Dec 31st, 09.  On Tuesday, 16 year-old Hendrik Bakker woke up and went for a ride around Long Bays. Then he did it again, and again, a record six times around the Christchurch route - 438kms!

Hendrik Bakker on his six lap Long Bays journey

Like many of Hendrik's friends and followers, RoadCycling.co.nz followed the young rider's progress on this self set goal through the short Facebook status updates Hendrik gave throughout the 17 hour journey.

After he'd had some sleep and started his recovery, Hendrik shared more about this great achievement with RoadCycling.co.nz.

"The other week I was sitting around doing nothing and I was thinking how I could keep myself busy these holidays. I don't have any big races coming up, so nothing I really have to train for," he said.

"Then somehow it popped into my mind, 'what's the maximum time Long Bays has been done.' That sounded like a good challenge and a nice way to finish the year."

Long Bays is one of Christchurch's icon rides which takes a scenic loop from Christchurch city through Gebbies Pass and the bays of Lyttleton Harbour before returning to the city through the seaside towns of Sumner and Redcliffs.

The sixteen year old didn't make a fuss about his goal, in fact very few people knew what he was setting out to do until 5:15am on Tuesday morning when he updated his Facebook status to, "One lap down, five to go."

Hendrik says he kept it quiet as he had a setback last week when he rode the route twice, at higher intensity, and hit the wall on the second lap.  

"I wasn't sure at all whether I was going to manage six. I initially thought the record was four laps, thus I was only going to do five. But then someone told me that five has already been done and I need to do six. So I thought, "Yeah baby lets give it a go."

At 2am he set off on in the dark for what would prove the hardest of the six laps.

"It was incredibly dark after the last street light in Halswell. I got some big frights from sheep moving in the wire fences. It was very quiet so pretty much every noise scared the living daylights out of me. It was also very challenging to keep going through Motukarara and up the Giebbie's valley. After that it was OK because there were lights in Governor's Bay and Lyttleton."

"The second lap was beautiful with the sunrise," he said.

After two laps on his own, Hendrik joined up with a local group ride, the 'World's bunch' for part of lap three.

"Laps four and five I did by myself again and then Dan Dean rode around to Governor's Bay with me on the final lap. Thanks Dan, much appreciated!"

Hendrik also had support from local rider Hamish Ferguson who waited at the top of Evan's Pass and rode with him back from Sumner.

"Thanks Hamish!"

Hendrik kept everyone informed on progress with Facebook updates when he stopped off at his home each lap.  

"I just grabbed a new bottle of water, two One Square Meal bars, and a Bumper bar. After the third lap I had a big plate of spaghetti just to top me up a bit."

"Before the fifth lap I had a quick cold bath (which did me much good!) and then headed out again. I didn't stop at home after the fifth lap since mum offered to go and pick up my food for me. Thanks mum!" he said.

"Thanks a lot to all of you who have supported me with the Facebook comments and texts. It was indescribably motivating to get a text so regularly with encouraging messages. It would have been extremely hard to have done it otherwise. In fact I don't even know whether I would've been able to do it. So thanks so much!"

Now that he has completed his objective Hendrik says he's over the moon.

"Well like I said I hit the wall on two laps last week, so I really didn't know what to expect and how far I'd be able to go. So yeah, I'm over the moon now that it's sinking in. I'm not sure whether it's something I'd attempt again very soon, but nonetheless it was an amazing experience!"

The stats

• Ride time: 17h38m45s
• HR ave: 143
• HR max: 170
• Calories: 10,703
• Distance: 437.8km
• Ave Speed: 24.8 kph
• Punctures: 0

"I would also just like to mention Bergamont for the amazing machine they've put me on. I was very comfortable throughout the whole day. No sore back or anything else giving me grief, and an extremely responsive ride. I won't consider riding anything else any more. Finally I have found the perfect racing machine. Thank you!"

"I was riding in Untouched World's new Ecovelo cycling kit. I was comfortable in all areas and this was definitely one of the big things that kept me going through the whole day. Well done Untouched World! I definitely have not ridden in anything better. Thanks a lot!"

Photos provided by Hendrik.

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