The first half of May has mainly been about the Lake District, first on a family trip, and most recently at the Fred Whitton Challenge in Grasmere.

It’s an event that my husband has done solo for the last few years, first as a rider and most recently as an artist, but this time I went with him.

What a gift.

Time in a gorgeous location, a fun shared experience, a super friendly event with incredible community spirit, the loveliest people - plus, witnessing the true power of a support system.

If you don’t know it, ‘the Fred’ is a massive cycling challenge - 112 miles of brutal, beautiful Lake District climbs. The fastest people do it in ‘just’ 6 hours, for many it can take all day.

It’s really a lot.

It’s very clearly an individual event - no one else can cycle for you. Yet it’s also a huge team effort, with a significant level of support in place to set everyone up for their own personal success.

The organisers and their 200+ volunteers had thought of everything - for both the riders and their supporters. Families and friends were there to cheer, to champion, and to be a shoulder to cry on. While lots of people came solo, many rode in pairs or groups.

It was an example of just what’s possible when a goal and the right support system come together.

So much of the time when we set ourselves a new goal or challenge, we can think we need to - or have to - or even ‘should’ - do it alone.

But most things are more of a team effort than we realise.

So, it’s useful to think about, and plan for, the support system we might need - to get started and keep going, to help when we get stuck, to champion us when we feel disheartened, to be there at the finish line.

And then to set it up, to ask for the help we need, and to offer it to others too.

We all need a support system, and people on our support team.

It doesn’t guarantee it will all work out as hoped or planned, but it does set us up for the best chance of success.

Wishing you all a week of giving and receiving the power of support,