FEMME MATTERS | WOMENS CYCLING | EPISODE 1

Welcome to the first episode of FEMME MATTERS. A new series, shining a light and celebrating incredible women within the cycling space.

This week we interview Sarah King, founder of London Academy race team. A women’s cycling race team founded on having fun and smashing it along the way – with happy heads, happy legs at the heart of everything. Sarah has over 15 years of racing experience and has spent time creating a safe cycling and racing space for women which seeks to provide support, mentorship, encouragement and is brimming with love, respect and friendship.

A must watch for anyone interested in hearing about local womens race teams, racing in general and just having the confidence to get on the bike and ride.

We take on laps of Regents Park whilst diving in to questions.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about London Academy on their socials here:

Instagram
@ldn_academy
@sarahlouiseking_

Also mentioned were:
@albion.cycling
@hhvwomen
@hernehillvelodrome9288
@newforerstoffroadclub

You can find some of the workshops Sarah and the Academy are running here:

Racing 101:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bike-racing-101-tickets-805241447847?aff=oddtdtcreator

A Guide to the 2024 Season:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/guide-to-the-2024-season-tickets-805243574207?aff=oddtdtcreator

#cyclingvlog #womenscycling #cyclinginspiration #roadbike #womensracing #bikeracing #critracing #cyclist #gravelbike #velodrome #cyclingadventure #cycling #cyclinguk #vlog #vlogs #interview #bikereview

Oh my goodness your girl is in London I have made it in and I am so very excited to be kicking off at the first in my series of interviewing some of the most incredible and inspiring women doing amazing things for women’s cycling and today I am so troughed feel quite

Privileged to be able to go and have a really lovely chat with founder of lond academy uh which is a cycling race team for women completely founded on fun having a great time happy mind happy legs Sarah King and yeah I am buzzing it’s been a long time since I saw her

And one of the reasons why I wanted to have an interview with her is because when I first went to a bit of a bike skills session she was there helping out and when I came to leave rather than try and take part in the race which was

Straight after I was like oh thanks very much for that SES I’m going to head off now she was like why don’t you just jump in and crack on now and she nudged me in to me first go which obviously you know got dropped straight away all of that good

Stuff but that always sticks with me and um just that simple sentence of well why not just now anytime I felt a bit like teetering on the edge of doing something very very very excited to have a good chat hear a story share a story pass on some absolutely incredible

Inspiration and some um handy helpful bits and pieces that I can share with you ladies right let me hop on the bike and ride do I have to like he I’m going to look forward while you look at that anyone over no you can look you can look

At yes she is so I am with Sarah King o o o o o first couple of laps of the Inner Circle a right of passage which which direction are we going in is this this is anticlockwise no this clockwise this is clockwise oh yeah what a great start she’s here today

Keeping me alive getting us around the outside of region Park and so so many questions for you absolute Legend first and foremost how did you get into riding your bike and when did you start I’ve been riding since I was about 15 used to swim so I’ve competed

Since I was about 10 years old by me so um yeah I started riding at 15 my dad took me on to the local Club I got picked up through some friends there and a coach at British cycling amazing so I was pretty lucky at the time I think to

Be spotted and go and have a go on the British cycling Talent team as I was kind of 15 16 um yeah mainly local club stuff like that’s where I learn everything amazing what was your first bike ooh I think it was some sort of giant hey some sort of giant that was

Too big for me that my dad thought was great at the time so love it and did Dad ride for a club or do any racing no I don’t think so I think he just the only thing I remember is him saying that he used to ride to

School and back that’s all I there must be more to that because he had a bike and did he come and watch the races yeah we were a good like team at races that is so lovely he’s like no he’s like no facts what do you love

About the bike life in general it’s the simple thing of just being outside yeah I think that’s my fa like just seeing the seasons change and I know I don’t think of it any more than that I’m quite glad that I like just riding my bike so

