Weeeee! Bellaton Storms Bulldog

Our "little" local group of Velo Bellas has been growing in the last 2 years, and today, we rocked the house! And sooo close to a podium sweep.....

The Bulldog Road race is run by our local Camp Pendleton Marine base. I can't tell you how much I enjoy the Marine's running events. Shit gets done. Fast. Races are organized, on time, on schedule and the music is always on overdrive to get you pumped. Kudos to the race organizers. The best part though, are the Marines. The cheer section is AMAZING. Split down the middle, half will cheer you and get you energized. The other half... well, remember in the movies when the Marine is yelling at the top of his lungs, eyes like daggers, face as red as a tomato, veins bulging, and along with the projectile spittle, the vocal cords manage, "that all you GOT??!???" Yup, that'll get ya movin'.

The women's race had a whopping 96 riders to finish. Wow.... great turnout. Most racers hadn't ever done a road race before. And then there are the handful of crazy riders who know what pain they're about to endure. We were the last group to go off which means we're sifting through the men in front of us that aren't hanging. My husband also raced his first road race today with team Moment Cycle Sport. They had a group of 5-6 riders and managed to get the men's overall win! Go Moment!

I'm not an experienced road racer. I've done 5 road races in the last 3 years, nada mucho. That is however, an average of 4.5 races more than most of the field. To all the bellas around me I advised them to stay near the front to avoid any crashes, but not to pull. If someone wanted to pull 100 ladies down the street, sweet. I just believed it didn't have to be us. It isn't a race to get out there, it would be a race to get home.

So in a nice big group we stayed. No attacks. No madness. Yet. Then I attacked. We had about 800 meters to a downhill, then a sharp left turn, then "The Hill". There's only 1 major climb on the course, it's half way through, and guaranteed the top riders would make a move here. For the last 2 years I've climbing ok, but never even saw the lead group break away because I was already behind. This time I was going to be the leader up the hill and if someone was going to attack, they'd have to pass me. And I'd see them. Half way up Jen (Yake) Neuschwander & I were riding side by side in the front. Then comes Christine Silcox. This was now a Bellaton! 3 Bellas leading at the front up the climb. The followers were just marking us, so I yelled for a little help up front. Two other girls came up around us to take the lead. The thought was to get someone else to work a little when it flatten out so we weren't out in front the entire time. It was a good thought, but then the 2 of them took off (We'll call them Colnago girl & Girl 2) and just simply dropped all of us. Jen & I worked together to catch the 2 of them up front along the top & downhill, but they were hammering.

Once down the hill Jen & I had collected 3 more. We were now a group of 5, we could catch them. We organized, 30 second pulls. Annamarie (unattached) would simply rip our legs off when she hit the gas. She's now been recruited to Bellanation. Jen, Christine, Annamarie, myself and Tiny girl (don't know her name) worked and worked but just couldn't catch these 2 girls. Impossible. They've got to crack. They've been TTing for 10 miles! Finally on the final stretch we start to close in on them. Rapidly. But would we have enough real estate to make it in time?

I've screwed up the finish enough times to know better than let up even for a second. It's a complex left-right-left to the finish. Jen took the last pull before the first left. Just as she looked as she was going to pull off, I said to her "don't stop now! They're right there, we deserve this!" So she kept hammering. If she had slowed, she would have lost all power through the turns and there isn't enough straight chute to get real estate back. I launched around the right corner and took the risk and hit it as hard as I could. I passed Girl 2 entering the chute. I was closing on Colnago girl, but she hung on for the win. You go girl. Nice ride.

As I crossed the finish line - it occurred to me. I just placed 2nd overall! Not age group. Not top ten. PODIUM! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Looking back, the overall win would have been nice-but the teamwork we showed ROCKED and I couldn't ask for more. Even better was Christine placed 3rd overall & Jen 4th. Those two are a testament to hard time spent on the bike makes for massive improvements. We all did something today than we couldn't have done 2 years ago. Dave caught the final turn to the chute when I passed Girl 2 on his crackberry.

Thank you to ALL the Velo Bellas - you ladies ROCK! Not to mention the hardware... Oh la la!!

