Jul 29 2019 34 mins
When Nick Smith was 14 years old his mother bought him a new bike with wider tyres hoping to keep him safe on the roads and trails surrounding his Southern Highlands home. They had unknowingly purchased a cyclocross bike, a stroke of good fortune that has since seen the 21 year old pursue a career in that sport which is still finding its roots in Australia. At just 16, Smith took himself off to Europe, unaccompanied, to try his hand at the sport where the best in the world compete. He had been making the pilgrimage every year. since, racing in front of tens of thousands of rambunctious supporters on tracks comprising obstacles such as stairs, sand, snow and mud