Hi everyone, Michelle here.

I've been reading all of your responses to this thread and I must say that this is rare. What usually happens is people make a bunch of off base assumptions about me and then top it off by calling me "it" or "thing". I usually only respond when the thread is respectful and this has been.

As I'm sure you can imagine there is much more to any story than can be printed in a magazine. Even if you have seen the film "100percentwoman" you still don't know everything that went on over the two years that the film was made. I have received an incredible amount of support from people who share a similar history or from people who were just touched in some way. That being said there are many people out ther who wish that I would just go away. Intollerance is still prevellant even if most of us wish that it wasn't.

For the past couple of years it's been my role to not only be a professional athlete but to also be the "posterchild for trans athlete's". Balancing these has been very difficult and I always hope that I've made the right decision to be public. I'm not sure that I'll ever know.

I certainly do not expect everyone to agree with me being able to race but I do expect people to inform themselves before making any judgements. Most of what has been said here is correct. Loss of muscle mass, decrease in bone density, decrease in red blood cell production and changes in brain chemistry all contribute to my "case". If I thought that I had an unfair advantage I would never compete. In sport we all try to use our natural advantages. In my case I have several attributes that I feel make me a very good downhiller and probably not a good xc racer. Sport is never an equal playing field and the notion that there is a purity to sport is a dream. Everyone can ride a bike, many can compete but few will ever make it to the elite ranks. There ae many factors that make a great athlete, dedication, skill, natural ability, luck. There will always be some who excell is certain sports and others who do not. I am just very fortunate that I get to compete and one day I hope that having an athlete with a trans history in the field won't be a big deal.

Thanks to you all for this disscusion and your support.

Always smilin

Michelle Dumaresq