Retirement Activities He Has Tried

Here are some retirement activities that Retireman has already tried. As this project progresses, this list will become larger and larger and the big list will include more and more links to stories and videos. Some larger things will get their own page, smaller ones will end up here. But the “Big List” will have links to everything.

Tom and Laurence at the gym — **Hitting The Gym:** RetireMan likes working out and talking to his friends at the gym. He goes all the time, almost every day. He has a saying “Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do” (rating: 10/10, Cost: $100 per month, difficulty: easy, frequency: daily)

**Shark Fishing:** Retireman went Shark Fishing. It was exciting, and he and his buddies caught a shark. That was really thrilling but shark fishing required a trained guide and a lot of gear. The guide used a giant drone to drop the baited hook 450 yards from shore. That level of complexity makes shark fishing a “not very often” activity for RetireMan. (rating 8/10, cost: $500 per night, difficulty: moderately hard, frequency: rare)

retireman tries small engine repair — **Volunteer Repairman:** RetireMan volunteered to fix a bunch of small engines. Using a skill he already possessed and applying that skill for a great cause, he had a fun time. If only he could do that more often, but this was sort of a once-in-a-long-time deal. (rating 9/10, cost: $0, difficulty: requires a skill, frequency: rare)

surfing lesson — **Surfing:** RetireMan took surf lessons at The Pit, his local surf shop, and started surfing. This was his favorite retirement activity so far. He really enjoyed every aspect of surfing, from the natural environment, the power of the waves, the quality of the workout, and the thrill of riding a wave. Surfing is the best! He is convinced he will surf until his body will no longer let him. (rating 10/10, cost: $100 for lesson, $500 for surfboard, free after that, difficulty: very hard, frequency: can be almost daily)

is mountainbiking a good retirement activity — **Mountain Biking.** Through the generosity of Retireman’s friend Emil, he was able to try mountain biking with modern equipment. He enjoyed it and it was good exercise, but the commitment to acquire and maintain the bike didn’t seem worth the thrill. Also, good mountain bike trails are far from Retireman’s house, so using up a bunch of gas to ride a bicycle seemed funny. The final reason that mountain biking will not be RetireMan’s activity of choice, his nuts go numb if he sits on a bike seat for more than 30 minutes. “It’s not a good feeling”

mountain biking in retirement — Many thanks to Emil for giving us a great demonstration of the sport. (rating 6/10, cost: $2000 for a nice bike and gear, difficulty: hard, frequency: more than once a week)

going to charity events in retirement — **Going to charity events** is a fun way to spend retirement. It combines generosity, a date with your spouse, meeting generous people, and typically a nice meal or a fun time. RetireMan also likes silent auctions because they are exciting and you win prizes that are donated by companies that are run by generous people. Retireman also owns a tuxedo already, so attending a black tie event is a cinch. (rating: 10/10, cost: $100 or much more per night, difficulty: easy, frequency: every two months?)

**Vegetable Gardening:** RetireMan said: “My daughter and I built a garden. We initially did this because we had an ugly cement pad where a hot tub once lived. We built some raised beds and planted some seedlings. We have done this for three years now and although we don’t spend much time on it, there is a joy to gardening, to watching things you planted grow.” (rating: 5/10, cost: $200 per year to grow $50 worth of produce, difficulty: medium, frequency: weekly)

solar eclipse — **Astronomy???** Retireman took a long boat trip so that he and his friend Charlie could observe the total eclipse of the sun in 2024. It was worth the effort and a stunning thing to see. He had seen a partial eclipse in the past, but the totality of the eclipse was profoundly different and deserves your effort to try to see it. (rating: 8/10, cost: free, difficulty: you have to be in the right place at the right time…literally, frequency: once every 15 years or so!)

