Milestones - past, present and future

From time to time, I've posted about the ageing process; mostly in relation to that highly personal decision of when to stop riding motorcycles. In reality, that's really a subset of what you plan to do post-retirement.  A couple of days ago, it suddenly hit me that this week, I will have been retired for 18 years; apart from a short spell of consultancy back to my old company.  That time has passed in the blink of an eye. It's probably not wise to set plans in stone as there are so many factors which can derail them.  However, having loose plans with some contingencies makes good sense.

Surprise 60th birthday party with my cherished riding mates

The decision to retire at 60 in 2008 is certainly one I haven't regretted although there were more than a few worries at the time with respect to whether it was a sound decision.  I loved the work but with ownership changes, there were clearly better ways to enjoy life.  Although financial considerations were naturally part of the decision, the major concerns revolved around the transition from a demanding career to a more leisurely lifestyle, despite having some broad plans of how to spend that time.  Jennie had her own worries, having retired some time beforehand.  Her concerns mainly centered around me hanging around the house with bugger-all to do, disrupting her personal routines!

I needn't have worried and ditto for Jennie.  The first 12 months were a mix of consulting back to my old company and getting our holiday home fit to live in permanently.  Harmony reigned in the household and still does.  Much of this is down to us having both common interests where we do stuff together, plus personal interests where we can do stuff on our own.

Moving permanently to the Coromandel Peninsula opened up the chance to build strong relationships with the local community and we both volunteered as tutors for Senior Net, an organisation which assists seniors to develop computer skills for everyday living needs.  We did this for the best part of 5 years.  Motorcycling hadn't been neglected during this time but with the twisty nature of Coromandel roads, coupled with age; there was always a plan to move to lower, lighter bikes than my Honda Blackbird.  Several bikes were test-ridden but the one which captured my soul was the Triumph Street Triple.  Choosing a particular bike is a highly personal decision but it's fair to say that the Triple was the best overall bike I've owned in 58 years of riding.

About to head off on the 2010 1000miles/1600 km in under 24 hours Rusty Nuts ride 

It was on the Street Triple that the next part of the "ageing safely" strategy was put into place by joining the Institute of Advanced Motorists to learn advanced riding skills based on UK police roadcraft. That's covered elsewhere in the blog but learning something new and being stretched is a wonderful way of staying both mentally and physically fit.  It also gave the opportunity to repay the IAM mentoring team for all their time and care by eventually becoming a mentor and Examiner with them.  Making new, lifelong friends during that time is also something which has had a massive impact on wellbeing.  I finally retired from IAM in 2021 after 11 years and retired altogether from riding in 2022/3. It was quite an easy decision as we had other established interests to keep life interesting. 

Long arm of the law - Sgt Steve Butler-Jones, another IAM mate

Travel is something we both enjoy and wherever we've travelled, most people we've met have been hospitable, caring human beings who just want to be comfortable and enjoy life. It's just politicians and dare I say it... some so-called religious groups who screw it up for everyone. 

Sweltering in 30 degrees along the Great Wall

Ballooning at dawn on the Serengeti

Mountain biking has been a lot of fun, although readers of this blog will know that it hasn't entirely been plain sailing in the quest to stay fit.  A more conservative approach to choosing safer off-road trails should ensure continued future enjoyment without the pain!  

The Medlock trail, Coromandel

Driving our classic MGB GT is also a lot of fun and was a brilliant suggestion by Jennie to keep an interest in things automotive.  Sea fishing is also something we both enjoy and it has to be admitted that Jennie normally has bragging rights over me!

A still day on the Firth of Thames among the commercial mussel farms

This has been a slightly whimsical post but on reflection, having a plan prior to retirement to keep the brain and ticking over and to keep healthy seems to have worked out fairly well for the last 18 years.  Certainly no regrets about retiring earlier than originally planned to enjoy the really important things in life and to avoid saying the "If only....." phrase.   Jennie is also really busy in her role as president of the local museum.  It's run by volunteers so I spend a bit of time helping out with maintenance and restoring old photos.  Good to put something back into the community

At the end of next year, we'll both be celebrating our 80th birthdays and there are no plans to slack off as long as the bodies stand up ok!  Retirement eventually comes to us all - maybe a bit of food for thought about how to get the most out of it?

