When I quit ski racing, I said I will never put start bib on again. Then there came one day some 4 or 5 years ago, when friend started to bug me to go for mtb marathon with him, so I registered. Of course he got cold feet week before race, but I'm to cheap to throw away registration fee, so I went... and it was fun. Sure I was nowhere near places I have been used to be on races when still actively racing, but it was cool. And from that time, I pretty much do 1 race a season every year. In mtb it's a bit easier then it would be in skiing, as in skiing I would still expect from myself to do good. With mtb, I have never been actively racing, so I don't have expectations, and I can easily go to race with "do the best you can" as the only goal. So whatever result is, if I did all in, I'm happy about
But I have been training and racing way too much in my past, to go racing today real way... that means real training etc. So it's just fun, which should be the point of recreational racing, especailly at my years (40 and something)