Chandler woman rising fast in the sport of road cycling
Up and coming cyclist — http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2009/10/09/20091009cr-cyclist1010.html
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Heidi Melendez came by the nickname “Crash” honestly, but it’s one she’s trying to live down.
Melendez was given that moniker in April during El Tour de Phoenix when she was clipped from behind by another bicyclist. She took a nasty spill, but despite chipped teeth, cuts, bruises and a damaged rear wheel, she finished the 74-mile ride in the impressive time of 3 hours, 15 minutes and 16 seconds, for ninth place among women.
That race, by the way, was Melendez’s first ever.
“Yeah, Crash is my nickname, if you want to call it that,” Melendez said with a chuckle. “We’re working on modifying that.”
Melendez, who lives in west Chandler, has an extensive background in athletics but she only took up road cycling about a year ago. In that short period of time she has made tremendous progress.
In last weekend’s Tour de Scottsdale (her third race) she placed second among women and 36th overall out of more than 1,350 riders. She finished that 70-mile ride through the McDowell Mountains in 2:55:19, 18 seconds behind the women’s winner, Tracey Perez of Ahwatukee.
Melendez’s background in sports began on the ice, where she competed in figure skating until she was 18. She stayed involved in the sport by coaching for several years after that, however.
It was making contact with a former student that led her to try triathlons and road cycling.
“I found out one of my past skating students was doing triathlons and it piqued my interest,” Melendez said. “I started doing research on my own and just happened to meet Steve (Elwell) at the gym and the rest is history.”
Elwell, who is well known in the local cycling community, met Melendez while teaching a spinning class at Lifetime Fitness in Tempe. He was impressed by her focus and dedication and helped her get started in the sport.
“This girl, she doesn’t call it quits,” Elwell said. “She’s just tenacious as hell, which blew me away.”
The mental aspects of cycling appeal to Melendez almost as much as the physical challenges.
By profession, she is a counselor, working with children and adults to help overcome eating disorders and other issues. She is looking to move her practice more into the area of sports psychology, becoming something of a “mind-set” coach.
Keeping the right mind-set is important for her when she’s riding. For example, in the Tour de Scottsdale, she was trying to keep sharp mentally, while expending every bit of energy she had in finishing the race.
“One of the guys who rides with us on Tuesday mornings in Ahwatukee finished with us,” Melendez said. “The other day he was saying to me, ‘I heard you, you were like, don’t quit, don’t quit, don’t quit!’ I didn’t realize I was saying it out loud.”
That mind-set was what kept Melendez going after her spill at the Tour de Phoenix.
“I heard the cyclist crashing behind me,” Melendez said. “The next thing I knew, my rear tire got taken out from underneath me. I was down and felt my teeth scrape across the pavement. But I had actually had an accident in college where I had chipped my teeth so I wasn’t really worried about that. The only thing I could think about was getting back on my bike and getting out there. I knew I was kind of cut up. I had a hematoma on my hip the size of a grapefruit I didn’t realize until later. There was never a thought in my head of stopping.”
After having spent years competing in an individual sport, she likes the team aspects of cycling. She enjoys being part of a close-knit community of riders and talks glowingly of mentors in the sport like Elwell and Bill Maxwell and training partners such as Perez and the other riders in the area.
Melendez said she’s thinking about competing in an Ironman Triathlon. Doing that would depend on the support of her family, however.
“If I were to do Ironman, it would be next year,” Melendez said. “I have a loving family, a wonderful husband and two boys, they sacrifice a lot for me to do this. Training for Ironman would take a lot from them, too.”
But her passion lies in road racing. She plans to pursue the sport as far as she can.
“I love it,” Melendez said. “I would love to see how far I could go with that as well. It’s just unfortunate they don’t have the women’s Tour de France anymore. I’ve got that kind of mentality where I want to see what’s the limit. It would take a lot of hard work and coaching, but I’m ready for it. I want to be the one on top of that podium someday.”
Tags: accident, cycle, cycling, france, mountain, tour, tour de france