Raja Lahti (2nd Overall, 1st Age Group)
Christine Silcox (3rd Overall, 1st Age Group)
Jenn Neuschwander (4th Overall, 2nd Age Group)
Beth Callhan (3rd Age Group)
Erin Horan Gonzales
Sandra Fairchild
Madelyn Horton (3rd Age Group)
Vicki Jones
Lynn Scozzari
Sherry Mesman
Cindy O'Grady (1st Age Group)
Jackie Bickford (2nd Athena)
Whitney DeSpain (3rd Athena)

Tour of California MADNESS!

OMG!


Yep... I know those Borat twins.... as it happens, it started with a fundraising dare. If the money was raised, there would be a facinating formation of Borats racing up Palomar with the pelaton. Needless to say, the camera man got the first taste...

Then the Pelaton gets a good laugh..

Fast Freddy Rodriguez from Rock Racing is more like Freaked Freddy!


Slide show of the Solvang TT:

Frozen Peas

The love my family. Dave & I just recently bought our first home. Having a guest room has been nice - for the family. Both Dave's & my parents have taken the opportunity to come and visit which has been great.

One thing about parents coming into the house and making themselves at home (which is nothing but fantastic) is they're not necessarily familiar with the habits of athletics... and sports injury. I seem to be a pro.. at injuries. To clarify, not even in the same ballpark as pro athletes, but I think I could keep 'em all busy with my sports injuries.

Recently I've been back to see my hero, Gino Cinco at University City Physical Therapy on a mystery shoulder injury. Woke up one day and couldn't even brush my hair... oh boy. Off to see Gino. Back from Gino and out come the frozen peas. Long live frozen peas, God's gift to sports injuries. I'm not sure what I'd do without my faithful frozen peas. A little strain, a little tweak, a little pull, out come the peas.

So back to family. I love family. It's such a treat when mom comes to the house and makes us dinner. Mom.... great stir fry, where did you get these peas? ....

I'm thinking these peas look familiar....

Enjoy your peas,

Raja

"The Man"

You know you're in deep when celebrity sightings no longer involve film or TV, but rather legends of sick & twisted endurance sports... like..

The Man

Dave "The Man" Scott. Ba-zillion time Ironman legend.

Did I mention he's wicked cool? Hubby Dave & I went out for a "moderate" 50 mile ride with friends of Nytro Multisport. Scott made a surprise appearance at our TCSD club meeting earlier in January and when the bets start to fly on when The Man is going to hit the hammer, I should have taken warning.

We started with 100+ riders, and ended with about 15. I think the theme was "Kill the Girl". The first 25 miles were moderate. The next 20.. were not. It was a white knuckled, girl on a wire ride, but I hung in there and even found myself sucking Scott's wheel at times. If I recall correctly, he was on mine at one point. Equal rights. How I survived, I have no clue. Fried & cooked, but not over done.

Hubby Dave had one of the most inspirational rides of his life. Pictured above Hubby Dave on left & Dave Scott on right leading the fractured group.

Thanks Dave Scott for a fantastic day!

Happy riding,

Raja

FITT to be dirty!

That's right - another muddy buddy Fiesta Island Time Trial. Two years ago a persistent light rain turned an otherwise simple time trial into a mud bath. We were cleaning mud and sand out of cracks - on the bike too. This year we were looking at the same. Three days of solid rain slowed to on & off rain showers leaving the island road muddy and slick in a few spots. Nevertheless, the madness shall go on. Saturday I rode down to Fiesta and evaluated the conditions. Huge puddles crossing nearly the entire road. OK if you're in a car.. but racing a TT bike.. yikes. (On a funny note, I was riding in Tri Club San Diego kit and a fellow TCSD member driving home noticed me riding & pulled along side. After quick introductions he quickly smiled and said, "so you're the Indian Guy!") Race directors did a good job sweeping the course and reduced the massive puddles to mere muddy patches on the road.

More impressive when it comes to weather, was the absolutely abysmal conditions at Boulevard Road Race yesterday. While I haven't yet checked the numbers myself, rumor has it that a Pro/1/2 field had a 75% drop out rate. Snow. Last year I was so miserably cold I decided it wasn't worth it. I'm glad I did! I think even Landis froze his huevos.

Rumor had it Landis was being saved a spot at the time trial today. We did get some pro riders from Fly V Australia & Jelly Belly, but Landis was not among them.

