BEIJING — By the end of the day, his body ached all over. His ankle and back, a knee still sore from surgery. Shaun White was feeling every bit of 35 years old, worn down from a lifetime spent attacking the halfpipe, launching himself skyward, spinning and twisting and landing hard.
Riding a chairlift on a mountain in Austria, he saw the truth of it.
"The mountain was closing down and no one was around," White recalls. "I was watching the sun go down and it just hit me. I was like 'This is it. These are the signs.' "
