I tend to agree with hunlan..there is a hard reality that some of us cannot for economic reasons, retire early.

So for myself the way around this..is to do my cycling and bits of painting when I can during my little free time amongst huge hunks of time sucked up by work commutes and earning a living.

Most likely by retirement, I would like to work part-time (for 1-2 days) per week and then apply my energy to personal passions. I'm a more solitary person by nature ...and do derive some contrasting human interaction ..to challenge my thoughts and how I view the world.

I have noticed for my partner who is retired (but sort of getting out of it in starting up a biz..), he has used points of my schedule to determine his cycling time, local trips and his volunteer work when I am away. Part of the reason why he meets me halfway to cycle home during warmer seasons is...it adds on more mileage cycling for him..which is what he wants. But he does all his hard cycling when I'm not around...to slow him down.