The surprises part has certainly come true, but not in the way the Greenethorpe native expected.

At 23, Hodges who races with the Bathurst Cycling Club had hopes 2020 would be the biggest year yet in his cycling career, especially after his Grafton to Inverell triumph in 2019, but the coronavirus pandemic quickly put an end to the National Road Series calendar.

With near-term competitive racing on hold Hodges has been reliant on practice rides to keep himself ready for the moment any races get back on the road.

It's a familiar situation for many aspiring riders around the nation at the moment, and for Hodges it's come at an awkward time in his career - right when he was beginning to make his presence known on a national level.

"You haven't got a specific goal to train for. I had some time off after the B2B when the lockdowns started to kick in, then have tried to keep myself ticking over for when we have a better idea of when racing might come back," Hodges said.

"I live with a couple of other riders so as a household we've been able to train together without breaking any of those restrictions. We also do a bit of offroading stuff to keep things fresh and keep ourselves motivated."

The Oliver's Real Food Racing rider made a solid start to 2020, highlighted by his third placing in his home Bathurst Cycling Classic bid.

But from that point on events started getting cancelled and year took on a whole new complexion.

"We had a fair bit of Asian Tour riding organised. Then Grafton-Inverell was in May. Quite a bit of Asian racing was on the cards but that's obviously not happening now," Hodges said.

"It's hard for us because the situation is always changing. We're always keeping an eye on what's going on [with the coronavirus] and just hoping for the best, really.

"I've just turned 23 so for me it was the year or two where, if you're going to make it and get anything going, you've got to perform. Last year was great and this year I really wanted to build on that."

National Road Series organisers have held several online racing rounds via the Zwift platform, which lets riders compete over the internet on their home trainers, something he hasn't been doing because the weather has been okay.

Hodges is yet to give the series a go but is considering giving the next round a shot.