Raced for years with former Olympic riders, Cat 1's, wannabees, ego driven posuers and Super Freds. Won some big races, "Missed by THAT much" in quite a few more, rode myself inside out, too many miles in training, ate insane amounts of food, spent too much money I really didn't have.
Lost too much precious family time, dragged the wife and kids around to too many out of town races, too obsessive about everything cycling/racing. Spent way too much time looking at myself in the mirror, (but man, those calves looked AWESOME), and so on and so on.......

Now, I don't race, but Sat morn Hammerfests are as challenging as racing, I keep fit, get home mid morning...exhausted, still can beat most guys who race Masters AND I don't have to waste all day Sat worrying about whether I'll win $20 and a plastic trophy that changes shape in the trophy cabinet when the weather gets hot.