On a rainy Sunday afternoon in April, we found ourselves in the flat of Fusion Sport Cycling Club rider, Heidi Witherell who proudly raced to multiple top ten finishes in the Tour of the Gila, won the Norcal/Nevada District Time Trial in 2002 with a torn rotator cuff and ultimately started medical school at age 32 and is now an Anesthesiologist. With the sounds of Edith Piaf playing in the background, she sat down to tell us about her Velocurean lifestyle. She made a Vietnamese inspired seared halibut over rice noodles, with ingredients she brought back from a recent trip to Paris. This dish was paired with “Star Lane” Sauvignon Blanc.

Heidi offered us a fresh cup of French press coffee, which we accepted of course. She used “Sulawesi-Kalosi” beans from Peet’s Coffee, which happens to be the primary bean she keeps in the house. She did mention her other preference – “Weaver’s Coffee and Tea” which is a company out of Emeryville CA started in 2007 by Peet’s Coffee Master Roaster – John Weaver. We look forward to sampling it in the near future. We exclaimed that the brew was surprisingly strong. She just laughed and interjected, “I like my coffee really strong.” Naturally, we dove right into the topic of her coffee routine related to riding. Heidi is all about drinking it before and after a ride but rarely during one. She “…hates stopping because then you just cramp up once you get started again.” In fact, just the other day, she and her friend cranked out her favorite local ride – The Pescadero Loop – which is a 65-mile ride with about 6000’ of climbing that they completed in 3h55m… Yes, that is pretty hard-core. She does make an exception to the no-stop rule from time to time on this particular loop to stop at San Gregorio General Store because “They have really good date nut bars.” Hey, I guess everybody has something to brake for, right? Heidi considers this to be her favorite ride for a few key reasons. “It’s perfect training for people who want to climb plus there are plenty of opportunities to punch it on the flats. There are close to no cars (she saw six on her last ride) and very few wasted miles. Now that’s my kind of ride! Plus, the climbs are a lot like the European climbs. Meaning, that they are very steady with lots of switchbacks and not a lot of ups and downs. The roads are a little rough, kind of like Europe in some places… it’s beautiful.”

Heidi’s recovery routine starts within fifteen minutes of finishing a ride. Her drink of choice is a mix of Musashi pure Amino Acids mixed with Cranberry – Razz Clif Shot. Then it’s home for a shower, cup of coffee and a nice nap as she cuddles up on the bed in her front room in the sun. Later she savors a meal with steak or chicken, keeping it pure and simple. For her pre-ride breakfast she is a firm believer in a “good, long lasting energy source such as steel cut oats with nuts, grains and fruits.” On the bike she pops Honey Stingers Pomegranate blocks and Probar Superfood Slams. She showed us this little gem of an energy gel – Chocolate #9, which is simply Belgian chocolate and blue agave. It absorbs slower and has a lower glycemic index. Which sounds perfect and delicious to us.  Velocurean is now a fan.

Her cycling career is rich with history and amazing experiences that continue to create everlasting memories. While attending Stanford University she raced for Palo Alto Bicycles (now Team Tibco) alongside her good friend Christine Thorburn. Heidi Witherell competed in many races but her two most memorable were The Tour Of the Gila in New Mexico, “Because it has gnarly climbs and descents and the time trial has hills in it.” She laughed a bit… she loves to climb. Her favorite local race was The Cats Hill Criterium in which she placed 2^nd in 2002 just behind Karen Brems who was an ex-world champion Time Trialist and “a really good sprinter.” “I railed the last corner and jumped everyone but Karen somehow made her way to my wheel and got me in the finishing straightaway. But finishing 2^nd to a World Champion… that’s not bad.” She smiled.

While training with her team in Italy she rode many of the same passes through the Dolomites that are featured in the Giro d’Italia such as the San Pellegrino which has a strong influence in the Giro being her favorite Grand Tour race. So watching the race is very nostalgic for her though she has not actually seen it live. Heidi is going to Spain to watch the Vuelta a Espana in September, with her friend Dana who owns the company “bestofbothgolfandski.com” who is organizing the trip.

