Haylee Fuller back in Dubbo after riding with IBCT team in Europe

So what did she do instead? Spent nine months racing with and against some of the world's best in Europe.

The experience was one to treasure, as he got the chance to mix competition and riding on the World Tour with all the fun of backpacking around Europe during a gap year.

"It was an amazing experience," she said.

"I didn't go in with too much pressure on myself and took each opportunity to race and used it to gain experience.

"I was quite happy I got to travel a fair bit, too. I used it as a bit of a gap year but also to try and progress up to the World Tour."

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The experience has only added to the fire burning within Fuller.

The teenager has been back home four roughly two weeks now and is already hard at work in the lead-up to the National Road Championships next January.

There, the aim is simple and the hope is she can end up making her way back to Europe to race full-time in the future.

"I started training again on Friday. The goal is to hopefully win the under 23 title," she said, looking forward to January.

If she is to return to Europe and the World Tour, the things which came as a shock this year will be the norm.

From being amazed by the amount of support staff her Belgium-based IBCT team had, to coming to grips with brakes being on the other side of the handlebars in Europe, there was plenty which was eye-opening for Fuller.

Racing on the famed cobbles of European tracks in front of huge crowds was also something which required some adjustment.

"Over there you're racing in a bunch of 170 where here you're lucky to have 50 in a bunch. That in itself was a massive step up plus the level of racing was a massive change," she said.

"I didn't expect to have a camper and trucks and multiple team cars but it was a really good set-up. And all the girls in the team were really lovely so that made it easy to live with them."

And what was it like being part of a few World Tour events?

"Bloody hard," she laughed.

"But it's quite cool. And it's something everyone strives to do, to ride on the World Tour. I think the goal now is to get on one of those teams and do those races."

Having been one of a host of elite Dubbo Cycle Club riders for a number of years, Fuller proved herself up to the standard while racing almost weekly during the past nine months.

While her style means she is someone who often had to do a lot of the tough work up front to help other riders in the team be well-positioned for sprints and race finishes, Fuller scored plenty of memorable results of her own.

A third-placed finish in 60km criterium in Antwerp, Belgium was a highlight while there were a number of impressive results from teammates which were largely down to Fuller's work in races regularly further than 100km.

"Confidence," she said of one of the biggest things she gained.

" Once I got over there I'd never ridden on cobbles and my first race there it was a bit like 'here you go, here's the cobbles' but I did really well in that one.

I think I got three flat tyres and had some mechanical issues but I was still in the mix. When I started that race all I wanted to do was finish and then I finished and it gave me a lot of confidence going into the next races."