That when you take racing away I’m not racing as much I still want to do it which I think can be difficult sometimes when all you’ve known is racing I’m quite grateful now to be able to still love doing it just enjoy the ride yeah and tell us more about racing so

Obviously you raced for quite a while and then now you set up the incredible London Academy which I think has the most gorgeous Mantra of Happy Head happy legs and how did that come to be tell me a bit more about about that so so I’ve

Raced for quite a while and I’ve kind of been part of lots of different teams and I’ve experienced a lot my friends have experienced a lot I’ve seen kind of the good stuff bad stuff all of it in between and kind of how how teams haven’t I guess moved on that much over

The years I think things are ran the same way they always have been which seems to work to a point I think there’s more we can do um so when I was part of I was on a team called bian Dharma perhaps 2017 and I became more of a team

Captain in that in that team and I kind of realized that I wanted to give these Riders the opportunity to do more and to get the experience that I’d maybe have when I was younger um so coming out that I really I really enjoyed doing that I

Love that there was a great bunch of riders that we’re still mates now that’s the best thing about it yeah so coming to London seeing how many people ride bikes here and being able to kind of Kickstart a team yeah where I could help another bunch of riders get into it that maybe

Hadn’t didn’t have as much experience um yeah that’s kind of how it how it began I want to leave things better than they were I love that and even that small little things are influencing one or two people at a time that will eventually help change how women’s racing is hopefully

In the UK amazing and what would you say to anyone who was maybe thinking about racing and was tempted to do it but was you know put off like feeling the fear feeling the impostor syndrome that we’ve kind of been ning about earlier like what would you say to someone who was

Like oh I don’t know when when I’ve done a couple of workshops um people don’t think they can do it yeah but the fact that you’re thinking about racing means you you most likely can do it and it’s the ner and it’s just turning up to that first one

Yeah it’s always the first one and once you’ve done it yeah it might not go to plan like it probably won’t my first few races off yeah but that’s kind of the point like if it works out first time you’ve got nothing to kind of work on

And change so going in and saying right I’m going to have a go and if it doesn’t go to plan I’ll just keep coming back for more yeah never giving up yeah and take a mate take a mate people own a mate there I think that’s it best thing

A friendly face it just goes such a long way doesn’t it the race world can be quite scary it is scary like car Parks race car parks are scary places people don’t talk to each other and they’re like but a lot of that is cuz everyone is nervous everyone is a bit stressed

True so the easiest thing for everyone to do is to just get on with their own stuff try and make the point with the academy that yes we might all be nervous but we’re all a group of mates and if anyone else is needing some help or

Doesn’t know what to do yeah they can come and chat to us we’re doing some amazing stuff to obviously help encourage people to join like I’ve had the pleasure of joining one of your workshops what else have you got coming up for ladies who might be interested um

So we have I’ve got another bike racing 101 Workshop in a couple months time on the 11th of March I’ll probably run another one later on in the season the season is so long if you don’t want to start in March then we’ll definitely do a summer one I’m doing actually a new

One for people kind of who have race a little bit but maybe don’t know what’s next okay and that I’m going to go through the 2024 calendar mhm so I think one of the tricky things about the like bri cycling website or racing in general is knowing what the races are yeah it’s

A Minefield you don’t know whether you’re signing up to something super hilly or something super flat and who’s going to be there and what the the caliber of racer might be there yeah so having that kind of debunked a bit and feeling comfortable turning up to races

That you might be able to perform really well so finding those races that might challenge you a bit and having a mix of those things this is it cuz you don’t want to turn up to something that you’re just going to I don’t know fall at the

Back off straight away you kind of need to like work your way through the system and yeah and figure that out and that’s totally fine you don’t there’s there’s a national series of races in the UK which are the highest level of racing mhm just because that exists doesn’t mean you

Have to go do that straight away so much other stuff on the calendar to go and have a go out and learn to race you want to go and do stuff where you can win or you might cuz that’s when you learn you want to do well

You learn the most stuff then as well like there wasn’t as many things on the calendar when I started out and I wish I’d had more of that experience well there we go that leads nice into our next question if you could go back to when you started at the beginning what

