Home on the range

Back home for the holdiays and I could not be any happier. Christmas has come and gone. Several bike related articles of clothing and a few tools were received and I managed to give out a few as well.

It is very unfortunate that Jenny was struck with a stomach virus the day after we arrived home and she is just not starting to recover. She has a lot of catching up to do...

I have been out skiing several times to get in some solid training. Ben and I hit up some night skiing on the North Loop trail in St. Cloud. We skiied on Sunday night in the fresh snow. It was the fastest snow I have ever skiied on and I felt like I didn't even have to work. Next day I went to the golf course on Snelling and Montreal and spent a couple of hours there. I was just about to slit my wrists in boredom when a guy who had already lapped me once came back up and started talking. He was asking a lot about the bike scene and said he had just moved from Golden, CO. He seemed like and solid dude and mentioned riding on the Jamba Juice team with Dougo back in the day... Also hit up the Quarry Park for some more lap skiing. Trail was pretty decent and Ben and I had fun. Hope the Grandstay rider didn't sustain any lasting bruises from the fall by the lot... I apologize if my trying to get your attention caused the pile up...

Today I head out to Highland Park for some good groomed trails. Ben waxed my skis at QBP so I am looking forward to some fast conditions.

It is just our luck that we leave montana for 10 days and it has been getting nailed by storm after storm... Bridger Bowl had 17" overnight. I hope the pattern continues when we get back.

I watched my dad dispense justice in the courtroom yesterday. I would guess that if I ever had to make a court appearance I would want to face my dad. He was always calm, collected and appeared very fair. I also witnessed an incredible display of mullet plumage. I saw the high and tight, flat-top mullet, the bleached Hair Band mullet, the Camaro Mullet and last-but-not-least the "I am going bald but still maintaining my mullet" mullet. Beautiful.

Hope you are all enjoying the holidays. Pictures to be posted later...

I'm sorry, So sorry....

I would like to formally apologize to my brother Ben for mocking him on my blog. Hopefully he doesn't start a civil suit against me mental anguish.

Sorry Ben. You are really smart, you are really good at stuff and gosh darn it, people like you.
I think Bens retention of all facts, no matter how stupid and trivial, is something special.

Love you Bro!

----Troy

Tis the season....

For the first time in years I am actually losing weight around Christmas time! I am slowly dropping a pound a week. No more desperately losing weight in the spring. Scored a few more days of paid vacation at work so the bike racing calander is looking good this coming year. I should be in MN for a couple of big races.

Bozeman has a good layer of snow on the ground now and it doesn't look like it will be leaving for a while. Going to try and break out the CC skis this weekend. Scored a free season pass for Big Sky so I will spring for the Long Mountain Ranch CC season pass. Powder skiing in the morning and training all afternoon. Perfect.

I have a lot of Chrismas shopping to do. Typical that I don't have much accomplished at this point.

Thanksgiving was awesome with the family. Spent two days at the cabin and had a great scavenger hunt in the woods. Of course my brother won. Ben also won at knowing more crappy pop culture BS than anyone else in the family. The kid even knows the pitch line for Mabilene products. Make fun of him....

The past couple of weeks have been crazy at work. I spent 120 hours on one project in the last 15 days. Handed it in to the city last night so now the waiting game begins. I think work is going to be insane until the end of January. After that I am hoping for a big slow down.

Hope to see some bike homies around Christmas. Just wondering if the Cross bike should be brought home or not? Any insight? Ben, is there a loner I could use? I think I will just bank on bringing the CC skis home and the bike situation will hopefully take care of itself...

See ya'll soon.....

One step forward and two steps back....

November first signaled the start of a new season. I only rode my road bike on Tuesday nights after July 1st and spent that balance of my weeks on the mtn bike. The last month has seen a few days on the cross bike but that pretty much ended after the St. Cloud race. I have really enjoyed the last month of beer, steak and slacking.

