But it was different yet again when Morris got the chance to live and ride in Europe where cycling is almost a religion in places like France, Italy and Belgium.

“In Europe you really notice that bike riding is just a part of the culture. There is never an issue with motorists and there is always somewhere good to ride. In Belgium and France, especially, cycling is pretty much the biggest sport after soccer. People worship cyclists,” he explains.

“I was lucky where I lived in America because Traverse City is a beautiful part of the world. It was great for bike riding. There were so many roads with no cars, whereas here in Sydney for example you are always fighting a losing battle against all the traffic.

“But equally, I couldn’t imagine riding a bike if I’d have been in New York City or Los Angeles or something like that.”

Due to his diverse cycling career, Morris is also perfectly placed to offer an opinion on the pros and cons of both road cycling and mountain biking.

Since he retired from pro racing in USA in 2014 he has largely focused on those ‘big story’ events in Australia, which are predominantly set up for off-roaders. The 30-year-old admits that mountain biking was always his first love, but believes road cycling also offers something that can’t generally be found while going cross-country or downhill.

“To be perfectly honest, I always preferred mountain biking to road cycling," he explains.

“Mountain biking as a sport is honest – you clip in, you go hard and, unless you have some kind of mechanical, the strongest and best rider on the day will win the race. I like that about mountain biking and it’s what still draws me to it.

“In road racing there are a lot of tactics that come into it, you have to be cunning. It’s a lot more of a mind game rather than just a strength game. But the fact of the matter is that in road racing there is a lot more money. It’s much more possible to get a job as a professional – very, very few mountain bikers can earn enough money just to live off their sport.

“On the other side, the thing I like about road cycling - especially living in Sydney - is that I roll out of my driveway and I’m in the sport and I can just ride. There are some beautiful places to go and you can cover a lot more ground and get to some amazing places. In mountain biking, unless you live right next door to the tracks, you have to drive to the trails or ride your bike on the roads which is not much fun," he adds.

“Road racing is also a team sport – and that’s the one thing that kept me in it and kept me motivated. You get to work with people and develop a camaraderie with your team-mates. That’s the beautiful side of road racing. You absolutely bust your ass for someone else. You might not be the one on the top of the podium or getting the King of the Mountains jersey, or whatever it is, but you can still feel satisfied with what you’ve done during the day – even if you end up finishing last. Everyone has a role and everyone in the sport understands that, even if people watching on TV maybe don’t so much.”