I was born in Scotland. My first race was in grade school, a 400m run at a track meet. Our team showed up to the meet having never run on a track before. I had no concept of how far 400m was, so I started slowly. I was just picking it up when the winners crossed the finish line Ð I thought 400m was way longer and I had plenty time to reel them in. I was mad at myself and discovered some competitive juice inside. Our team came last in every event.

So, I quit running and took up with a local swim team. I proved to be a good breast-stroker and began winning meets. That was fun. The only thing was, I stopped growing at 5 feet 2 inches so my potential as a swimmer was limited. Fast swimmers are tall with long arms. The coaches lost interest in me and I lost interest in swimming.

My next sport was rowing, which I enjoyed immensely, but the rowing club kept putting me in the little seat at the front of the boat to be their coxswain. That was my first coaching job. I liked telling people what to do and seeing how psyched they were when they won races.

Then I went off to University and took up serious partying for a year. That is an endurance sport in itself. I first came to America to spend my sophomore year at Colorado State University, where I met Steve, a bike racer. I went to watch him race and it looked like a lot of fun. I bought a bike and entered my first mountain bike race. I got lost and didn't finish that one, but won the next few. Being small in stature is an advantage on a mountain bike.

Back in Scotland in 1990 I discovered triathlon. I could swim, bike and run. Now that was really fun. I completed the Scottish National Triathlon winter series and ended up 3^rd overall.

After graduating in 1991 with a BSc, I moved to America, married Steve the bike racer and went to work full time as a Research Associate for a biotech company in Colorado. Steve and I raced our mountain bikes all over Colorado and I won a lot. I was picked up to race on a sponsored factory race team, won my first two national level races with them and turned pro in 1994.

My race results were recognized by the top dogs at the British Cycling Federation. I was selected to race on the British national team at the Mountain Bike World Championships in 1994 and 1995, with a top finish there of 25^th. It was awesome to be on the start line at the World Championships, with the best riders on the globe, wearing my national team uniform. Steve ran all over the race course and cheered for me in at least 10 places during the '94 race.  In 1996 and 1997 during visits to Scotland I won the cross-country mountain bike National Championships. This time my family was there cheering for me. I enjoyed winning in front of my family.

While racing, I enjoyed coaching and giving training advice. I was psyched when my advice turned into results - even when that meant I was beaten by someone who followed my plan. In 1998 I raced less and coached more and in 1999 I did not race at all, only coached.

January 2000 I gave birth to Wesley and July 2002 to Emma. During that time I raced here and there but nothing planned and structured. Hanging out with my babies and growing my coaching business, LW Coaching, was my focus.

Writing has also become a passion. My work has been published in Velo News, Inside Triathlon, The Endurance Coaching Journal and numerous newsletters.

Now I am teaching the coaches! I was a presenter at the USA Cycling Elite coaching certification clinic at the Olympic Training Center, January 2004 and at the Ultrafit annual coaching conference in 2006.