Every good story has a beginning, a middle and of course an end! The beginning for me was May 2005 . . .
Uni had finished and I was seeking pastures new and previously unexplored. G (my coach) organised a mountain biking outing with work down to Glentress Forest, I didn’t even know what Glentress was!! Anyway to cut a longish story short that day quite literally changed my life and I fell in love with mountain biking yee hee! Don’t get me wrong the hills were tough but the buzz that I got from tearing down the descents was unbelievable, unfortunately my little bike Bluey wasn’t quite up to scratch and he was forced into early retirement shortly after that day. I bought a little Giant (which I still use these days) and we set off into the sunset together to explore the world of biking!
I have been so fortunate in the last few years meeting so many special people who have really helped and directed me into the heart of the mountain biking community. I guess the middle of my story was in 2006 when I entered my first competitive season finishing 2nd in the overall Scottish Elite rankings. Unfortunately in December 2006 I broke my ankle (playing football - donuts! I used to captain the Napier Uni’s women’s 1st team) which totally disrupted my first winter training schedule. By February 2007 I was back training trying to play catch up for the new season starting in April. During the 2007 season I had recurring issues with my ankle but towards the latter half of the season I hooked up with a fab physio (G’s wife Sarah) who started to sort me out. It took a year of hard graft doing exercises everyday, but we worked together and 2008 saw the results. The 2009 season was a continuation of that success in which I finished 2nd in the Scottish Champs & overall in the series and 8th in the British champs – wow! Each year I am experiencing vast improvements in performance and I cannot wait for 2010 already! Did I mention by the way that I can now also compete in the World Cups next year which is the highest level of racing that I can achieve!
The last few years have been a great adventure, my body is now laden with scars each which tell their own biking stories and still make my mum shake her head at me in that disapproving way, but it sure has been fun. 2010 is going to be an amazing year I can’t wait! The end by the way . . .not even close to it!
Dr G an Exercise Physiologist at Edinburgh Napier University has now been coaching me for the last 4 years - eek. Although on occasion I have been known to drive him slightly insane . . . we continue to rock as a team! His support has been invaluable to my development. I am in the best shape I have ever been and that is going to provide me with a fantastic building block for 2010. G and I are so excited about this winter- its going to be a good one-lots and lots of hard training-yee ha! No more football games from now on though, that’s for sure (I’m ref this year :-))!

Name – Lesley Ingram
Date of birth - 6/8/81
From – Fife
Stay – Scottish Borders
Education – Bsc Honours First Class in Sport & Exercise Science.
Currently studying for a Phd In exercise Immunology.
Started Cycling – 2005, never looked back since.
Strengths – My dedication.
Weaknesses – Chocolate.