The first sign the weather wasn't going to be ideal was the double rainbow. Pretty...pretty sucky more like it considering that was heading in our direction. My brilliant idea of bringing a little Murphy into the mix - if you don't bring an umbrella, it will 100% rain. If you bring an umbrella, it'll be sunny n'dry. So I called Stacy & picked up her tent... if a tiny little umbrella could spur a little Murphy action, then a tent... Iza wrong... it rained, so under the tent I went! I'm sooo pretty!

I had a friend come with me. Rie has been a long friend of mine from the horse competition days. We worked together for Olympic rider Charlotte Bredahl up in Solvang. She came down to San Diego for the weekend and wanted to see "this thing I do". Silly Raja. Get a car!

Ten minutes into my warm up, she says, "your steaming".

Last year I learned my lesson.. don't even think of cutting it close to start time. They indeed, will start without you. So I arrive 20 minutes early and begin to freeze my little **** off. Finally I'm off and riding. I told myself to take it easy the first lap. I have a tendency to bust out of the gate and see just how high my heart rate can go. Not necessarily the best of tactics. In fact, kinda stupid really. I just get sooo excited.. gotta go, gotta go!

Lap 1 felt good. Steady, but strong. Lap 2 ahead of target and feeling good, stronger than I remember feeling. Lap 3: Ka-BOOM! Legs were failing to turn over and feeling like rocks. So that's where I need more strength! I like to do these races as a test of conditioning. I can get a pretty good feel for my training. Today I was right were I wanted to be. Not a PR, but 1 minute ahead of last year's race and only 50 seconds off my PR. I placed 2nd (and 2nd overall) with 32:24 behind local crazy woman Anna Gerber. This girl is a fire ball of energy and loves to give those boys a little pinch in the butt as she whips past. I expecting a proper Gerber spanking, which I got, but I'm cool with that. Well, I'm not cool with it, but a little reality keeps me cool.

Happy Riding!

Raja

Food!

So I don't usually write about food. But I love food. A lot. Probably more than I should for a triathlete... but I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed packing on a few pounds this holiday season. It wasn't the eating.. it was the cooking. During the racing season I'll limit my diet and remove the excess fat - butter, cream, cheese (yes.. giving up cheese for racing sucks!). During the holidays.. I enjoy it every bit I can get my hot little hands on... so here are some recipes which aren't exactly "race friendly", but easily top my list of the best ever...

I'm not a soup gal. I don't order them at restaurants, I don't make them at home, and I occasionally eat them when presented with soups at a meal. But this soup.... I could eat it breakfast, lunch & dinner....Here's a dinner menu for you.. guaranteed to add an extra pound, but a meal you won't forget!

Gingered Butternut Squash Soup
6 servings
1 large butternut squash, halved lengthwise & seeded
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pecans (1 ounce)
1 T unsalted butter
1/2 large onion (or 1 small onion), cut into 1/2 inch dice
1/2 fennel bulb (anise) - cored & cut into 1/2 inch dice
3/4 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled & finely chopped
3 cups chicken stock
7 ounce unsweetened coconut milk, shake/mix prior opening
3/4 cup chilled whipping cream
1/2 t hazelnut oil
pinch cayenne pepper
Kosher salt
3/4 t fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350. Rub cut sides of squash with olive oil and set them, cut side down, on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake for ~1 hr or until very tender. Remove from oven & let cool until you can handle the cooked squash. Once cool, spook the squash flesh into a large bowl & discard skins.
2. In a pie plate, toast pecans for about 5-8 minutes until lightly browned & fragrant. Set aside & let cool.
3. In a large pot, melt butter & add onion, fennel and ginger. Cook over moderate heat until softened, about 10 minutes. Add squash & chicken stock, cover & simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover the pot and continue cooking until the squash starts to fall apart, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat & stir in coconut milk.
4. While the squash is cooking, finely chop the pecans in a food processor. In a medium bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the shopped pecans, hazelnut oil & cayenne pepper and season with salt.
5. Working in batches, puree the squash soup in a blender until relatively smooth. Stir in the lemon juice & season with salt. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with a dollup of pecan hazelnut cream and serve.
-Soup can be prepared up to 2 days ahead of time & stored in refrigerator. Reheat gently & add additional chicken stock to thin soup.
-Food & Wine, November 2007

