Are You Up To A Challenge?

Over on the righthand side of the blog is a link titled "Challenges", which takes you to a brief potted history of some of the "organised" schemes I've signed up over the years in an effort to get myself out on my bike a little bit more than maybe I normally would without some kind of "incentive" (if that's the right term). 

I don't know about you, but I don't actually respond very well to the concept of a "challenge". I mean, I like to have goals, but as soon as I sign up to what someone else has defined as a "challenge", I swear my sub-conscious is quickly at work to invent ways not to do it!  (I like how G.E. of EndlessVeloLove explored the whole idea of goals and resolutions in a January 2017 post -- my own experience feels very different from hers because she and I define the words "resolution" and "goals" in almost opposite ways -- but oddly enough, the end result is often the same!)

A classic example for me is the #30daysofbiking challenge that runs the full month of April. When I'm not riding my bike much, then, as much as I like the idea of "pledging" to cycle, even just a short distance, every single day, no way is that going to happen. And if I'm cycling quite a lot, then to be honest, I want a day off now and then! (And the various chronic physical difficulties I deal with often have my sports massage therapist and personal trainer reminding me that recovery is essential, that muscles can only grow stronger if they're given a chance to rest.)

A Year Of Transition

Yes, things have been a little quiet on the blog lately and an update is overdue. This post will be of most interest to friends and family living far away, and not so much to those who primarily read this blog for its cycling content. 

In the past 8 months, we somehow went from living in one family house to.... one house plus... my suddenly-empty-again London flat plus... a seaside flat that will, once probate is complete, belong to Adam. 

Our medium-to-long term plan has been to sell the house once Adam's (now grown) children fledged and find a new home of a size more appropriate to just two adults (plus approximately a <cough> number of bicycles). But the unexpected loss of my tenant and Adam's inheritance prompted a lot of re-thinking. 

The goal now is still to sell the house but, instead of buying something else, divide our time between the two flats. We can't do that immediately however because Adam still works in Harpenden, his son hasn't yet moved out (a whole 'nother story) and my flat really needs a lot of work before it can be a proper home again.

After mulling over a dizzying number of options (I can't even remember what they all were), we find ourselves nearly 3 months into a Transition Plan.