It's not all good. Smart EBiker makes some very good points about retirement. I think its going to take a lot of self discipline and strange as it may sound, retirement could be hard work, if done properly.

 

I probably average around 10-15 days a month at work. It's tiring and the hours can be long but I do get a lot of time off.

 

When I do, I always have a load of stuff I can do but I often end up watching the days go by and being lazy (catching up with friends and stuff).

 

I do however get cabin fever after a while and become lethargic and bored. I probably wouldn't make a great retiree unless I had a large amount of cash to fulfill some of the things I'd do if I was wealthy.

 

As mentioned. You'd need an ongoing project or you'd just fester.

Plan your retirement carefully, I speak from experience, its very strange when you don't have to put on your suit and go to work, I woke up for weeks in the routine and it has taken 8yrs to start to make sense of my new life. NOBODY is indispensable, don't for one moment think ANYBODY NEEDS you, they don't, when you have left or are dead life goes on, after your leaving do someone else will be in your office and at your desk, look at David Cameron, he is a fine example of how life moves on!

 

No preaching to people just sharing first hand experiences, money gives you choice but it certainly doesn't guarantee you happiness, maybe bursts of retail therapy but when you have everything you ever need and more, you end up lost and keep searching for the next hit of excitement. I have come to terms with the fact that I have more than enough of absolute everything, even travel, I look at the word map for the next holiday and you know what I have pretty much been there done that all around the world, so the excitement is not there, very sad but true. I have 13 engines a year to service, its just a pain in the @rse, time to start decluttering!

 

Having been to war, stared death in the face and lost good friends you are never the same, luckily I know have my fcuk off money so I do what I want, if someone asks me to do something I don't want to then I tell them to fcuk off :-) Just a shame my wife is so much younger than me (and she isn't a catalogue wife, a Northern fine girl :-)), and at this moment she still works which helps us live a very privileged life, but with a young family I am now daddy day care, I could do consultancy work but we don't need more money and I don't want to farm my children out to strangers, I only have so much life left and I want that shared with them. We have strict discipline and you know what the kids are just so happy, I don't want them to be commandos (both girls) but I don't pussy foot about, they get stuck in and help with anything around the house or on the boat, they are not spoilt cows or daddy's princesses (OK they are my princesses but you know what I mean), so they work for reward, none of this on a plate nonsense.

May I ask, are they designer children?

I work in an Electric Bike shop.

I work in an Electric Bike shop.

Its never too late to have a life (if you don't already have one), get out there and experience new things, be daring and adventurous (it doesn't need to cost a lot), this is not a drill, this is real life and its ticking away.

 

I really doubt if when lying on your death bed you wished you had fixed just one more electric bike :-)

 

Have a great day!

May I ask, are they designer children?

Definitely not, I only have ONE designer object and that is my Daimler Mercedes DESIGNER Smart eBike, we are not a chavvy family, I have even been in a Lidl shop :-)

tbh - im half tempted to go back on the tools - on my own terms.

 

I still have the tools .... i have a decent workshop and i have a van.

 

Maybe rack out the van and get a gazebo - do basic mobile repairs with RTB for more serious stuff.

 

I have a few ideas to knock out some custom stuff from the workshop and a couple of unique ways to purpose E bikes going forward so its not a total pipe dream but something ill put together in my down time i think.

 

Wont have as much money but so what . most of my hobbies can be cheap .... bike riding , running and fixing shit.

Acquiring a chronic illness at age 38 forced me to retire at 40, ten years on I still have the illness which affects all aspects of life, I'm quite severely restricted in both energy and income.

 

I try to make the most of the hand I've been dealt. Almost all my energy currently goes on race team support for my friends two children, mainly keeping the bikes running and getting out on some training rides with them.

 

The cyclocross season has just started, luckily I don't have to clean up the bikes after each race, just a bit of tinkering required from me usually.

 

Wow just found this part if the forum, some very clever and interesting people on here, I retired at 48 and I can tell you that it is not all that it is made out to be, you HAVE to have a reason to wake up in the morning or you end up going mad, I have a young family that keeps me going but I dread to think what I would have done without that.