Advice would you give to yourself now you’ve had a good few years it’s always beening in myself yeah that was it I definitely had a few moments where things didn’t go to planner or apply for things and didn’t get on to them or yeah that sort of thing and if only sometimes

I’d sat in that race i’ G up that climb and said actually they’re not better than me I can be just as good as that that’s like the whole Happy Head happy legs thing you can cycle yourself out so quickly I still do it when I’m on group rides now

Do it yeah do all the time I’m like well they can ride faster than I can so I just start you just naturally back off CU you don’t think you can do it it’s the it’s the positive mind talk isn’t it like we need all need a bit of that yeah

Believing in yourself I think is there anything in the cycl world that you wish would change or you’d love to see change a little bit more like obviously I feel like things have moved forward in the last few years and you know all the stuff that you do is kind of been part

Of that but yeah what is there anything you could change there’s so many things that could tweak and change aren’t there I mean I wish there was more more women running teams or wanting to be or keeping involved in the sport I think that’s there’s so much knowledge in the

People that are doing it and then the people that leave the sport all that knowledge is still with them yeah how do we keep more and more of that within it and also I to know I feel like there’s so many races on and every single year

We get nagged to get Riders into races every year and there’ll be a sweet spot at some point where we have Optimum races and the optimum amount of people doing the right races and that’ll be great that’ll be happen but like life spell chaos now he my squeaky chain you

Can’t hear your squeaky chain I wash my bike though that was that’s the great thing my bike it’s gleaming so we don’t have any dirty bikes on this show just one just one with a one one gear what are you most proud of most proud of

Within the cycling world or or even you know let’s go beyond that let’s get each other up here what are you most proud of um I think racing wise I when I was 17 I home third at Junior Nationals on the road incredible and it was probably like it’s the best

Resort we ever done and I raced like I properly raced it just remember being very proud of myself on how I did it and what I did what do you mean by properly raced it so like we were coming up to the finish and like I was with the woman

Who came second Hann it um and I thought I thought I had it and I was like right I can try and go for a second here I thought I’d go pter up this time silly move like really silly move I just love that I had the balls to do it I’ve never

Beaten her in my life like she’s an incredible bike rider and a professional athlete and I just I just like love that my brain thought I could do it I love that and I couldn’t me but um I just remember like that’s yeah I love that was the sort of

Racer that I was when I was a junior yeah I had didn’t I took those chances and that’s kind of that’s cool that’s it’s Fearless you just went for it that’s kind of like the what I want to put into the Riders on the academy is that you can go and do it

And not be afraid to try things um but yeah there’s quite a few races that I didn’t think I’d finish or get around I’m just proud of being there and doing that considering what was going on in the rest of my life or uni or work or whatever

Um you showed up yeah and I’m proud of the academy yes and I’m proud of what has happened what I’ve been able to hopefully create and the confidence it’s given me I like I’ve definitely in the last year I feel a lot more confident in my what I

Know and how I can share it which is really cool I love that and I love that you’re sharing it with more and more people and what are some of the biggest lessons that you’ve learned the laugh I think like cycling is one of those things that it literally

Goes up and down all the time and there’s like you always have those moments where it’s awful and you have total highs and it’s like how I so part of the academy we have a mentoring program and Riders are mentored by other Riders and that are racing yeah and I’ve

Had a mentor ever since I started racing and the amounts of times I just ring her up in a total State that’s how it used to be in that I’d go with go to her with all these things that I’d hadn’t quite gotten right or I was panicking about

Yeah and like learning to smooth those kind of waves out was the biggest thing and knowing that it’s just normal um I’m probably taking enough food on rides yes I always have emergency food oh my God definitely like emergency food emergency layers that is that is one of the

Biggest keeping me happy snacks what is your what is your go-to emergency snack um brunch bars okay yeah Fair great pretty good or my mom’s Christmas cake oh I only get from January to March if I can make it last that long but it’s the best what does Mom do differently is

