In addition to the issue of solitary exercise, there is the little matter of repetition. Somebody who travels and boondocks on public lands gets quite spoiled when it comes to sports like mountain biking and hiking: they're sleeping right in the middle of it. They can bring their dog along.
Each trip is a little different. But to go back to repetitive routes as a local-yokel, a townie, yikes! That is why I opened up to photography and birding; it creates differences between one trip and the next.
I like using feet for transportation since it is killing two birds with one stone (oops); it provides economical transportation as well as exercise, without making exercise contrived and artificial. Exercise is too easy to rebel against when you try to impose it on yourself by self-nagging. But walking is too mild; it's not even aerobic unless you act like a speed walker, swinging away with your arms. Maybe I should be open to that idea, but right now it just looks too silly. That is the great advantage to cycling: you can go further, faster, and simply must huff and puff when you are going up hills, no matter how lazy you might feel. Safety is the great drawback.
I never did enough running earlier in life to screw up my knees. Even though many runners develop knee problems in middle age, that might not be a problem if I don't overdo it. Running for the sake of running always bored me so maybe I should run errands, literally, in cool weather; and then walk home, carrying the bags. Now that I finally have a portable music gadget, it might not be so boring.
The advantages of swimming are obvious, and I used to enjoy swimming in the old days. But it only appeals in winter when my skin is having troubles enough, even without the Clorox. Pool hours are typically ridiculous.
Now, what about what started me thinking about this in the first place? I could try harder to find people with compatible schedules. But there is no point in fooling myself about being more open to riding with a club too late on summer mornings and too early on winter mornings.
When I was newer at the retirement racket, it bothered me that I had to exercise alone. An early retiree is between a rock and a hard place: working slugs have the energy to exercise, but no time. Meanwhile conventional retirees (age 65) are too old to do anything. But experience has taught me to just accept that that's the way things are. Besides, dogs make better exercise buddies than people.