 

My wife is based in London, Singapore, South Africa and has an office in New York, she travels the world and on occasions I have gone with her, but having retired and spent around 30% of my time abroad am happy to enjoy the UK. My only concern is that having travelled Business Class all of my life I refuse to pay that stupid amount of money for short trips such as to the Caribbean or the USA, so feel ashamed turning right when entering the aircraft nowadays I used to have a walk behind the curtain to look at the cattle class and it always smelt awful and looked dirty so I would return to the Virgin sit at bar in 1st, but now I am one of the unwashed :-( BUT then I have a spare £3,000 to spend in NY

 

So be careful what you wish for, enjoy and spend time with your children, they are precious and time goes very quickly, you are their role model and you can help mould their future, appreciate your partner. Each day is the real deal, you won't have it again, the clock is ticking, try and do a good deed every day, what goes around comes around!

 

Again, some good points in here.

 

I've always understood that I mean very little to any employer. That has always suited me well. I turn up at work, do what I'm paid to do, making sure that it is either fun or exciting, and then FO home when the pay stops. No thought of work until the pay starts again. So the actual aspect of not having a job is not an issue.

 

Both me and my wife aren't possession or image conscious. We hate the whole retail therapy thing, that's for mugs who are enslaved to the banks with their insane credit card debts. Plus, I'll have more available cash once I retire, so money doesn't worry me.

 

What I need to plan carefully is how to spend the additional time I will have when I don't go to work. At present I'm a member of a Triathlon, Running, model aircraft and recreational flying clubs. My house has a large garden which could easily keep me occupied full time from April until October, in fact the previous occupants had a full time Gardner. I love maintaining the garden and am never satisfied with the standard, so I think that's six months taken care of.

 

The winter months are more difficult. Out of triathlon season, poor weather for flying, garden dormant. The winter needs planning in more detail.

Its never too late to have a life (if you don't already have one), get out there and experience new things, be daring and adventurous (it doesn't need to cost a lot), this is not a drill, this is real life and its ticking away.

 

I really doubt if when lying on your death bed you wished you had fixed just one more electric bike

 

Have a great day!

 

Lol..I had a life once...it's highly overrated!

Acquiring a chronic illness at age 38 forced me to retire at 40, ten years on I still have the illness which affects all aspects of life, I'm quite severely restricted in both energy and income.

 

I try to make the most of the hand I've been dealt. Almost all my energy currently goes on race team support for my friends two children, mainly keeping the bikes running and getting out on some training rides with them.

 

The cyclocross season has just started, luckily I don't have to clean up the bikes after each race, just a bit of tinkering required from me usually.

 

[ATTACH=full]15511[/ATTACH]

 

I think what you do is one of the best ways to utilise time.

 

I quite like the idea of doing some voluntary work. Animal shelter help or repairing fences in a local Country Park quite appeal. Might fill some of the winter months.

Its never too late to have a life (if you don't already have one), get out there and experience new things, be daring and adventurous (it doesn't need to cost a lot), this is not a drill, this is real life and its ticking away.

 

I really doubt if when lying on your death bed you wished you had fixed just one more electric bike

 

Have a great day!

curiously, I kind of disagree. I do a job I love, but its also exhausting, and gets too much overall. Then there's what happens outside work, family, friends, in my case some sailing, loads of travelling. All of it lovely. However, amidst all of this I find myself frequently thinking with considerable (and increasing) fondness and yearning of the cycle either to or from work - its an hour of peace and freedom and reflection and sunlight and a whole parallel world of wonder. I think simple things can be invaluable and loads of allegedly spectacular activities not so.

rArtstu, as you already know I am big fan of how you are helping the children and their cycling quest, and enjoy reading about how they are getting on.

 

You have also prompted me about something that I also do, but have never even given any thought to, and even forgot to mention in my first post.

 

From when my daughter who is now nearly eighteen, started primary school, I would take days away from work, and go into school as a helper. I initially started as no other males do it, and from my understanding from teachers, the contact that I have with them is in some cases the only male contact that they ever have.

I find it so sad that the lives of so many adults is driven by earning money and working, when to me the very basics of life are being very much pushed to the side.

 

I have actually extended things further by having class visits to my garden, in order that children can draw my sculptures, whilst I explain about them.

I'm not sure who gets the most from this, but I suspect that I do.

 

For me a major part of life is about giving something back.

 

edit.. You have even made me remember another little project that I did.

 

My daughter has always loved horses, so as you do, I made the following series of stables for her. It wasn't so long before I had to make loads more for all of her friends. I guess that what I am trying to say is that you can never have enough spare time.

 

 

 

It gets worse! I also recall making about 30 of these oak deer but without the base, to give away to children at a sculpture exhibition that I did. The only condition was that they had to take away a piece of sand paper with them and that the parents would help finish them. Even doing that, I had one parent have a go at me because I wouldn't let their horrid and rude child take more than one! You can't blame the kid for being rude, they can only follow the example set by the parent, and in this case, it wasn't a good one.