Heidi “retired” from Palo Alto Bicycle Women’s Team to become an Anesthesiologist at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco with a specialty in Pediatric Anesthesia. She now rides with the Fusion Cycling Club. She realized that she wanted to be a doctor while she was volunteering at the Stanford Children’s Hospital. “I knew the first day I was there that I wanted to work there. I just got a sense of this is what I was supposed to do with my life.” She chose pediatric anesthesia as a specialty because she, “love(s) the environment in the O.R… When I did my anesthesia rotation, it was a no-brainer. Pediatrics was a different flavor, more intense with a slightly higher risk. And I love working with children, of all ages.”

So we have now found ourselves in the kitchen with Heidi Witherell. She is preparing a Pan Seared Halibut in Asian Herb and Vegetable Broth for us as we talk to her about being Velocurean. Heidi started of by chopping up the crisp, vibrant vegetables and we were impressed by her knife skills, learned from a chef ex-boyfriend. She wielded her blades with confidence and breezed through the vegetables with her two favorite utensils, her Henckels and ceramic knife to which she says “it makes me happy…” She also has the eye of a photographer, which is another one of her passions. She had an array of beautiful bowls and ingredient dishes; she chose only fresh and vibrantly colored veggies. In the background we noticed a few striking images of Heidi’s next to the stove. They were mostly travel and landscape pictures, which is her niche. In fact, she is entering a beautiful image of the Golden Gate Bridge into the ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) photography contest this year alongside another image that she is submitting to Conde Naste. Heidi is definitely a woman who loves to create, experience, capture and relive many fond and wonderful memories in all aspects of her life. Even many of the herbs and spices she used in this dish she bought in either Paris or India and with each bite we were wisped away on one of her many travels.

The first things you notice about this dish are its simple architecture, vibrant colors, and elegance. This is immediately followed by the wafting scents of far off places such as ginger, cumin, tarragon and red pepper. With our salivary glands in a rage and in eager anticipation, we flaked off our first bite of fish. The spices are delicately infused into the fish without losing its halibut flavor – it is merely accentuated. Our next bite consisted of rice noodles and vegetables in a spoon brimming with broth. We loved how the soft rice noodles were masterfully juxtaposed to the crisp veggies, and the shitake mushroom added a beautiful earthiness and depth that rounded out the flavors. We finally brought the whole gang together and what we found made us smile, even happy, because what we discovered was a harmonious blending of flavors that balanced everything, and with simplicity, harmony and balance you have a truly Asian inspired dish.

“Is that pretty damn good?” Heidi asked with confidence after our first bites. Oh yeah… she had every reason to be confident. This is a delicious dish and it paired nicely with the “Star Lane” Sauvignon Blanc from the Solvang area, which she thought would “hold up to the spice better” than her favorite white wine; “Newton” unfiltered Chardonnay from Napa Valley. She has a Newton ’04, ‘05 and ’06 in her cellar and claims “it’s stellar” but is “too soft to hold up to the Vietnamese and ginger.”

As she reminisced about a few of her culinary and cycling travels to France, Spain and Morocco (just to recall a few) she mentioned that she hopes to live in either France (Heidi speaks fluent French) or Spain to work, which would be the perfect opportunity to live Velocurean and “Eat. Drink. Ride.” Then she made such a simple but wonderful statement, “The best thing about cooking with friends… is that you get to eat with them.” which is so true. The other incredible experience to have with friends… riding out on the open road. We look forward to getting together with Heidi after the boys from Bespoke Cycles build up her new machine; a Guerciotti team replica, and pound out a few miles.

After riding some California hills we just might find ourselves sharing a few bottles of her “favorite wine period,” “Sea Smoke” Pinot Noir. Or maybe we will find ourselves at the Toronado Pub in the lower Height being served a few Belgian triple ales (her preferred beer) by the bartender, a friend of Heidi’s who also runs a breast cancer awareness group. Whatever the future holds for Heidi, one thing is for sure, it will be embraced, enjoyed and remembered for the rest of her life and the experience will be shared with her friends over amazing rides, delicious food and drink, and beautiful photographs. Cheers to Heidi Witherell for being Velocurean’s first “In the Kitchen.” As Heidi said, “That’s a wrap right, so let’s dig in!”

Ride Hard and Prosper! Live Velocurean!

- Joshua Seaman

- Photos by Sherry Heck