Niki graduated with a Tertiary award of Excellence in Creativity and Design in 2001. After working for a design studio for several years, Niki established her own design business – Design by Peppi.

Niki races cross country mountain bikes at an elite level and is a regular podium finisher at the Australian Champ’s. She is also a previous winner of the Australian National Series and has represented Australia at the World Champ’s in Italy in 2005.

I haven’t always been competitive. Actually during school life I loathed competition and would try all means to avoid it. For as long as I can remember the only instinctive desire I had was to draw. Growing up my environment was my canvas, bedroom walls, floors, under the desk, toilet paper, basically anything with a smooth surface. Admittedly it wasn’t great art, quite often it was hidious but it was what I did and it made me happy.

When I was in year 10 I was offered the opportunity to do my HSC in Sydney and as part of that study Design at Sydney’s Enmore Design center. From there I went onto Fashion, but I eventually discovered it wasn’t for me. I was prepared to try several things, I was particularly interested in Animation but being mid year my options were limited, which is how I ended up studying Graphic Design. It wasn’t something I had previously considered but it turned out to be exactly what I wanted to do.

Despite feeling satisfaction from my design work I wasn’t entirely fulfi lled. I grew up in the country with horses and lots of outside activities. So I don’t think I was ever going to slot into the predominantly indoor artist lifestyle.

Mountain biking isn’t something I just discovered, it’s definitely fact that if some friends hadn’t talked me into giving it a go I would never have had the inclination to take it up otherwise. My first race is a similar story, I was 21 and a good friend told me about a downhill race in Thredbo and suggested I should give it a go. I had only been riding for a couple of months, but I was excited about the idea anyway. I was seriously under skilled and inexperienced, so it’s not surprising that I ended up in hospital with a broken back.

The worst part of it all was that 2 years previously my Dad had a serious accident and as a result is a partial paraplegic. If I wasn’t drawn to the sport before the accident I certainly was after. Whether it was the taste of competition I was excited about or the discovery of this awesome new world, I’m not sure. But I was determined to improve my skills and take the sport further.

In retrospect I learnt a lot from my accident. Having seen my Dad go through extensive rehabilitation, I was given an early insight into a worse case scenario. I had gotten off so lightly and I will never lose appreciation for my health and mobility. I don’t believe in stepping back because of a bad experience. Unlike my Dad I wasn’t unlucky when I broke my back, I was naive and put myself in a situation over which I didn’t have complete control. It was a valuable lesson and it has helped me gain perspectives in many other aspects of my life.

I will never stop wanting to ride my bike, whether it’s in pursuit of a competitive goal or just for fun, it’s what I do and what makes me happy.