Adversity is no match for Rhianon Norton.
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Shepparton cycling's comeback queen keeps getting knocked down, but each time she picks herself up, dusts herself off and returns with a vengeance.
Her battles against physical and mental demons have taken her on an emotional rollercoaster, but time and again she has come through the other side with a burning desire to compete - against herself and those in the race.
Shortly after taking up cycling in 2016 and winning her first national title, the Shepparton Cycling Club member hit her first major setback and was forced off of the bike while she recovered from a pair of stomach surgeries.
She returned with vigour to claim two state gold medals at the Victorian Masters Track Championships on the Australia Day weekend last year.
But even Norton herself doubted her ability to come back from a sickening crash just a few months later that threatened to turn her life upside down.
Norton was racing in Bendigo when disaster struck and she went over the handlebars of her bike, smashing parts of her spine - including an entire vertebra - to pieces and setting her on a path that would include bouts of depression and stopped her from practicing as an osteopath.
But the sport that nearly took everything from her was exactly what she needed to hold on to so she could return to good mental and physical health.
After months of rehab and training, Norton once again climbed to the top of the dais at a state championship event.
This time it was an elite women's time trial gold medal that she snared at the Victorian Road Cycling Championships last month.
When Norton thinks back to her crash last year, she said it was the people around her who were more shaken by it than her.
“I don't think it hit me as much as it hit everybody else,” she said.
“As soon as I had that happen, I was back on a stationary bike in the hospital seven days after my operation.”
But the serious nature of her injuries - as well as what they meant for her immediate future - eventually caught up with Norton.
“I was racing and I went over the handlebars and landed on my head and then my back completely snapped over itself,” she said.
“(It was a) complete burst fracture of T7, so there's barely any bone left there.
“It's unstable, so I've got screws from T5 to T9 fusing them and I also broke several bones in my hand, damaged cartilage and ligaments in there and yeah I've come back from that.
“It's stopping me from being able to be an osteopath because I've been employed at Keep Active Osteopathy, but I'm no longer able to practice due to my injuries, but I can still ride my bike, which is a positive.
“You can't push and lean on people and lift people and all of that, but I can sit completely still (on the bike) and move my legs, so I'm very fortunate.”
Norton said there were fragments of bone in her spinal column, but it did not pierce the cord.
“It would have only taken a minute millimetre movement and I would have been a paraplegic,” she said.
“I wasn't able to start doing anything training-wise until January this year because at the late end of last year I really struggled with depression after the injury.
“So fortunately the exercise sort of helped bring my mental health back.
“Given RU Okay? Day (was just recently), I thought it was an important thing to bring up, that mental health issues are real and I've had them and I'm dealing with them now, but the exercise is just so important and it's just lucky that I've worked hard enough to get going.”
For such a severe set of injuries, the timeline for Norton to become a champion once more was extraordinary, but it was just a case of putting one pedal in front of the other once she was back on the bike.
“I had the accident in June and I got back on the stationary bike to keep moving and then I went downhill mentally and did nothing through the back half of last year because I just couldn't,” she said.
“I gained weight and from January I just made a decision to start exercising for my mental health.
“The first month was just 'ride', even if it's just for 10 minutes, just mark off a day at a time.
“The next month was 'train' and then the next month was 'build' and then the next month was 'push'.
“I did my first race in May in the time trial and then I raced the Wangaratta time trial in August and then I raced the state title last (month) and took out the elite women's (category).”
After the elation of winning gold in horrible conditions, Norton is already looking to her next challenge.
“(It was) in terrible conditions, it was like gale force winds, rain and I could barely hold the position,” she said.
“I definitely wasn't in a very aerodynamic position, I looked more like a turtle with my head poking up.
“I was just trying to stay on because the gusts were coming in that strong it felt like I was going to get blown off and I was a bit frightened about that, but I held on and happened to win.
“It was strange because I actually was more annoyed my power meter didn't work, so I couldn't check my stats afterwards.
“But when you look at it, it's pretty massive going from a broken back to making a comeback and actually being successful at it.”
Norton's dream is to win the elite national title within two years.
“I will compete at nationals in January, but it will sort of be to see where I sit among the top women in the country and then just to keep working towards that,” she said.
“I'll see where we can go, the world titles for the road cycling is in Wollongong in 2022, that would be the ultimate to be able to do that.
“That's the ultimate level to do that, but before I get to that I've got to be at the top in (Australia) to be selected to give that a go.
“It's something that's on the board to go 'well that's something to work towards'.”
Norton knows she could not have achieved everything she has without the support of those around her, including her husband Brad and their two daughters, her family and businesses including Lyster, who is one of her sponsors.
“Having some support from Tully (owner operator Tully Lyster) is a (big) help because it does just help having a community around you,” Norton said.
“Having a good support system around really makes a big difference with what success you can have, my husband also rides, so he knows what it's about and he knows the gist of it.”
As for what advice she could pass on to others, she said people did not know the strength they had inside until they had to use it.
And do not be afraid to ask for help.
“Obstacles can become opportunities if you want them to,” she said.
“It is a lot, but I credit also having a therapist to help you go through that.
“It definitely is something that is vital to overcome a trauma because it essentially is one - physical and mental.
“I realised that I wasn't myself, I couldn't recognise who I was at the time because it really does take a lot away from who you are.
“But doing the exercise and slowly working my way back and not putting too much pressure, but just taking baby steps (helped a lot).
“Once I realised that I was feeling good with it, it released the animal in me again.
“It made me think, okay, I've got to smash it now.”
Shepparton News editor