Facing up to the fact that I want to ride a lot better than this year I have started over with training and have refocused my diet and my attitude. I am stoked that I am only 5 pounds over my race weight now, so with some dedication I should be firing on all cylinders when spring rolls around.

Today started as a great day with sunshine and 60 degrees and a howling wind from the southwest. I rolled out through Gooch Hill, down the south side and into the foothills along the Gallatin Range. Next up was Hyaltie Canyon. About half way up I was open mouthed and gasping for air when I hit some black ice and went down hard. My knee and shoulder took the whole fall and both are a bit sore. My knee took the worst of it and is now missing a nice scoop of flesh. It's deep enough to need stiches but its too wide to do anything.

In other news..... nada. My family seems to be doing well. My brother, sister and dad are all up north this weekend trying to get deer and my mom is holding down the fort in St. Cloud. Liz continues to excell at Grad School and Ben is seeking more opportunity at QBP. It's great that they have both found something they are excited about.

My mom arrives on Thursday for a 4 day visit. We will be up at the condo for the weekend and will be trying out the new Brewery located in the meadow village. Mulv got a preview yesterday and said it is the best spot in the meadow so far. Town Center is also coming to life now that there are buildings springing up. There is now GREAT Thai food, a good bakery and Choppers Bar and Grill is opening in the spring along with a Chinese restaurant. It's about time we don't have to hang out at Moonlight to have some decent apprais. Big Sky Resort is also undergoing transformation as some of our design work is actually being built. The Village Center 1 is almost complete and our outdoor plaza is looking stellar. I will post some pictures after next weekend. Big Sky is finally going to be a fun place to hang out after skiing. The next 5 years are going to be a really big change and I think Big Sky will really make a name for itself.

The flakes are starting to fly so people are getting the ski bug. I am not quite there yet. It takes a really big snow fall to get me into skiing again. I will get my pass to Lone Mountain Ranch again this year and I am going to do some racing in West Yellowstone. That should help keep my motivation high.

Our next trip to Minnesota is for Thanksgiving. We will be at our cabin for 2.5 days and then back to St. Paul to hang out with Jennys parents. I think we are going out for a Sushi Blowout (a Mulvey family tradition). I am very excited. This will be my first big sushi meal since I had my throat fixed. Hopefull I won't "spritz" Jennys dad this time around. Ha. Ha.

I am already looking forward to Christmas when I will be in MN for 11 days. There should be some good riding and skiing to be done if the weather cooperates.

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. Peace Out!!

Brotha man

One of the most awesome things in the last couple of years has been watching my bro get way into biking. I have watched him go from huffing up Buck Ridge in Montana to kicking some serious ass on his aero wind slicing machine. He has taught me that rocking out on a single speed can be fun and that small BMC frames really do fit me (and that beer and pizza can be good pre race meals)....

I am psyched to see my brother racing and kicking some butt along the way. We are starting our winter training plans so next year people won't just be saying "Crap, it's the Scherer brothers" because we are slow and get in their way......

Thanks for all the awesome times on the bikes.......

Some more pics....

Wow..... I did not do well at the races........

The main reason for being home was to see my dear mom and celebrate her birthday. It was an awesome time and it's always worth the airfare to see my mom crying with joy looking like Tammy Fay Baker having an epiphany and waving her arms like an enraged baboon. LOVE YOU MOM!!!

The bonus part of the weekend were two bike races that I successfully didn't have to suffer all the way through. Bonked in the Mtn Bike race (thanks in part to ruining the disc brake on Mikes Guci Team bike) and then blew up the rear wheel on my Strong just three laps into the race. Beter luck next year I hope.....

This is what bonking at the start line looks like...

This isn't a look of determination. This is "I don't have my glasses on and I can't see sh*t in these shadowy woods and all the Comp riders are passing me and this stupid person is taking a picture of me and I bet in 5 seconds I am going to bail and I can hear people chearing just ahead in the rock garden and I bet I am going to fall in front of everyone and make an ass of myself and I feel like I am going to barf". That's the look I have.....

more pics

Squaw Hyalite Divide




After 6.5 hours on the bike...