The Perfect Tart to compliment your soup:
6 servings

Crust:
Do yourself a favor and buy uncooked pie crust (In the freezer section of Trader Joes or usually near the "doughs": cookie, cinnamon roll, pie doughs in the refrigerated section of your local market). Or search Epicurious.com and find yourself a pie crust recipe, just be prepared... crusts are time consuming and your kitchen post mortem will usually look like something in the flour factory exploded)
Filling:
5-6 thick-cut bacon slices
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 cup whipping cream (yep, more cream...)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon group black pepper
generous pinch of salt
generous pinch of ground nutmeg
1/2 packed cup coarsely grated Gruyere cheese

1. Set 1 crust out, overnight if possible. It will unfold/unroll without breaking if warmed to room temperature. Press dough in a shallow 9 inch tart pan. Pie plates will be too deep & crust will have a tendency to burn. Preheat oven to 400F. Pierce crust all over with fork. Freeze 10 minutes (if you have time). Throw some pecans in bottom of tart pan & bake crust until crust is set (~20 minutes). The nuts will keep the bottom from bubbling too much. Remove form oven & set aside. Maintain oven temperature.
2. Saute bacon in skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels & drain. Let cool. Once cool, chop bacon into medium size pieces.
3. Using remaining bacon grease in pan, add onion & statue until onion is deep golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove onion from grease & set aside.
4. In the meantime whisk cream, egg, yolk, pepper, salt & nutmeg in small bowl.
5. Spread onion over bottom of baked crust. Sprinkle bacon, then cheese. Pour cream mixture over.
6. Bake until tart is puffed & filling is set, about 25 minutes. Cool ~ 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

And for dessert:
Coffee Cream Brulee
yup... total sin, complete pleasure...
4 cups whipping cream (cuz cream is sooo good!)
1 cup sugar
8 teaspoons sugar for caramelized top
2 tablespoons coarsely ground espresso coffee beans
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder or coffee powder (Turkish coffee power is exceptionally good with this)
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6 large egg yolks
1 large egg

1. Place eight 3/4-cup custard cups in large roasting pan.
2. Combine cream, 1 cup sugar, ground espresso beans, instant espresso powder and cinnamon stick in heavy large saucepan. Using small sharp knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into mixture; add bean. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar and espresso powder dissolve. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand 30 minutes. Strain through fine sieve.
3. Preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk egg yolks and egg in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in cream mixture.
4. Divide among custard cups in pan.
5. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of custard cups. Bake custards until center moves only slightly when cups are gently shaken, about 55 minutes. Remove custards from pan. Cool at least 1 hr prior to serving, refrigerate uncovered overnight if possible.
6. If you have a cooking torch, use it, it's easier than the broiler to make the caramelized sugar top. If not.. preheat broiler. Sprinkle sugar evenly over each custard covering surface. Place custard cups on baking sheet. Broil until sugar is brown and caramelized, rotating baking sheet to broil evenly and watching closely to avoid burning, 1 to 2 minutes. Chill & serve.

Enjoy!!

Velo Bella Camp!

1/20:

Wow! I had an amazing weekend with 30 of my fellow Velo Bellas, hotties on bikes, up in San Luis Obispo. We had Bellas from all over California, even one from North Carolina! Some had just started riding in the last 6 months, others were seasoned racer chicks. Then there were the boyz... A local racing group provided escorts, sweeps, tire changers extraordinaire and last but not least.. some mighty fine calves for all viewing needs. :-P When suffering, a good pair of calves will do. :-)

We even had paparazzi! Huge thanks to Carson Blume for some making hurt look soooo good!

Daily rides ranged from 25 miles to 75 miles of amazing farm roads and a skills clinic run by Michael Hernandez ... a former San Diego triathlete now wicked cyclist in the Bay Area. Or AKA "Sabine's Boy Toy"... oh la la!

Our own Ryan Hostetter (Girl Ryan) provided most excellent organizing, routes and most importantly, INSPIRATION! And Sue.. well, she just likes spanking boys. I think they call her SueNami! Marian... Virgin Blood is Vegan Safe... Cathy from NC, the track guru turned mommy...if you ever thought you didn't want kids, have a little chatty chatty with Cathy "I'm a Mom" Boland. And the rest of the Bellaistic crew, what fun!

