McQuaid comes from a road bicycle racing family, his father Jim and uncle Paddy being senior Irish amateur cyclists.
His brothers Kieron and Oliver as well as his cousin John McQuaid represented Ireland in the world road championship and the Olympic road race, and Pat McQuaid is also a former president of the Union Cycliste Internationale.
An injury knocked him out for 1993 but he came back in 1994 with rides in the Gran Premio Liberazione and Giro delle Regioni in Italy and fourth in Ireland's National Tour, the Rás Tailteann.
McQuaid was proprietor of Phoenix Park Bike Hire for eight years, and now runs River Cycles, also a bike rental shop, at Usher's Island within Dublin's South Quays.
[3] McQuaid has also run Celtic Trails cycling tours in the west of Ireland starting in 1997.