Fairy Lake

Hyalite Resevoir

Picture time

Where in the world is Troy????????????

I just flew into bozeman and boy are my arms tired.............. Thanks folks, I'll be here all night........

Well now that summer has come and gone I have a lot of typing and picture posting to do.

Here's a quick recap:

• Rented a firetower for a weekend, hung out in an oldgrowth Cedar forest and watched tanker planes dive bomb a forest fire
• Went back to MN for the St. Cloud Omnium and found out that I am really only a Cat 2 level rider for a couple days every year. The St. Cloud races weren't those days....
• Went on several epic mountain bike rides wth Ryan and discovered what "hike a bike" really means. Some of the most beautiful scnerey in Montana.
• Hung out in Jackson Hole and went to an incredible wedding for our friends Pete and Deb
• Went back to MN for my moms surprise BD party.
• Raced in one mtn bike race and one cyclocross race in St. Cloud. Dropped out of the mtn race and broke my rear wheel in the CX race. Oh well..........
• Worked a lot and didn't train very much. I am now overweight and undertrained. Time to get back on the horse.........

Lots of pictures to follow...........

Le Tour

Both Jenny and I have created our tour teams for the 2007 Fantasy Cycling Tour de France on Cyclingnews.com. Anyone else?

I don't know how our teams will stack up. It's expensive to buy good riders. I can't believe the time I put in to making these two fake teams. And now, looking back, I don't even know if I did a good job. Crap! Oh well, it's just a game......right?

No news on Landis yet...no big surprise. I am sure that some official will run up to the sign in table panting and waving their arms around saying they have the leaked decision from the arbitration panel. That way we can all start off the tour on a really sour note. Then again, my brother pointed out that no government official would be caught doing work on a Saturday, not even leaking a big story, so maybe we all get to wait until monday for news.

Jennys Baby.......

She's not quite done (still waiting on a fork, rim strips and pedals) but she's coming together. Mulv is very excited to try out the cross bike and we will soon be commuting to work every day via two wheels.

Shout out

Check out the best blog ever...........

www.bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com

Scrapper bike.........where do I get one?

Think Strong could fabricate one?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=geIsWq5xOSE

The updates are coming fast and furious!!!!!!!

Since returning from the honeymoon Mulv and I have been racking up the fun weekends. We have gone camping twice up in Hyalite, gone on some great mountain bike rides and cooked some great meals at home. So far so good.....

It is hard to remember a lot of what has gone on in the last month so I will just share some photos from the last few weeks. Hope everyone living on the Mississippi is doing well!!!!!!!

I will try and see some of you when I am home to provide pack fodder for the real racers at the St. Cloud Omnium and criterium. Just don't laugh when you see me off the back, I really am trying........

Introducing.........

My new baby. Well, not completely new. New frame and fork. What a difference it makes. Once you go custom you will never go back. Expensive layers of carbon fiber and composites can't hold a candle to this TI rocket. I feel kind of stupid talking about it so I am going to stop. I will just say that I have never been happier with a bike. Get one. John got one and he can't say enough good things, I got one with the same result and now Ryan has one on order. Coincidence..... I think not.

Please ignore the offending white bottle cages, I know they are terrible.

Belize? I think I swung through there once.....

Yeah, nothing like being a month behind on the blogging (althouth this is significantly more up-to-date than a certain Santa Nube bike shop owner).

Belize.....go there. Enough said. Hot, clear water, great people, great food, etc..etc...

Mulv and I didn't do much except lie on the beach for six days. We did manage a full day trip out snorkeling which was killer. We saw 6 sharks, several huge sea turtles, jelly fish and innumberable exotic fishies.

