Dani King – Cycling Weekly Blog

In the first of her new exclusive blogs for Cycling Weekly, Dani King talks about the winter building up to this weekends Track World Cup.

Check it out.

Dani King wins first race in Belgium - By Bart Hazen

Dani King – My Track Nationals

Well if I had been told I would be walking away with a gold, 2 silvers a bronze and a 5th place after being bed bound for 6 weeks I would have said ‘yeah right.. I wish’ but as it happens I’ve shocked myself and a lot of other people. I was really nervous going into the championships as I really didn’t know how I’d be going. I packed a lot of training in after having glandular fever and so knew I was fit, I just didn’t know if I’d be fit enough. The first event was the Madison, initially I thought id be riding with Lauren Therin however tragically a close family member of hers died very close to the event so understandably pulled out of the championships.

Dani king - Track Championships - Larry Hickmott

The night before I phoned Ella Hopkins ( a very good friend of mine) who I knew would be up for riding and she was. With no preparation, we had no expectations or pressure but managed to come away with a silver medal. I was chuffed and felt like it was a good warm up for my first individual event the next day.. 120 lap point’s race!

Dani King – A look back and forward

The season started very well and then you got sick.  Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Yeah, it was going great.  I was having the best season I’d ever had after having a solid winter on the bike. I’d won 8 races and was excited about the rest of the season with the team. I rode the Kalas 2-day which is a men’s race the weekend before the national road race.  I was really excited about the championship because I was flying during the 2 day race. A couple of days before the nationals I didn’t feel myself but couldn’t put my finger on why.  I rode a local evening race at Portsmouth on the Wednesday before the nationals and couldn’t hold a wheel where I would normally contest the sprint.

Dani King wins first race in Belgium - By Bart Hazen

At first I put that down to my body holding back for the weekend but I soon found out that wasn’t the case when I started the race. I couldn’t even get up the first climb in the bunch so pulled out when I knew for sure something wasn’t right. I had blood tests the same day which revealed a viral infection, the week later I had tonsillitis and a few days after that the dreading glandular fever was confirmed.

Back in the swing of things

I’ve just completed 2 races after having Glandular Fever; the first was the Welsh Crit champs which were held in a little town called Cardigan. I was really looking forward to the race but also apprehensive as to how I was going to feel. I made sure I did a good warm up as from previous experience I know crits can start fast. I was right, it went straight from the gun and I found myself hanging on.

Dani King at Nationals - Katya Johnston

I stayed with the front group for about 20mins and then found myself in no man’s land for another 10. Eventually a group caught me which Ruby Miller was in; we were the leading women in the race. The pace stayed high however I knew the 1st woman result was going to be a sprint between me and Ruby. I waited until quite late as I knew the finish was a deceiving drag however Ruby had the better of me on the day and beat me in what was a photo finish.

On the Mend!

 

 

This blog is going to be short and sweet as nothing much has been going on in the world of me at the moment. I’m back on my bike properly now which is great! I’m trying to get fit as quick as possible. I’m staying in Wales at the moment and am riding the track most days in preparation for the national track champs which I hope to ride at the end of September.

What a rollercoaster my life has been

Well what a rollercoaster my life has been during last the few months. I went from winning a race a week to not being able to walk up the stairs without getting out of breath. After my win in Stoke I began feeling tired more often and not being able to be competitive in races I would usual be.

Dani Interviewed for ITV4 - Katya Johnston

Initially I put it down to nerves and thinking my body was holding back for the Nationals which were in a weeks time. I started the race to quickly find out it was definitely not the nerves holding me back when I couldn’t even get up the first hill in the bunch.

 

Dani King Interview

This weekend is the UK National Championships. Horizon Fitness Racing Team will be with a strong team, to challenge the best riders in the world.

Dani King - Photo by Bart Hazen

One of the key riders for the team is Dani King. Battling for the Under 23 championship this weekend against the likes of Lizzy Armitstead and Lucy Martin, Dani hopes she can do well and continue her great form.

We caught up with Dani today as she finishes off her preparations for the Nationals.

Dani King – Keep Drinking

Dani King is featured in this weeks Cycling Weekly magazine.  See the article below. Dani is the current UK Criterium champion and Derny Champion.

Dani King - Keep drinking

This weekend dani will be defending her national title in the Derny.

National Derny Championships for Dani King

This week end is the National Derny Championships which is  being held in Scunthorpe.  Dani King, Horizon Fitness RT, is the defending champion having won last year in Newport.

Dani King - Derny Star

‘These championships have been a target for me this season.  It’s always good to go after a National Title, and it’s never good to lose one.  So I really wanted to focus on them.  I’ve been over to Belgium and Holland racing in the past couple of weeks,  Dani said.

Winning and training in Belgium

Ive been in Belguim for 10 days now and had a great time!  My first race was a 60k crit.  The morning of the race I went out for a ride with loads of Belguin guys along the canal near Oudennaard which was good as i’d travelled all day the day before.

Dan iKing

I felt pretty good so was well up for the race.  It started really fast and during the race 2 girls got away, including Grace Verbeke (winner of the 2010 Tour of Flanders).  I was gutted to miss the winning move but each lap I just focused on how to win the bunch sprint.