BENJAMIN Henzgen, who is now the fastest person to ­circumnavigate Australia on a mountain bike, was fuelled by iced coffee and meat pies.

During his 61-day trip he consumed 135 litres of milk, 43 meat pies, one V energy drink, two Red Bulls, 12 coffees and 72 iced coffees.

Benjamin said that after sampling pies all over the ­nation the standout performer was one purchased from a roadhouse 314km south of Katherine on the Stuart Highway: the Dunmarra Wayside Inn.

“It was homemade and the beef was shredded; it was just so good,” he said.

Ben said he liked to sample local produce throughout his trip.

“Paul’s was my iced coffee of choice going through the Territory,” he said.

During his journey via Darwin, Melbourne, Bairnsdale, Sydney, Brisbane, Townsville, Geraldton, Perth, Albany, Port Augusta and Adelaide he ­repaired 12 flat tyres, dealt with two broken spokes and was hit once by a car, receiving minor injuries.

He survived on only 343 hours of sleep at an average of five hours and 32 minutes a day, without a tent or a sleeping bag.

“I’d look for a rest area and a bench to sleep on,” he said.

“Towards the end I’d just ride until I was exhausted and pass out on the gravel on the side of the road.”

The 30-year-old camped one night on the side of the road near Pine Creek, falling asleep to the sound of dingoes howling.

Benjamin said the toughest of his 61 days pedalling a mountain bike around Australia was on the Nullarbor.

“I just had a killer headwind all day long and it was raining as well,” the Geelong music teacher, extreme sportsman, Alaskan fisherman, construction labourer, bison farm worker and climate change ­activist said.

“I didn’t take any breaks … almost 22 hours I was riding with four hours’ rest and only just did just over 200km.”

That output was about 30km shy of his withering average daily distance on the odyssey that took him 14,134km around the continent, with 21 gears, and very likely into Guinness World Records.

“Fastest to circumnavigate Australia on a mountain bike,” he said with pride. Henzgen left Geelong on April 7 and pedalled across the finish line at 3.20pm on Sunday, June 7, with jubilant whooping.

Henzgen prepared for his spartan epic with a gruelling cross-training regimen and took the challenge on because it was there, a new record needed to be set and he wanted to raise climate change awareness along the track.

“There were lots of tough days,” he said.

“There were times I felt ­discouraged and was lying next to the highway in ruin.”

He said during all of the kilometres he was met by many random acts of kindness and when people told him he was crazy he had a certain ­response.

“I just kind of smiled and agreed,” he said.