Danni Shrosbree won the first-ever national title for elite women at the 2022 British Gravel Championships. She then emerged from a swirl of pro roadies trying off-road races and took fourth at Unbound Gravel 200 in 2023.
As the long season of racing and travel winds down, and 2024 looms with another round as an invited elite rider in the Life Time Grand Prix (LTGP) US-based series, the 29-year-old Briton's rallying call was "bring on the off-season".
"My aim this year in LTGP is to take all my learnings/mistakes from last year and do it all that bit better! I had quite a lot of bad luck in the final races but also I suffered due to the amount of travelling and altitude," Shrosbree told Cyclingnews.
"This year I am mapping out my calendar a lot better and getting out to the races earlier than last year to allow for adaptation to altitude and time so recce course etc. I also will be working on some MTB skills hopefully in January. I am super excited to do Unbound again of course!"
2023 was her first foray into a full season of gravel, one in which she committed to competing in five of the seven events in the Life Time Grand Prix off-road series.
"Life Time asked us [invited riders] 'what race are you looking forward to most?' I wrote down Unbound. I'd never ridden that distance before. I looked at the course and it was weird, I just really wanted to get stuck into that race," Shrosbree said about the jewel of the Grand Prix.
"I knew that I'm mentally quite strong. I knew that I've got a big engine, in terms of I can just stick at one pace. I knew that at Unbound a lot of people would probably blow up and things like that. So that race is about not only being fit but getting your nutrition right. Sometimes it all comes together.
"I actually had no smooth ride, though. I had a nightmare in the mud like most people, but I didn't. I didn't know about the paint sticks and things like that," she laughed, recalling how she used her hands to clear mud off her bike in Emporia while the experienced riders used wooden paint sticks, which was much easier.
A true privateer who travels the globe for gravel glory, Shrosbree finds that jet lag has become her most reliable, if pesky, companion. For races, she also needs to request time off from her full-time job in product management at Vivobarefoot, a British footwear company.
"I did have to take some unpaid leave, but they've been really good, pretty supportive," she said.
After a trip back to the UK for the Gravel Championships and a silver medal this time, Shrosbree cleaned and adjusted her equipment for another US trip. The long air and auto distances added to the challenge of another high-altitude race at Trinidad, Colorado for The Rad Dirt Fest, her fourth event in the Life Time Grand Prix where she finished out of the top 20.
"I'm at the end of my season - it's been so much travelling. I wasn't pleased [with The Rad Dirt], but considering jetlag, and everything else, like so many people were giving up, I was just happy that I carried on. I beat myself up a bit, but as an athlete, we always do that," she told Cyclingnews from her rental car as she drove from southern Colorado to Denver to catch another flight home to England.
Three weeks later was back in the US for Big Sugar Gravel, the finale of the Life Time series. She was out of major prize purse contention in the series, but called it "a nice way to finish off with everyone".
On the trips to the US, she was able to make friends with Australian rider Ella Bloor, also part of the LTGP, and they could limit some of the logistical nightmares.
"I was speaking to Ella Bloor and we both can relate to each other so much. Most people in this series are American, right? They all know the areas we're going to. Me and Ella try to logistically stay with random people and keep the costs down. And you don't have mechanics out here and stuff. So it's just building relationships with people that can help you out and you can help them, you know."
Once the Life Time series concluded, she headed back to England yet again and prepared for the UCI Gravel World Championships, getting in four work days for Vivobarefoot before travelling to Italy.
What did she learn from all the travel and all the racing? She said it came down to being smarter, not so much about faster.
"Definitely at the end of this year, I'll sit down and I'll target races that I want to podium at. Then, I'll be like, right, these races I want to do but they are training. So then the pressure is taken off yourself.
"To be honest, this year has also been for me about finding my feet in the gravel world and just learning so much," she concluded.
In 2024 Shrosbree will focus on gravel, and only mix in a few road races, like British Nationals. In off-road pursuits, she'll target the Life Time Grand Prix events, combine the US trip for Leadville 100 MTB and SBT GRVL, both in Colorado. In Europe she will target The Traka, Gralloch and a few other gravel events.
