When do you quit riding?
Somehow more than 6 months passed in between posts. And my loyal readers (all 3 of you), deserve an explanation.
After coming back from a long summer vacation with my family, I worked my butt off for several months at the office, preparing for 2 big events.
First, I had shoulder surgery in November…a tear of the rotator cuff being another gift from my deer-related crash of 2024. Fortunately, the surgery went well, and I’m 90% recovered.
Second, I decided to retire, at the tender age of 57. I haven’t quite recovered from that, though.
My health hasn’t been the best these last several years, with a near death experience from illness back in 2019. I’d devoted over 3 decades to my career as a sports medicine doctor. I loved my work…still do. It’s all I ever wanted to do, since the age of 4. But my poor health just wasn’t going to let me continue. A tough decision, for sure.
The first few months of “retirement” were spent in a sling post-op, so it just felt like sick leave to begin with. Then, slowly, as I was able to do more, but had little to do, so I had to start figuring out new routines. Still working on that. I’m not really sure what “retirement” is going to be like. It’s just too new for me to have a handle on it. But there’s definitely a lot of motorcycle related ‘stuff’ in my plans…more on all of that later.
And, of course, this major change in my life got me thinking…when do you quit riding?
The obvious answer is…NEVER! I started riding in my last year of medical school, so it’s been 34 glorious years. On my motorcycle trip in Morocco last year, one of my fellow riders was 82 years old. Rock on, brother! 80 is the new 60, right?
There may be a shift to smaller bikes, or a 3 wheeler, and shorter rides rather than cross country expeditions, but I hope that I’ll continue to find some way to keep riding. I hope that I’ll still be strong enough to lift a bike off the kickstand. I hope that I’ll still have enough brain power left to remember where I’m going after I get the bike started! I hope that I can keep feeling the wind on my chest, seeing the road unfolding in front of me.
Hope is life’s most powerful fuel.
