Melanie Cline

Melanie R. Cline (born June 29, 1975) is an American former amateur "Old/Mid School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1982–2004 and 2009 to the present.

Born in Westland, Michigan, she was one of the first generation of female BMX racers to become well known after the 1980–1986 era dominated by Debbie Kalsow, Kathy Schachel, Gaby Bayhi and Cheri Elliott. Melanie Cline could more than hold her own against the boys, often racing in the "Open" class at nationals in which boys and girls raced in the same age bracket—9- and 10-year-olds and 11- and 12-year-olds for example—compete as opposed to the girls only division. She regularly made those Open mains and even won many of them. She won five such Opens at nationals in 1987 in the 11- and 12-year-old class. Her nicknames "Swell Mel" or just "Mel" are obvious plays on her first name Melanie. She was also known as "Speed Queen". Melanie went on to win 4 World Championships as well as 16 National Championships during her racing career, the most of any one person at that time. She stopped competing in 2003 after conceiving her first son shortly after the NBL Grand Nationals.