There any any act to it I don’t know I just she just does it so well it’s just mom’s but she stopped putting like maripan and icing on it and I’m pretty mad at her about that so she could do that again for next year that would

Really like the extra sugar and cares come on know you just love love love being on your bike but is there like a favorite place for you or a place that brings you most Joy when you’re riding riding no not riding across town in London the most awful thing in the world

Sorry about that I think I lived I did a placement year at Uni and I lived on the rur yeah near your Housey and i r with a with a club called for and like weers and they used to take me at the weekends into nor Wales and it was just the most

Gorgeous and I haven’t really been back and I wish I could um that was some of my favorite riding that year you need to get back to Wales Wales could be a really good training camp especially for the girls come on me recking yeah come on they’re anywhere that you would love

To go like abroad or the rest of the UK I’ve never ridden in France haven’t you never I’ve actually never done any like proper big mountains because I’ve been racing I think spend every summer racing you forget that you can go and do other things and now I’m like I should go and

Do those other things well I’m guessing you’ve not caught one of the uh Pro women’s races abroad then I actually haven’t that could be something to do I see at all I I mean I just like domestic racing I think it’s really fun yeah like Dom because you know the people you know

What’s going on you get that there’s stories behind those things like I am way more interested in in that sort of thing and when the Tour series I me I used to race the Tour series but when that used to be on TV and I wasn’t

Racing it like that was so cool because it was people that I used to race against love trying to get to like races of any levels especially the smaller ones just cuz I think like it’s amazing to be in the crowd and ringing the bells making noise you know it’s making it for

The Riders but there is something about the grand Tours and like yeah I need to go an experience you did another petition for a trip do you have anyone who has been a big inspiration to you in your cycling career and life I’m going

To go back to my mentor I guess as well like Jenny’s kind of been the person who’s been on the end of the phone at any point that I’ve needed her I think having that support has the been a key to me Still Loving bike riding now and I

Had certain friends that have kind of encouraged me and and helped along those Journeys like when I didn’t think I wanted to ride anymore and stuff has always been someone that said yeah you should be doing this has it been many times then we’re going off off coffee

But has there been many times where you thought I was just going to jack this all in yeah there’s been a few times why like I think just like I think I remember I think I kind of fell out of love with it a little bit

As I went after my first year of uni just cuz everything had changed a bit like you’re in a different environment um I was kind of there wasn’t that there wasn’t a big big field of races and I was sort of I almost wasn’t quite fit

Enough so I was sort of in no man’s land when I was racing yeah I was like why am I doing this and I kind of took a break I think for a couple years I was still riding I just wasn’t racing yeah um and

Then I had a friend that got chatting to me like a friend that I used to ride with at Uni he kind of slowly Tau me back into it and forced me to do some time TR and uh it’s always the best meets you just yeah but like nud you in yeah and

Is there anyone that you admire like professionally the team and all the Riders on the academy genuinely because I know their stories and where they where their racing has come from and what they’re doing to make it all possible is pretty amazing like that that has made me go back and race that’s

So nice but like any any Rider you’ve been on a team with yeah I think you always you know them so well because you’re at race you’re in like you’re spending all your free time with these people yeah your we your whole weekend and you’re traveling from down the

Country so close the ins and outs the bum cream the L I think seeing them do it makes you realize that like you’re all doing the same thing you’re all working full time and then you’re going off to a race at the weekend and Monday morning you’re

Back at work again last thing that’s quite nice about cycling isn’t it in the sense that you you could be from any Walk of Life you could like ride any bike be on any kind of Journey but what unites you is just literally the love of

The ride so nice some of the stuff that’s helped me do the academy as well as like people that weren’t in the racing sphere yeah so there’s like Nick from New Forest of Pro Club they run wonderful workshops on how to build communities and that’s massively helped

Me believe in what I could do and the guys Albi have really been being really use like being really great in terms of people to chat to and bounce ideas off yeah and just I was grateful for those those people not being in in racing yeah

