Like most people around the world the Port Macquarie cyclist has had numerous obstacles thrown in front of her.

The COVID-19 pandemic meant Kitchen had to navigate international travel back home after all her races at the start of the year were cancelled.

She then had to overcome a serious collarbone injury upon her return to racing, but it was the concussion from the crash that resulted in the longer layoff.

"I learned more about myself this season than I have in the previous 10 seasons so you can say it's been a good year in that way," she said.

"Without those challenges I wouldn't have realised a lot of things."

The recently turned 30-year-old admitted the year had been a rebuild for her personally due to the stop-start nature of the season.

Normally she would compete in up to 55 races throughout the year, but this year that number had dwindled to 15 with seven of those in Australia.

Most of the remaining races took place earlier in the year before the pandemic took hold.

"Last year I did 54 race days and the year before I did 51 so usually it's somewhere between 50 and 55 races," she said.

"A lot of our races are not tours so it requires travelling two days before and the day after so it takes up the best part of a year."

Fewer race days throughout 2020 has meant more downtime which Kitchen spent as a mentor, guiding some of Australia's best up-and-coming athletes through the ranks of female cycling.

"I'm really enjoying that," she said.

"It's helped me give perspective to these young riders in a time when it's challenging to navigate a pathway to the top, particularly in women's cycling.

"At the moment there is no pathway or any support for the national team when it comes to females."

Kitchen arrived back in Port Macquarie on November 17 after completing two weeks of hotel quarantine in Western Australia.

She said the key was maintaining a positive mindset throughout her 14-days of isolation both leading up to it and during the process.

"I tried to embrace the idea because I figured I have to do it anyway, so if I thought it was like jail then it was going to be a very long two weeks," Kitchen said.

"Some days were long, I'm not going to lie because you're in one room, but you can choose to make it good and that's what I tried to do.

"I didn't do a whole lot, but that's what I planned to do because when in life do you have no obligations?"

Kitchen will head back to Europe in early February to start her 2021 campaign.

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