While those visits to Port Macquarie are few and far between, the promising cyclist always looks forward to his mum’s lemon meringue pie.

You’re never too old to appreciate your mum’s cooking.

Magennis managed to get in a slice of his mum’s best work during a whistle-stop visit to his hometown last week before he headed off again to the Gold Coast.

“I always look forward to coming home,” Magennis said.

“It’s pretty busy being a bike rider just travelling everywhere and racing all the time and sometimes I wish I could just live back at home.”

Growing up means standing on his own two feet and being more independent – two main reasons he finds himself based in Canberra.

Moving away from Port Macquarie enabled Magennis to focus on his cycling career and it’s one which is slowly gaining momentum.

He acknowledged it was easier now there were minimal distractions down south.

“One reason why I moved to Canberra was to move away from Port and a lot of the distractions that are here,” Magennis said.

“A lot of my mates would hang around after school and go to the beach and all the things I’d prefer doing than training.

“But in Canberra I’ve got a good crew down there and lots of friends to train with.”

Magennis registered his first significant cycling result last month with a time trial win at the World University Cycling Championships in Portugal.

He backed it up with a third-place finish in the Braga Portugal Road Race.

“I wasn’t sure how I’d go because there are a lot of people at university that we don’t race against so I just went there, gave it everything and got the win,” he said.

“It was a pretty big result.

“A lot of the university games don’t mean a lot in the cycling world, but a result is a result and it’s always good to keep ticking them off.”

Since January 1 this year, trips to Ballarat, Thailand, Korea and Europe have prevented Magennis from having a piece of that sought-after lemon meringue pie.

But it’s all been worth it.

“I’ve been happy with the last 12 months,” Magennis said.

“It would have been good to get another win or two in Europe, but it was my first time over there and I learnt a lot.

“I was so close to cracking a big result so hopefully next year I can do that.”