See a different point of view for it bit of fortive yeah and cuz it’s not just about racing like a lot of it is to do with all the stuff around it like people will race because the rest of their life is kind of you want all those things to

Be settled and in a good place to go and race obviously we spoke quite a lot about racing about ladies racing what advice would you give to just any lady picking up a bike um and maybe feeling a little bit nervous about clipping in riding getting involved in like in like

Bike life um I always say go and join your local club like local clubs are whether them hopefully mixed clubs yeah like those people have be been riding bikes forever load and I mean you learn so much of people at different ages and different experience levels and that’s

The safe I think that’s the best place to start cuz there’ll always be a beginner’s ride or there’ll be someone to teach you to do something and yeah I think sometimes it can be nerve-wracking for people to go to them you know like I’ve seen quite a lot of ladies we spoke

About like nerves in the race car park I’ve seen some pull up to group rides looking very nervous like they might go back in their car yeah just you know you ask you ask what I’d change yeah I think some of that is that like I don’t really

Believe there should be women only spaces all the time cuz I think there’s a you can learn so much from everyone yeah um but I do think there’s a bit where maybe that’s the way in yeah and like I found that I used to race on the

Track a bit when I was younger and I got really put off by it and I went back to Hearn Hill and there were women’s only track sessions and you know what like it was the best thing for me cuz I had nothing to be I felt in a very safe

Environment and I hadn’t like experienced that before because when I started racing I just I didn’t mind I was turned up yeah and I was with my dad or like and as I raced more and more I realized it was quite a male heavy environment so I was just like right

I’ll just get on with it yeah but not everyone has that same that same way of looking at it now I kind of I I really appreciated that when I went to her and Hill and needed that support just show up just do it don’t feed the fear yeah last

Question before I go get you a nice coffee what is coming up for you in 2024 and what are you most excited about personally professionally with the academy the lot oh gosh there’s a lot of racing on yeah so much and I feel like it starts early it’s ending late March

To September and I I love being at races with the Riders so if I can be there then I’ll be doing that um I’d quite like to race if it feels right that’s be my that’s what I’ve written down and there’s no pressure for me to do it but

If I feel like I want to then I will and I want to ride my bike in different places I didn’t go away enough last year well this is what we’ve learned you need to go to France she’s going to go to France I just want yeah I want to spend

More time riding bikes in other places with makes um and then work is work right keep going pays the bills and what are you most excited for the Academy then just having them all at a race yeah just this like magic thing when they all

Get together and I just watch it like I get to observe it like what they and they amazed me CU they take in things and they do it and I’m just like oh cool you listened well just like just I’m amazed at the amount of not

That I should be amazed but like they they support each other so well yeah that they don’t really need me like they know what they’re doing but you’ve made it you’ve made it happen you should be so proud real yeah that’s magic magic moment where it all kind of comes

Together yeah oh I want to see everyone in the new kit as well I haven’t revealed that yet oh when’s the kit dropping like 3 weeks I’m like I’m not even I if I’m going to tease it I’m just going to I don’t want to yeah I know everyone

Posts like a a little graphic of their of their new kit and I’m like no we’ll just have riders in kit maybe oh yes yeah oh my God me for say that they really want me to launch it you got to do the big splash the big

Reveal can you give me any sneak previews about it or not colors are stay in the same obviously and orange are great what I’m hoping for is some kind of disco ball or Sparkle you know I me that’s yeah Emoji in somewhere then I will mate that’s what I’m hoping for it’s

Everywhere I have one in my kitchen do you yeah I love it or everyone like says like we look like fruit salad that’s the other one top sweet I reckon top top sweet well thank you so much for your time and asking all these questions I’m going to pop down in the description

Below all the links to the academy uh Al be in cycling and everybody else that Sarah’s mentioned so you can have a good look at that and uh a couple of links to anything that you can sign up to so some of the events some of the workshops that

Are coming up and stay tuned for more