After cycling 14,251 kilometres through six states and territories, a Queensland police officer and father of three has set a new world record for the time it takes to ride around Australia.

Thirty-five-year-old Dave Alley completed the gruelling challenge in 37 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes, pedalling more than 377 kilometres a day - nearly double the average stage length of the Tour de France.

The epic ride started and finished at Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, and beat the previous best 41-day record set by Canadian man Perry Stone.

And Mr Alley says while the race itself took just under 38 days, the entire challenge was a two-year process.

"Training-wise it consisted of anywhere from 20 hours-plus a week of actual cycling, but it was probably more like 40 hours a week in total - so it was really another full-time job. I had two physio sessions a week, a chiropractic session a week, and we were also using float tanks for the recovery process," he said.

Mr Alley says he had two key motivations - wanting to achieve something significant before the age of 40, and his children.

"I have three kids now but I had twins five years ago that were born three months prematurely," he said.

"When they were born it was a real battle, they were in intensive care for three months and it was touch and go at times whether they'd actually make it, but they pulled thorough and have got no ongoing health issues at all."

He says at that point he took on an ironman triathlon to raise money for the twins' hospital.

"I was never good at endurance sport so it became a challenge to take something on in that field," Mr Alley explained.

"I was so inspired and motivated by what the kids had been though and their struggle for life and that really inspired me to continue on this career path and take on another adventure."

This time, Mr Alley and his team raised $15,000 for the Royal Flying Doctors Service.

The journey: Dave Alley's race around Australia route. ( Race Around Australia )

Pushed to the limit

Mr Alley says his race around Australia is the hardest thing he has ever done.

"We did a minimum of 15 hours a day on the bike. On average we slept between four and six hours in a 24-hour period, but it was all over the place depending on how I was feeling," he said.

"On one occasion I rode right through the whole 24 hours and we got through 506 kilometres, so it was certainly tough that's for sure. The toughest challenge I've ever taken on, but also the most rewarding."

Mr Alley says he slept in "luxury" in a caravan, but it was a different scenario for his seven crew members.

"On occasions we would pull over and I would just lay on the side of the road and sleep for 15 minutes or half an hour... the other guys were sleeping on mattresses, in swags, in cars, wherever they could basically just to get some sleep."

He says there were times when he felt he couldn't ride another metre, particularly through the Nullarbor.

"In all our planning and following of the weather, all indications were that we were going to get a strong tailwind across the Nullarbor," he said.

"Even up to the day before we got there there was 80 kilometres per hour winds which would have been tail winds for me, and that's where we hoped to make up a lot of ground.

"But when we go to the Nullarbor it had actually swung around and the winds were so strong they were nearly knocking me off the bike backwards.

"So it was really tough physically and mentally because that was the period of the trip where we had hoped to make up a lot of time. My speed at times slowed down to nine kilometres an hour, so it was almost quicker to get off and walk.

"The other things were the extremes in the temperature. We had from 1 degree at times to 47 degrees at other times.

"There was a morning there where it was raining on the Nullarbor and as the rain was hitting my face it was freezing into icicles."

Another challenge

Rather than never wanting to get back in the saddle again, Mr Alley says he is planning another record attempt.

"There certainly will be another challenge that's for sure," he said.

"We haven't decided on what that will be at this point but we're certainly looking at having another crack at a world record or even completing a first somewhere.

"Whether that's cycling we're not sure at this point. I may take on something that's not related to cycling at all.

"I'm very excited about what the future holds and not knowing what the next challenge will be."

For now, Mr Alley says his first challenge is going back to work.