Copnall retires from pro racing - I cannot continue to do this.

Most Insightful Quote by an old Professional Cyclist

Cyclingnews.com reports that Five-time British cross country national champion Jenny Copnall has announced her retirement from professional racing. After 17 years dedicated to cycling, Copnall counts 14 national championship medals in the cross country and marathon disciplines. She also has one marathon national championship title and five cross country national series titles.

You can read the full story here, but I urge you to consider the depth of understanding and self-awareness Copnall reveals in the following quote [emphasis mine], which is the first of its kind (that I know of) to be uttered by an old professional cyclist who still has form. Remember, most of us will try to fend-off retirement until we can no longer pedal, but even then we still can't escape "normalcy" and are forced to confront the reality of a very new, different world when our final team takes back its bike.Not Copnall, who chirps:

"While I feel I could train like this forever, and still love getting out for hours whatever the weather, I also know that, in order to make the transition from athlete to normal life, I cannot continue to do this."

Copnall goes on to casually state that she will limit her riding to a few hours per week, might race if the weather's nice, but will direct her time and energy primarily to developing several cycling-related projects, including a coaching consultancy - all the while blissfully unaware of the sage-like wisdom and knowledge she's dropped onto Cyclingnews.com.