Melanie's Home Page

Ah, local racing!  I did the Squamish Triathlon this past weekend.  Fastest swim/bike and run in my first road triathlon in I don’t know how many years.  Good confidence boost going into the Ironman 70.3 event next week in Sonoma.  Set a new bike record in the process even after a lap not in aero position to try and figure out where the course went… ha!  Good times.

Enjoy the story of my prep for Vineman at http://www.racergirl.com. 

Happy week!

Mel

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know that we are full speed ahead in the new plan to go and race some road triathlon events.  Of course, I kicked off this phase with a mountain bike race, hah!

Second place in stage 5 of the Canadian national mountain bike series means I haven’t lost the fast legs yet.  Next up is the Squamish Triathlon and a hit out on my BMC TT02 this weekend to prepare for Vineman in two weeks.

Story at http://www.racergirl.com.

Thanks for reading!

melanie

Well Europe is off the table.  Ironman is on the table… HALF ironman, that is.

I have updated my 2008 schedule to include some non drafting road triathlon events in the coming weeks.  You can check that on my website along with the latest instalment. Here is a taster… go to http://www.racergirl.com for the full meal deal…

Thanks and if you are looking for me… I am in Victoria right now.

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?        
Written by melanie    

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. When I was flying home from the East coast on Monday I was thinking about “why”. I was really nervous about Ross’s health so I never once even thought of the fact I was about to miss the European tour. So now that I know he is going to be all right, mostly due to the fact he was wearing a GREAT Lazer helmet, I am again thinking about “why” I am not going over there. I really like the following quote:

Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.
Dean Acheson

Maybe I don’t know right now why I am not going to be in Europe but by the end of the season it should all become clear. In the meantime, I have an enormous hole in my schedule where European travel and events once stood. With the change, first off, I will be able to attend Interbike – YAY! Second, I will have a break after Ogden which is another big bonus because I was really nervous about the travel from altitude to Europe. And third, I have NOTHING really on my schedule until Ogden aside from the Crested Butte regional XTERRA, so I have made some adjustments to my schedule....

Well many of you know the tale of “wtf??” in Alabama.  I may never know because Richmond was back to business with a convincing win.  Fourth fastest swim (dang fast swimmers this year!), fastest bike and second fastest run.  Solid.  Rode my new Fourstroke 01.  Wicked!

The story according to me is at http://www.racergirl.com .    Enjoy!

There is an assortment of other media including:  Http://www.xterraplanet.com;  http://www.triathletemag.com

And on the wire:

Regional scene: Vail's Middaugh wins XTERRA East title
Rocky Mountain News - Denver,CO,USA
Melanie McQuaid of Victoria, British Columbia, a three-time XTERRA world champion, won the women's event. AMES IN FRONT Boulder runner Andy Ames won the ...  See all stories on this topic

Triathlon: Middaugh, McQuaid win XTERRA East Championship
RunnersWeb - Ottawa,Ontario,Canada
In the women’s race three-time XTERRA World Champion Melanie McQuaid of Canada took the lead early on in the bike, never trailed thereafter,
See all stories on this topic

Middaugh, McQuaid win XTERRA race in Richmond
NBC 29 News - Charlottesville,VA,USA
(AP) - Josiah Middaugh of Vail, Colorado, and Melanie McQuaid of Victoria, British Columbia, won the XTERRA East Championships today in Richmond. ...See all stories on this topic

Middaugh, McQuaid win XTERRA race in Richmond
Daily Press - Newport News,VA,USA
Josiah Middaugh of Vail, Colo., and Melanie McQuaid of Victoria, British Columbia, won the XTERRA East Championships on Sunday. ...
See all stories on this topic

Hi All,

Well I am really leaving this week to go do battle in five races in five weeks.  The trip will include two states and five countries (one country just as a landing strip) and hopefully will help me to gain a stranglehold on the XTERRA USA Championships series and the European tour.

I have posted my latest story with some fun family and training adventures and I have also included a picture of some of the cool 2009 stuff I am rocking. 

http://www.racergirl.com for the story..

Thanks for the support!
Mel

See below for taster
 

Ummm, Yeah, Abort the Mission...

Written by melanie   

Well I didn’t leave QUITE yet for Alabama. There were a number of compelling reasons why I changed my flight to leave a week later and skip the BUMP mountain bike race. I was pretty stressed out getting ready to leave for six weeks of racing and when I up and decided to make it five weeks it suddenly became much more manageable. The mountain bike race didn’t really help me last year given I LOST the XTERRA.. ha! That was not why I didn’t go… I really did need to stay in Victoria for the weekend because Ross discovered and met, a half brother he never knew he had. It was very cool. So besides lots of family stuff… here is how I spent my extra bonus week in Victoria….

Click here for full report (pdf).....

Welcome the new 2009 Fox F-Series fork to the program...

First race and first place… just the way I like it!

Super day in crazy hot weather.  Got a bunch of the bad luck stuff out of the way and still managed to take the win.  Big sigh of relief that I showed Michellie Jones who is queen of XTERRA… always take that lady seriously!

Great reporting on the race at both http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/Stoltz_McQuaid_Beat_Heat_at_Xterra_West_Championship_357.html and http://www.triathletemag.com.

As usual, my version of events is at http://www.racergirl.com.

Thank you so much for your support and cheers… looks like we are on track for 2008.

Mel

Great news!

Some success on the mountain bike front this weekend with a podium finish in the short track!  A mechanical issue derailed the day on Sunday but I managed to get in a super run on the treadmill that day so overall the weekend was perfect training for the kick off of the XTERRA season in a month.

I wrote about my whole weekend at http://www.racergirl.com and cyclingnews covered the short track at http://www.cyclingnews.com/mtb/2008/apr08/seaotter08/?id=results/seaotter0810 for your reading pleasure.  Fun stuff.

I also had a great ride with some industry folks on Friday and enjoyed my visit with Greg from Speedway bikes and the Swiss BMC guys.  All in all, great times at Sea Otter this year.

Enjoy the read!

Melanie

Two mountain bike races in two weeks… lots of improvements already.  I am stoked to have this training in the bank this year and look forward to my next stage race in Monterey at the Sea Otter classic.

Some crazy times in the cross country this weekend.. you will have to read about it at www.racergirl.com.  Extra thanks to Justin and Chad at Shimano for their help.  Ironing out all the kinks in the program before we kick off the XTERRA season in May.

Thanks again to you all and see ya at the races!

mel

Excerpt from Melanie's article on www.racergirl.com - Click link for full story.

"The cross country event was the third stage at the NOVA Stage Race, an event held at McDowell Mountain Park near Fountain Hills, Arizona. The race featured a super D (downhill-ish time trial), a short track criterium event and a cross country. It was the best thing possible for me. Get boot smacked for three straight days on flat and fast trails so that by the end of it, I could almost ride pretty fast. Thanks to Ross for giving me a butt kicking through the telephone… without him, and my homestay buddies Debi and Kevin, I might have continued to ride around making excuses for why I am not fast rather than just giving it everything I have to try and get faster. I always start the season a bit intimidated by the mountain bike girls because I train so differently now. I start with less confidence and struggle a bit to get back on track so I am lucky to have friends that call me on it and set me straight!...."

Visit Melanie's website at http://www.racergirl.com