This time around Watts will be in full race mode.

This time around the Bathurst Cycling Club graduate will tackle it as a representative of the the Sydney Uni women’s outfit and have team-mates Gina Ricardo, Georgie Whitehouse and Emma Coral Roberts alongside her in the peloton.

“Sydney Velo is really good and they are treating me very well. I had my first race as a team at Orica Kermesse and it was a good experience, it was learning a lot of new things I didn’t know before, so it was really good,” she said.

Watts placed third in that Kermesse, which was taken out by Whitehouse.

Riding with that National Road Series outfit has helped boost the fitness levels of the Lithgow native, who also picked up a third in the under 19 women’s NSW Criterium last month.

On top of that, she has just completed a tough training camp conducted in Bright alongside NSW and Canberra representatives.

“It’s a really tough camp, super tough. We did four riding days and every day you’d do a mountain,” she said.

“We did 100 kays on Monday, it was a like a four hour, 15 minute ride, but there was a mountain in there.

“My fitness is up and I’ve done lots of races. My fitness is probably not at it’s peak yet, but it is peaking, so I definitely want to get a good time out and beat my time from last year.”

While Watts had not discussed any tactics with her team-mates in the lead up, what is certain is that she will adopt a more aggressive approach than she did last April.

“Last year I wasn’t really racing, so this year it’s going to a very different experience for me,” she said.

“I’ve only ever done one B2B and I didn’t get in the greatest wave, but I was doing it with a friend, so I wasn’t really racing. It was the longest ride I’d ever done.

“I think it is a really good race for the community. I didn’t realise there would be that many riders in it, last year when I turned up I was like ‘Oh wow’.”

The B2B will not be the only race that Watts tackles this weekend. She will also contest the women’s criterium which will be held in Bathurst’s CBD from 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

Last year she placed fourth behind Bathurst’s Kirsten Howard, but was the most aggressive rider.

She was the first to attack and led for a lap, the pace she helped set up front seeing many of her rivals drop out. It is something which could very well happen this time around too.

“I feel that crits to play to my favour, but they wouldn’t be my favourite race, they are over very quickly. I prefer longer races that are tougher, but crits are still fun,” she said.

“Mostly my tactics whenever I am in a crit is to attack at some point in the race. Whether that be that someone else attacks and I go with them, or I make it myself.”

The weekend – which has been dubbed the Bathurst Cycling Classic - also features the NSW Hillclimb Championships on Saturday.