully wonderful, and I earned it.  But again, being retired and collecting a pension – at least when I was in my 20’s or 30’s – was something for people who also had dentures, belonged to a bridge club, and wore those velcro orthopedic shoes. 

Much of this surely comes from just ending a 30+ year career with the last 29 at the same place.  That’s a long time.  I’m getting better with it, but I guess I’m just in a bit of a mental mind-f*ck with the whole thing.

Summer I’m So Going To Conquer You!

I punched out right before summer started and endless possibilities instantly came to mind.  Even though I was only working 20 hours a week prior to retiring, taking a long vacation and multiple weeks off was still a bit challenging to do.  So my mind went everywhere.  Slow travel in Croatia, anyone? 

But… my weekly routine of training was in full “game-on” mode and I was just getting to my summer racing fitness on the bike.  I realized that I was already living a pretty damn good life as a semi-retiree every year, concentrating on my health and doing some races.  Why change that right away?

So I doubled down.  But I’m in my 50’s and already ride lots of miles, as much as I should to train properly.  More miles would likely be too much load on my body. 

I doubled down instead on the other big factors – diet, sleep, and mindset.  Now I had even more time to shop for the best and healthiest food, plan workouts, and sleep to recover from them.  So I did just that.  This extra focus on recovery and nutrition pumped more life into my training rides and workouts.  By late July I was feeling better than ever. 

My main target race was in September but I signed up for another race in early August to get a gauge on where I was at.  Despite rain and challenging conditions I came in second in my age group and 5th overall in the August race.  I was stoked. 

Then, on a whim, I decided to squeeze in a trip to the western US to do some climbing and mountaineering. Seemingly not a logical thing to train for a bike race but to be honest it’s pretty good cross training.  I climbed some 14ers in California and some nice peaks in Idaho and Utah.  It was my first time out west to the big mountains in a while and I pledge to NEVER go that long again.  The big mountains to me are like a vitamin and I was deficient.  Sure the Appalachians are great, but there’s nothing like being in the alpine zone.

It was a great decision as it boosted my mindset and I came home ready to go. I realized that despite being retired and collecting a pension I won’t be shopping for those velcro orthopedic shoes any time soon. 

I lined up for my September race well trained, well fed, well rested, and with vitamin-mountain back in my body.  And, I won it!  I mentioned this in a T.G.I.F. Friday a while back so if you already congratulated me please don’t stroke my ego any more, haha. 

It was my biggest win by far and an amazing way to launch into retirement. As my blog-buddy Fritz at Retirement Manifesto commented, retirement should be looked at as a starting line.  Well, I’m off!

More Than The Bike

So what’s next?  I have lots of ideas for big trips bouncing around in my head.  I mean, lots. 

But I also still have a graphic arts business that I love.  So there’s a balance needed.  I love design.  I love when people pay for things I designed.  It’s a real joy.  To be honest I don’t need the money but it’s still great to make about $15,000 a year at an artistic pursuit.

Right now I’ll be happiest if I’m still partitioning plenty of time for that endeavor.  As mentioned many times before, artificial intelligence is slowly killing the design industry.  I really hope to be proven wrong but we’ll see.

There’s a bit of a “keep doing this while it’s there” cloud hanging over my business.  I realize this is likely just one phase of my life and I should keep enjoying making the hay while I can. 

As for cycling, I’m a bit torn.  Recent successes obviously serve to spur me on to do more, to get better.  I have riding buddies who are older than me and who are still able to get better.  But it takes a lot of work and discipline. 

One part of me wants to give it a go and turn the screw even more.  I’m a guy who was obese most of his life and never played on a sports team or had any athletic achievements.  Now, having tasted success in my 50’s I’m tempted to grab the bull by the horns and get what I can while I can. 

But I’m also a generalist, and a curious person.  There’s so much more I want to do and try and not nearly enough time for it all.  I can’t keep improving at cycling while also doing lots of backpacking, paddling, and slow travel in Central America. 

If this is my biggest problem or issue to work out then I’m a blessed person, that’s how I see it.  All good 🙂  

So that’s it for now, if you got this far thanks for reading!