updated 12:17 p.m. ET July 25, 2005

PAU, France - Heated tennis matches with girlfriend Sheryl Crow. Having a beloved beer now and then, but watching the waistline. Playing with his children — and letting them win.

Lance Armstrong, who retires Sunday as one of the most dominant, determined and hardworking athletes in history, isn’t kidding when he calls these things “daunting.”

“You have to respect the fact it’s a new life,” Armstrong said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I don’t have a script for it.”

Armstrong earned a historic seventh straight win after Sunday’s final stage of the Tour de France. Now he is looking ahead to turning 34 in September and new horizons: everyday life, the fight against cancer and maybe — so far, it’s still just a maybe — elected office.

“To me politics are about fighting for what you believe is right,” he said Thursday. “I’ve always done that on the bike, on a purely sporting level, but also on another level.”

Armstrong knows he has plenty of time to decompress and think it over.

“I’m 34 years old and I’m retired,” Armstrong said. “So that is a little daunting. There’s a lot of life to live.

NBC SPORTS Timeline of Lance Armstrong's rise from cancer survivor to Tour de France king.

“Of course I am a little nervous about what you do, what fills your day,” he added. “I will miss day-in, day-out competition. The reality is that I don’t ever have to work again, which is a nice reality. But that’s not my character. My character is to work and to be goal oriented.”

Armstrong’s life has revolved around the Tour since his first win in 1999. A testicular cancer survivor, Armstrong will continue to fight the disease in his post-cycling career, which will also include advising Johan Bruyneel’s Discovery Channel team.

He’ll also have more free time with his rock star girlfriend.

“Sheryl and I play different sports in the winter,” he said. “One of the first things we ever played was tennis and she had me down three-love, and I was so mad. I came back 3-1, 3-2, 3-3 and she stopped talking. I ended up beating her 6-4.”

“We have swimming races and stuff. I give her a head start and I have to win ... unless I’m playing my kids. Then they can win every time.”

NBC SPORTS From Thys to Merckx to Armstrong, the Tour's greatest riders.

Armstrong has been as dominant as ever on this year’s Tour. On Friday, he maintained his comfortable lead of 2 minutes, 46 seconds over Italy’s Ivan Basso, and 3:46 on Mickael Rasmussen from Denmark.

Armstrong knows his love for beer leaves him vulnerable to the unthinkable — putting on weight.

“When you’re an athlete you’re at the top of your shape, you’re in peak physical condition, it’s a good feeling,” he said. “As you move in life you get to be 40, you put on a few pounds, you don’t feel the same.”

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