Originally Posted by
Happy Feet
...Far more than gear I envy and covet time. I often say I need two lives for all the things I want to do. I can't complain but being able to just leave without worrying about commitments is way to precious too squander worrying about how fancy your horse is going to be. I like my life but if the stars aligned so that I could take off a summer to travel I would even stoop so low as to do it on a LHT ( inside joke
)
With your sensible approach to spending money and accumulating "things", you might find yourself with a good shot at retiring early (or at least still being strong and healthy when you do retire. Cycling does that for you.) Then you will have that second life for the things you really want to do. For us this includes grandchildren and gardening and piano but also lots and lots of time (and energy) for cycling together (albeit not living-on-the-bike-type touring but that's more preference and temperament than physical ability.) Retirement really is transformative if you've planned for it for many years. (Compound interest grinds slowly,....but it is forever grinding.) It's not like being 25 again....but close.