Sergent is sold on his new career

Aside from dealing with a lengthy winter, life as a retired sportsman is looking good for Jesse Sergent.

The two-time Olympic bronze medallist has successfully made the transition from professional cyclist to real estate agent.

One year on from announcing his retirement, Sergent said he had no regrets about how his cycling career turned out, nor his decision to move on.

‘‘It has been really good being back home and reconnecting with a lot of people. I have really enjoyed it,’’ Sergent, who is now working for Professionals in Palmerston North, said.

‘‘It has definitely been different. But not having to go out and ride your bike every day when the weather is bad and when you don’t really feel like it has been nice as well. When you wake up and it is bad weather, it is kind of like a little bit of a relief that you don’t have to go out and ride five hours.’’

After announcing his retirement, a chat with friend and fellow former cyclist Lee Vertongen convinced him to try real estate.

‘‘I am close friends with Lee and I had sold a house and bought a house from him and all that and there was always this little bit of interest there. Looking back I never thought it was something I was going to do, but to be honest, I never really looked at anything beyond cycling.’’

Sergent said there were aspects of professional cycling that could be related back into real estate.

‘‘With professional cycling you have to be ready to put things on hold and drop things at one phone call. In cycling sometimes I would get a phone call at eight o’ clock at night that someone has fallen sick and I have to be on a plane at 6am tomorrow morning... and two days later you are in a race that you never thought you were going to be in,’’ he said.

‘‘Just having that mindset, being ready to go, ready to drop everything to make it happen, it is the same in real estate.’’

Sergent had been based in Spain as a professional rider, so the weather has been a big change for the 29-year-old now he is home.

‘‘Winter seems a lot longer that it was. For some reason I thought it was three months of bad weather, but it turns out it is probably more like eight months.’’

Looking back on his illustrious

"It has been really good being back home and reconnecting with a lot of people. I have really enjoyed it." Jesse Sergent

cycling career, Sergent said picking up his first Olympic medal in the team pursuit in Beijing in 2008 was the standout moment.

‘‘That was the one time that it was so out there for me it was almost a bit of a blur. It was just mind-blowing for me. It was something that I wanted to do, but I never really thought could happen. For me, that changed everything.’’

Leaving cycling was not a snap decision for Sergent. He said it was something that he had contemplated for a while.

‘‘Me and my wife were ready for it - to come home. It had been something that I thought about for a long time. I tried to make some changes in cycling and mix it up to refresh it all and bring something back into it,’’ he said.

‘‘The longer I was a professional cyclist, the further away it got to why I rode a bike. It just slowly became something that I did not enjoy and a real job. Cycling had never been about that for me.’’

But retirement had not meant getting rid of his bike.

‘‘I am still riding, but just socially with friends, and actually enjoying it. It has been real refreshing to go back to what it used to be - just riding with mates, hanging out and just having fun riding bikes without being so serious and programmed almost.’’