So, this is it, retirement. Or, to put it another way, the longest off-season of my life. I've ridden my final race and in a few short weeks I will be officially retired from the professional peloton.

When I made the decision that this would be my final season as a rider, I wanted to prepare myself for what comes next. And so, over the course of the year, as my mindset has changed and I've got closer to my final race, I spoke to some friends and former teammates about what to expect.

In this episode, I speak to eight people who have all adjusted to retirement – some very recently, such as Tejay van Garderen, some longer ago like David Millar. Brett Lancaster, Andreas Klier and Robert Wagner have all stayed in the sport in some way, whereas Dom Rollin has gone in a completely different direction. I also speak to Gracie Elvin and my good buddy Svein Tuft about the ups and downs of no longer being a pro athlete. What's it like to no longer be the best at something? How do we adjust to regular life? What can those who have gone before me tell me that can help me prepare for my own retirement?

This is the final episode of Life in the Peloton for 2021. I hope you've enjoyed our season of shows. Thank you for all your support and kind comments and I'll see you on the road. I'm really looking forward to finding out what life outside the peloton has in store...

Cheers,
Mitch

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Theme music
The theme music for Life in the Peloton was composed by Pete Shelley, who was lead singer of the punk band Buzzcocks. It was commissioned by the production company behind Channel 4’s coverage of the Tour de France in the 1980s and was used as the theme music for the nightly highlights show. Pete died in December 2018. We were given permission by Pete’s widow and his manager to continue using the music for the theme tune to Life in the Peloton. To hear more about the music, listen to the Andre Greipel episode of Life in the Peloton.