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 20169 yr by EddiePJ

Yes work certainly gets in the way Eddie, illness takes away so much, and yet on the other hand allows limited opportunities for other things.

 

Their Mum and another cycling friend started an after school bike club a couple of years ago, even though they're a small school they've now got two back to back victories in the Derbyshire schools county sports finals, this year in the Italian pursuit the primary team actually posted a faster time than all the secondary school teams. Now her son has moved to secondary school they also won the cycling final.

 

With 28 straight wins this season G was a bit disappointed to come 5th in a very wet and muddy first cyclocross race of the season, she's mid pack of a 3-year age group,

 

Start grids are tightly packed as you can see here

 

Edited September 15, 20169 yr by Artstu

I so love that these children are willing to get off their backside and do something productive with their lives. Hopefully it is by their free will and not being pushed by parents.

 

Sorry to go off topic.

I so love that these children are willing to get off their backside and do something productive with their lives. Hopefully it is by their free will and not being pushed by parents.

 

Sorry to go off topic.

 

Usually parents are less pushy at cycling events than other sports. G certainly enjoys winning, understandably she doesn't like getting wet and muddy. Even I end up getting a bit muddy.

 

I have a good job really, next round this Saturday, forecast is better this week, although it was supposed to have been dry last week.

Great inspiration on here keep it going, and where can I buy an unsanded Reindeer? :-)

Some good advice and stories on this thread. It's one of the most refreshing I've read in a long time.

 

Artstu and EddiePJ, you are both very talented and generous with it too.

agree'd tillson .... so much so that yesterday i snapped.

 

cant put too much on a public forum but my company phone now looks like talky toaster and HR know where i stand on the matters. (but i did not quit)

 

Then i phoned the wife and explained what i did and she supports me 100%

 

This thread made me realise a few things - 1. Im not living in a dream world where life out side of a well paying job cannot exist (mainly because i didnt subscribe to the consumer credit lifestyle and 2. there are things in the world need doing by people who dont just follow orders blindly and are capible of free thought and innovation.

Again, some good points in here...

 

...The winter months are more difficult. Out of triathlon season, poor weather for flying, garden dormant. The winter needs planning in more detail.

S'easy go Skiing!

[mention=2339]Artstu[/mention] the following Youtube clip might well be of interest to you. It is the ten year old son of one of my mates, filmed a couple of weeks ago.

 

I might well be biased, but he certainly seems to have some talent for downhill riding.

 

Sorry wrong clip shown, now changed.

[mention=2339]Artstu[/mention] the following Youtube clip might well be of interest to you. It is the ten year old son of one of my mates, filmed a couple of weeks ago.

 

I might well be biased, but he certainly seems to have some talent for downhill riding.

 

Yes he certainly looks good, good to start young too, I imagine I'd end up like his Dad on the floor if I tried to keep.

 

I guess my friends two children don't ride MTB because I'm not keen, having said that I wasn't keen on them doing cyclocross either, but currently that's what they enjoy most and are no doubt looking forward to the upcoming winter cross season which will here very soon.

 

A lad in one of their clubs does BMX and downhill MTB and has some serious skills, Grace however still beats him at cross and they're the same age.

 

edit, ah I need to watch the right clip now, wow that's a steep and scary looking bank

 

Their Mum and another cycling friend started an after school bike club a couple of years ago, even though they're a small school they've now got two back to back victories in the Derbyshire schools county sports finals, this year in the Italian pursuit the primary team actually posted a faster time than all the secondary school teams. Now her son has moved to secondary school they also won the cycling final.

 

Buxworth school got to the county finals again this year and came away with Gold again, Grace has been on the team for all of the 4 years they've been to the county finals. Last year they came 2nd mainly due to not running the Italian pursuit in a rescheduled final. Still 3 Golds and a silver is impressive for a primary/junior school with only 80 or so pupils.

No fear! I think the fear of gravel rash got to me at about age 12... Tyres must have been a lot better back then because we did some stupid stuff on bikes on the farm on the only bikes we had: Raleigh 24" "all purpose", mudguards dynamo, chain guard, the works. Opposite the house there was a hill that must have been in the high 30's%... Of course the only brake that worked was the rear backpedal one... Kids these days have it easy: knobby tyres, suspension, disk brakes...