Still involved with automotive stuff 

Thinking back to an early post....

Nearly 11 years ago back in 2011, I wrote a blog post HERE which attracted comment from well known US motorcycle author David Hough which lead to further posts and even a chapter in one of his motorcycle books.  The topic?  The impact of increasing age on motorcycling.  We discussed things we could do to safely extend one's riding career and whether we could recognise that it was perhaps time to do something else.  There are links to the wider discussion in that 2011 post.

Just before the time of the original post, I was 63 and not really planning to do anything massively different, just to keep riding pretty much the way I'd always done and keep fingers crossed.  The only nod towards getting older was to sell my heavy Honda Blackbird and buy a Street Triple.  However, the conversations with David prompted me to join the NZ branch of the UK Institute of Advanced Motorists to learn Police Roadcraft. That lead to what was genuinely the most enjoyable 10 years of a 58 year riding career, passing the Advanced Roadcraft Test, Observer (mentor) Test and ultimately becoming an Examiner.  It was a genuine shock to discover how little I knew about safe riding whilst making good progress before joining IAM.  Made lots of lifelong friends too.

IAM Observer duties on the Street Triple, circa 2014

The other thing which David Hough and I discussed was the need for a fallback interest for when we actually stop riding. That need applies to anything which has been a lifelong passion and even to retirement with little idea of how to spend your free time.  Making properly considered decisions about that can have a massive impact on one's mental and physical health.  I'm pleased to say that talking with family, close friends and even strangers plus lots of reading has given Jennie and I solid fallback interests in terms of voluntary work, travel, sea fishing and more recently, the purchase of a classic car.  With Covid limiting international travel in any meaningful sense for an extended period, the classic car was a locally-based fallback.  For the time being at least, I think we've got that side of the ageing equation reasonably well covered and David Hough deserves enormous credit for provoking some serious thought.  David and I still correspond and recently, he's also followed the same process by building a beautiful wooden rowing boat (a traditional wherry).

The KTM in 2021 - me at 74 and loving it!

So that's the medium term future reasonably well mapped with a few contingencies but what about now?  This month, I retire from IAM.  A combination of age and the relatively remote area where we live means that I don't want to spend 500km days in all weathers putting advanced riders through formal testing.  Totally comfortable with that.  Having been honoured with life membership of IAM means that I can ride with the membership on social occasions and also with other treasured friends which will help to keep standards up.  Although there are no immediate plans to stop riding, going through the future planning process has made me comfortable about making that decision with no regrets.  Another year will probably do it. No single fallback will replace riding but a combination of things should do the trick.  Ceasing the blog sort of falls into the same category.  Great fun but it's just about served its purpose.

After 6 weeks or so of owning the MGB GT, Jennie and I have been having a lot of fun exploring the Coromandel Peninsula backroads on short(ish) runs.  At present, I've been spending a fair bit of time underneath the thing greasing a myriad of grease nipples, lubricating the steering rack and having smelly old diff oil run down my arm to set up a proper maintenance schedule for the future.  The previous owner did a wonderful job of restoring the MG but he mainly used a local garage to do routine maintenance.  I use both words advisedly as to be honest, it looks like a lot of things were overlooked;  hence the preventive work being done at present.  To give another more succinct viewpoint, Jennie calls my diligence "pissing about in the garage".

Waitete Bay, Coromandel Peninsula.  Miles of nothing but sand and water

To end on an irreverent note, yesterday saw us make a 320km round trip to join fellow MG owners for the regional MG Owners Club Christmas lunch.  We're not big on large gatherings of people but being new to the club, it would be great to meet fellow members.  Crikey, except for another couple of people, we were the youngest there by some margin!  It was a weird feeling as among my motorcycling mates, I'm totally used to being the Old Fart.  A motorcycling friend (and ex-MG Roadster owner) remarked that it was lucky we were in the open air for much of the time as the smell of cabbage water and pee may have been overpowering indoors.  Irreverent indeed!  Mind you, the local organiser drily commented that he had to organise club events with pee stops for both sexes in mind.  I think we'll pass on taking part in those for a few more years! 

Alongside a 1952 MG TD and a late 50's MG Magnette

All that remains is to wish everyone all that you would wish for yourselves over the festive season and may 2022 be better for all of us than the last couple of years!