The gruelling test of physical and mental endurance is made even more difficult by being entirely self-supported. Outside assistance is against the rules, meaning riders must source their own food and shelter for the length of the journey. There are also no stages or set breaks – which means deciding how long to rest before getting back on the bike is a key part of strategy. The ride is 6800km across the United States. Credit:Jason South There are no cameras tracking the riders, but fans (known as "dot watchers") keep track through an online map that follows each rider's GPS. Zeinab finished in a record time of 16 days, 9 hours, and 56 minutes.

Sleeping about three hours a day, he powered across 10 states from Oregon to Virginia, through open plains, the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians. The 25-year-old is vegan and he would zip from diner to diner to take on enough calories to replace the energy he was burning in the saddle. "I'd go in and say give me 10 or 12 serves of hash browns," he said. "You're trying to get them quick, you don't want to explain to them, 'I'm riding across the country, give me these hash browns fast.'" The weekend warriors and commuters would probably struggle to even comprehend what it's like to set out on a journey like the Trans Am.

Zeinab said he knew it was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done as soon as he set out on the first day. "I didn't expect it to be that hard," he said. "That sounds ridiculous but I've been across Australia, I've had a taste of that kind of riding." In 2018, he was the lead rider in the unofficial Indian Pacific Wheel Race, a 5500-kilometre ride from Perth to Sydney. The event was cancelled when a rider died the previous year, however Zeinab and a group of others completed it anyway. Coping with his mind telling him to stop was just as hard as the physical intensity, he said.

"The best thing you can do is pretend you have one of those things in Men In Black and wipe your memory for five minutes," he said. "If you're in an intense amount of pain you have to focus on literally just the next pedal stroke. You start counting, 'one, one, one, one'. That's the technique to stop you getting overwhelmed." Things got easier after he pushed through the shock of the first few days, he said. "You get to experience a side of yourself that you rarely ever get to," he said. "Extreme levels of clarity, that annoying voice inside of you goes. "It becomes almost effortless, your whole mind adjusts to the task at hand."

Zeinab isn't the first Australian to win the race. Brunswick man Jesse Carlsson won it in 2015 with a time of 18 days, 23 hours and 12 minutes. Abdullah at the finish line with his mum. Astonishingly, Zeinab was more than two days faster. He said he only started riding seriously about four years ago after he moved to Melbourne. What started with commuting to work has turned into an extraordinary ability for ultra-endurance cycling. Most days in the "middle of nowhere", he said, someone would be waiting along the route to cheer him on. His mum was there at the finish line to celebrate.