Megan Reakes wasn't aware of the impact she was having on her home town.
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She may have only been 19, and known as Megan Dunn in those days, when she competed for her country at the 2010 Commonwealth Games but everyone in Dubbo had known her talent and potential long before she arrived at New Delhi.
A multiple junior world championship winner, she travelled to India as a genuine medal hope.
The 'Dubbo dynamo' came home with two gold and was stunned to realise so much of her hometown had stopped to watch her race.
It's next in our Moments That Mattered series.
THE MOMENT
There was real concern around the Commonwealth Games leading up to the opening ceremony in New Delhi.
There was safety worries for competitors and spectators due to the threat of a terrorist attack in India, health warnings were becoming more common, and there were doubts the facilities in the athlete's village were up to scratch.
But a 19-year-old from Dubbo arrived fit, firing, and focused.
She might have been a teenager on the big stage, but she didn't lack experience.
By the time Reakes was 11 she had already been crowned NSW rider of the year and in 2005 she won the time trial, sprint, individual pursuit and scratch race events in the under-15 Australian national track championships.
In 2008 she became the youngest winner in Bay Classic series history when she won the event at age 16 while she also achieved success at the world junior championships in South Africa and Russia in 2008 and 2009 and was then described by national coach Gary Sutton as the future of women's cycling.
At the 2010 Commonwealth Games she went into her two events - the points race and the scratch race - with some pressure on her shoulders.
But she delivered. With almost all of Dubbo watching, as well.
The first gold came on October 6. In the points race as she won the vital final sprint to finish on 45 points, five clear of New Zealand's Lauren Ellis, with Canada's reigning world champion Tara Whitten relegated to third.
From the outset it was apparent the 19-year-old would be hard to beat after she came four wide to claim the first of the ten pointscoring sprints in the 100-lap event.
"I was on a mission out there - I've wanted this for months and I've trained so hard," Megan said at the time.
"To finally get it is a dream come true."
It was an incredible moment for Gus Dawson as well, the leading Dubbo coach who helped mould Reakes into the champion she was.
"I'm over the moon now," Dawson said immediately after watching the race.
"She's very tough, she said to me yesterday she was the fittest she has been.
"When she says that you know she is right because when she puts her mind to something she generally gets it.
"She's potentially the best female cyclist in the world, if not already."
Just a day after winning gold in the points race, the champion cyclist backed up in the scratch race and was simply dominant.
She was part of a breakaway group in the middle stages of the 40-lap race and took it upon herself to chase down New Zealand's Joanne Kiesanowski in the final kilometre.
"I didn't expect a medal today - I loved the feeling of winning yesterday and it made me hungry for it today," she said after the second win.
"It still hasn't sunk in. I trained for four months solid for this race and to achieve it was unbelievable.
"I was just ecstatic when I crossed the line. It was a huge mountain off my shoulders.
LOOKING BACK
There has been a lot of change during the past decade, with the biggest being Megan is now known by the surname Reakes and she has one child with her husband and another on the way.
She no longer rides, a string of injuries in 2011 forced her away from the sport, but one major part of her character remains the same.
"I do shut the door quick. A race was over and it was let's move on to the next one," she said.
"And that's how I live my whole life."
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Being that way means there hasn't been a whole lot of reminiscing in the past decade.
In truth, there's only one person the former world champion wants to impress.
"The only person I've ever tried to tell is my two-year-old, that mummy used to be cool but he still thinks his father is the best in the world," she laughed.
"I've never been someone to sit and think about my achievements. I've just always kept moving forward."
Still living and working in Dubbo, there are now and then people who click and realise who Megan Reakes used to be.
There's often a laugh, then the obligatory "are you still riding?" question before things go back to normal.
The time for sitting back, looking at the medals, and reminiscing will no doubt come further down the road but when looking back on the two gold medal wins now, it's an immense feeling of satisfaction and still a little shock at the response.
"I didn't realise Dubbo was watching, for me I was happy to have a successful campaign because I trained so hard," Reakes said.
"I'm the kind of person who, once the race is over, I reflect myself and then move on. So when I came back [to Dubbo] and everyone was all excited I was like 'oh wow'.
"I was definitely shocked at attention I got when I got home. Cycling has never been really popular so I didn't know so many people knew I went to the Games and to come back and hear there was schools sitting up and watching it, that was cool."
The medals don't reside in the Reakes family home now.
They were framed and given to Megan by her husband and mother just last Christmas but still remain at her parents' house.
"I'm sure one day, probably when more time passes, maybe we'll have a bar room and I'll hang them but now I feel like it's a bit too much," she said.
"I'm very proud because I know how hard I worked. I don't need to stare at medals to know that.
"I remember the feeling of crossing the line. At the world championships a few months before I had been sick a few days earlier and even though I trained my arse off it all fell apart on the day and that was really disappointing.
"Leading into the games I trained super, super hard and did everything right and I remember lining up and saying to my coach, Gary Sutton, 'if I get beat today it's because I get beat by a better rider, it's not because I'm not good enough. I've trained hard, I'm in the best form, I feel good, and my prep has been perfect' so to win was great."
THE IMPACT
Dubbo was already well known for cycling by the time a 19-year-old from the regional NSW city collected two gold medals in New Delhi.
But it's only gone from strength to strength since then, as Dawson had predicted in 2010.
"I think what Megan has shown these other kids is that it is possible to come from Dubbo and still make something out of the sport," Dawson said after her double gold at the time.
"They will see that if you have the talent and are willing to put in the hard work, then you can do it."
Cyclists young and old have been putting in the work since and Dubbo Cycle Club was named the best club in the state just last year and the fifth best in the country overall.
The likes of Kurt Eather, Adam Mitchell, Dylan Eather, Haylee Fuller, Luke Ensor, and so many, many more have achieved fantastic results while wearing the Dubbo club colours and it appears a lot will follow in those footsteps.
It's not just the juniors either, as Andrew Taylor, Simone Grounds, and Darrell Wheeler are just some who have enjoyed massive success in various older age groups.
"I was more happy it did a lot for Dubbo cycling," Megan said, looking back at her own achievements.
"I'm more a private person so a lot of the media I did do was to make sure the Dubbo Cycle Club got recognition.
"The ones who are killing it for the Dubbo Cycle Club now were tiny little kids watching me. Last season I went down to the track and people who were kids to me are now in A-Grade.
"The Dubbo club is thriving and it makes me so happy."