The Turtle Inn was over the top and worth every penny. We were waited on at every step without feeling like we were being pressured to buy drinks or food. Can't recomend this place highly enough.

The beach at the Turtle Inn

Snorkeling day

Iguana

Cottage 2: Home sweet home

Outdoor shower in the private garden. Notice the bamboo spigot sticking out of the rock wall.

Flowers on the bed when we arrived

Married Life

I know you have all been on pins and needles waiting for an update so here is the first of many in the next couple of days.

I am married. Took the plunge, hooked up to the ball-and-chain, got hooked, hitched, taken........

Couldn't be happier and married life is addly similar to the life I was living before except now I can rest assured Jenny isn't going to run off with that good looking diving instructor from Belize.....

The days leading up the wedding were a blur and I don't remember too much except that there was a lot more to do last second than any of us anticipated.

The ceremony itself was short, sweet and fun. My dad did an awesome job with the service and all of our friends were in attendance. My only dissapointment was that the night went so fast. I feel like I hardly talked to anyone and I know for a fact all I did was talk the whole night. How does that work?

The next day was a quite brunch at jennys parents house and then off to Belize the next morning.

More about that later.................

Teaser........

Cabin Retreat

Two weekends ago Mulv and I headed north of Bozeman to a forest service cabin in a canyon next to a creek. It was awesome. We made food, drank wine, read books and slept a lot. We were worn out from work and had to gather some energy. It was a great getaway and felt like we were on a major vacation despite being only and hour and a half from Bozeman.

We will be visiting several more times before the summer is out.

Bechtle Slade Cycling Team is kicking ass so far this year. We have placed 1st or 2nd in every race and last race we had 4 guys in the top ten, best of any team around!

It's the Final Countdown

Been awhile since I last checked in. I can hardly remember what the last few weeks have been like. I have started racing, visited Minnesota, been stressed at work, riden a lot of miles and connected with long lost friends. It has been stressful and also really fun.

Jenny and I are getting married two weeks from today and our days for the next two weeks are booked solid. The wedding is going to be a blast and everything is falling in to place nicely. Big thanks to our Parents who remain the calm in the storm and are solely responsible for making this happen. I love you all so much!!

Biking has been going as well as can be expected. Considering that my only speed work during the week has been at the races I think I am putting in some good efforts. Ryan continues to be the early season superman. Ryan has raced two out of three races and placed 1st and 2nd. I am a bit further back with 6th and 8th and an unkown placing in the TT. What I am happy to report is that I shaved 1.5 minutes off of my 20k TT. That is a huge step forward for me and my sustained power output.

Jenny and I have been hitting the roads quite a bit in our new team kits; getting in some good LSD training (Long, Slow Distance).

Our team was featured in the local rag this week and we have been getting a lot of positive feedback from our volunteer efforts in the community. Team Bechtle Slade is running the Tuesday night TT as well as the upcoming Kids Bike Rodeo. Big UPs to Paul for running the show.

Last weekend we were in St. Paul for the wedding of one of my best friends in college. It was a great time and a beautiful ceremony at the St. Paul Cathedral. He is making a heroic effort to be at my wedding in two weeks. He lives in London and came to St. Paul for his wedding. He is now honeymooning in Sardinia and will fly back to be in my wedding and then is flying right back to London to work on monday. Thanks Matt, means the world to me.

While I was home over the weekend Ben checked out a BMC Team Machine from QBP. Full Campy Chorus and Zipp 404s. I had a blast on the bike and I think that the new Strong will eventually be adorned with full Record and Zipps. The shifting with Campy is so perfect and it is instantly responsive; even under the full pressure of hammering up a steep hill. Speaking of the Strong it is currently residing Spectrum Powder Works waiting for its special bead blasted logos and flames.

Jenny and I are off to a forest service cabin that we rented about an hour from here. The website looks great and it's in a moss covered canyon with a trout stream. This should be a nice little get away before things really get crazy.

Until next time.............