Since we last spoke…

A lot has happened since we last spoke. Our household has been blessed with a new baby girl, Lexi Payton. Her lil’ smile has a way of brightening up the whole house. At the ride last year Lexi was still in Mommy's tummy.

Work has changed too. I moved into a new role just after the ride. I am now managing the Applications group of High Speed Data Converters at Texas Instruments. I am quite fortunate to work with a great team in a dynamic group.

I felt well prepared for the ride last year but was humbled by my personal performance. Perhaps it was the rain…perhaps it was the mountains…perhaps it was that I was suffering with Pertussis (Whooping Cough) that took about six months to fully recover from.

With all that going on I had not been on the bike since the ride. I got back on the saddle on New Year’s Day. I figured I could start off more or less where I finished off. Wrong! I had lost a lot in the four months of inactivity.

In the latter part of February I got serious again about training. With the baby and more stuff going on at work it is difficult to find the time, but I am trying to ride at least twice a week. This year’s location will have some serious climbs which will be quite a challenge for me. More training challenges lie ahead.