Laura and Sabine (pronounced like Sabina)...Mama Bellas (pictured above left)! They are the perfect personification of Velo Bella - pink hair, endless humor, killer smiles, giggles and energy & motivation that never ends.

If you've ever wanted motivation to do more, be more.... welcome to Bellaville, where going as sloooow as possible is talent and climbing like mad women never looked so goooood.

So next year... you don't want to miss it! Who's in? I can't even tell you how proud I am to be a Velo Bella! Huge thanks to all those who put it together.

Happy Riding!

Raja

1/18:

I'm up in San Luis Obispo, CA for the Velo Bella training camp. I came fully prepared. Not. I've been at work meetings in Florida for the last week, sitting, drinking & dancing. I haven't been riding much, longest ride yet has been 50 miles. But heck, we're all Bellas so it'll be a blast! And it has been! Ryan Hostetter has been leading the way with wicked rides (72 miles on Saturday) and a killer crit clinic with her fav JUMP drills.... yep, lungs'a'burn'n! More updates when I recover.... :-P

2009 Around the Corner

I was so tired at the end of October, I didn't want to train and I certainly didn't want to race. My last race of the season, Pumpkinman, had this cute 5 mile climb to transition (Halfmax course had about 6500' climbing, the Olympic about 3100'), about 100 meters of flat and on to the run. The race wasn't flawless, but beyond that, I was done racing. I did ok, ended up 4th and scored points for TCSD for the team national championships. I was however happy to be done racing for the year. 2008 wasn't a great season for me, too much going on, work, life, moving, etc to allow the racing season I wanted, but overall, not a bad racing year.

After witnessing the tragic military plane crash last week in San Diego where a man, father, husband and son-in-law lost his entire family (his wife, 2 young children and mother-in-law) in an instant, I had to ask myself why. Why was I meant to witness this tragedy? My answer is - to live life and just go for it. You never know when a plane may crash into your house.

With that, I am thankful for my family, my friends, my teammates, my colleagues and the people that motivate me.

As it is that time of year - ready for a new one... on come the resolutions. As usual, I resolve to have a better year. Be a better person, race a better race, better my performance at work.

So what's on the agenda for 2009....

January:

1/17 - Velo Bella camp, SLO

February:

2/8 - Fiesta Island Time Trial (FITT), San Diego

2/28 - Bulldog Road Race, Oceanside

March:

3/8 - FITT, SD

3/22 - Palm Springs Triathlon, Palm Desert

April:

4/5 - FITT, SD

May:

5/3 - Wildflower, Paso Robles

5/10 - FITT, SD

5/17 - Encinitas Triathlon, Encinitas or Tempe International, Tempe AZ

June:

6/14 - Redondo Beach Triathlon, Redondo Beach

6/28 - San Diego International, SD or Ventura Breath of Life Triathlon USAT Regional Championships, Ventura, CA

July:

7/26 - Pacific Coast USAT Sprint National Championships, Newport Beach, CA

August:

8/22 - USAT Olympic National Championships, Tuscaloosa, AL

September:

9/12 - FITT, SD

9/13 - Big Kahuna Long Course Triathlon, Big Sur, CA

9/27 - OC Tri, Irvine, CA

October:

10/11 - FITT, CA

10/25 - Soma Long Course Triathlon, Tempe, AZ

I'm sure I'll add, subtract, substitute, tweak, fudge as necessary...

As for you - I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, give a stranger a smile, call a relative you haven't talked to recently and take a moment to be thankful for all the wonderful things.

In the meantime, happy riding!

Raja

Reflections

2008 is coming to a close.. so many things to reflect on. So many things that happened. The biggest shocker of all was loosing Dave Martin. It wasn't supposed to happen. Not like that. Statistically speaking, we should be good for another 50 years. But nobody wants to test that number. Me neither. No need to test the waters, at least not for awhile. A lesson for us all, live life now. Don't worry about the past, or too much about the future. If you don't live it now, you may loose it forever.

The Greatest Club on Earth

I just want to comment about what an amazing club TCSD (Triathlon Club of San Diego) is - for both sport, and support. Dave Martin was tragically killed by a 16' great white shark off the coast of Solana Beach in May of this year. A regular swim by TCSDers every Friday morning turned tragic beyond belief.

ESPN went beyond words, a touching article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=backinthewater