indycar fan — **Become a Super Fan:** Becoming a superfan of something was more fun than Retireman expected. He chose Indycar, a series that he had been watching for decades, but he dove in completely. RetireMan really enjoyed attending races, meeting the drivers, and he even got to ride in a 2-seat Indycar. Who is his driver you might ask? He is a superfan of Felix Rosenqvist, whom Retireman has met on multiple occasions. Being a superfan has been a blast (rating: 9/10, cost: up to $3,000 per year, difficulty: easy, frequency: Indycar races 17 times per year, other sports vary)

indycar superfan — **Become a Super Fan:** Becoming a superfan of something was more fun than Retireman expected. He chose Indycar, a series that he had been watching for decades, but he dove in completely. RetireMan really enjoyed attending races, meeting the drivers, and he even got to ride in a 2-seat Indycar. Who is his driver you might ask? He is a superfan of Felix Rosenqvist, whom Retireman has met on multiple occasions. Being a superfan has been a blast (rating: 9/10, cost: up to $3,000 per year, difficulty: easy, frequency: Indycar races 17 times per year, other sports vary)

driving the country's best roads — **Driving Cool Cars on Cool Roads**: Retireman was invited by his friend Larry to join a group of car enthusiasts to drive some of the country’s best and twistiest roads. It was amazing, but a little on the risky side. I guess you could do this in any car, but this group was people with nicer cars (rating: 9/10, cost: BIG bucks, difficulty: moderate, frequency: 3 days per year)

**Museums:** Retireman enjoys visiting museums. Museums are like having a friend that knows all about cool stuff and then they choose the coolest things, collect them, and then tell you all about them. When I was younger I did not have the patience to enjoy them to the fullest, but now that we are older museums have a lot more appeal. This picture is from the Dallara race car factory museum where they let RetireMan sit in the race car where he made “vroom vroom” noises. (rating: 7/10, cost: $10-$50, difficulty: easy, frequency: monthly?)

**Adjustable Bed:** RetireMan bought an adjustable bed! Does that count as a retirement activity? It should. He doesn’t currently have a bad back, nor does he have mobility issues, even his acid-reflux isn’t that bad. But when he and his wife bought a beach house they needed to buy a bed for it. RetireMan chose an adjustable bed. Getting a head start on comfort is wonderful. Extra thanks to my buddies Matt and Robert for helping assemble it. (rating 9/10, cost: $2,000, difficulty: easy, frequency: 8 hours every single day)

I bought an adjustable bed — **Adjustable Bed:** RetireMan bought an adjustable bed! Does that count as a retirement activity? It should. He doesn’t currently have a bad back, nor does he have mobility issues, even his acid-reflux isn’t that bad. But when he and his wife bought a beach house they needed to buy a bed for it. RetireMan chose an adjustable bed. Getting a head start on comfort is wonderful. Extra thanks to my buddies Matt and Robert for helping assemble it. (rating 9/10, cost: $2,000, difficulty: easy, frequency: 8 hours every single day)

Political Activism – When I was younger and busier I could never attend protests or demonstration, but now I have time, so I think it is time to give a voice to people who don’t have the time to get out there. My wife and I are not fans of what was happening to our government. An unelected person is gutting services that he knows little about. Also, he is not trustworthy. We made signs and attended a protest. We met nice people and gave a visible presence to what others are feeling. Cost: $0. Difficulty: easy if you have the time. Frequency: hopefully not often. Rating: 7/10.

Gaming: I never really thought I would be a “gamer” although I did play video games when I was younger, I just didn’t see myself doing a bunch of it in retirement. One thing I love though is racing, and when a “rent-a-simulator” place opened up near our house my son and I went. You can rent a higher-end simulator for about $40 per hour here. I figured this would be a good way to determine if I should invest in such a piece of hardware.

I enjoyed driving the simulator and my son did as well. But what I realized is that I would never do it very often and I also don’t want to allocate the space required for a big simulator. I will let sim-racing be a hobby for others. Cost: $40 per hour or $12,000 once. Time required: Lots. Difficulty: Moderate. Rating: 7/10.

Retireman with his monkey bike and friends

Motorcycling: Before I had kids motorcycling was my main hobby. It was almost an obsession. Motorcycling and I had a pretty great love affair. I’ve ridden a motorcycle in all 50 states, I have raced them on road courses, motocross tracks, through the woods, on dirt tracks, and even on the ice! But Dads have to look out for their youngsters and you can’t get injured, so motorcycling took a back seat.

Now that my youngest kids are done with high school, I have decided to get back into motorcycling in retirement. I’m doing so in a fun way. My friends and I have bought “Monkey Bikes” and we are participating in the Great American Monkey 1000. Here is a picture from our first team ride. It has been great getting back on a motorcycle but I imagine it feels great to get back anything you loved before you had a lot of responsibilities.
Motorcycling: Rating 9/10 (-1 for danger), Cost: $3,500
Getting back to something you used to love: Rating 10/10

What else has he done? What else does he plan to do? See the big list here.