He will undertake the marathon journey from Newcastle to Albury to honour the memory of Yasmin Duncan, whose life was tragically cut short after a car accident that took place near Tarcutta in March.

The pair both attended Murray High School, where Mr Rendall plans to end his seven-day journey on March 5 — the first anniversary of Miss Duncan’s death.

The 20-year-old professional cyclist will ride between four to six hours a day, with stops in Sydney, Kiama, Batemans Bay, Canberra, Gundagai and Wagga.

He aims to raise awareness of road safety among young drivers, and will also take donations for a yet-to-be-determined charity.

“It started as something personal for me and wanting to do something for her, but to be able to promote young driver safety while I’m doing it is obviously just the cherry on the cake,” Mr Rendall said.

Miss Duncan was just 18 when the car in which she was a passenger veered onto the wrong side of the Hume Highway last year, colliding with a B-double truck.

She had just completed her first week of a science course at Latrobe University’s Albury-Wodonga campus at the time, and was a keen netballer.

At the end of his bike ride, Mr Rendall said he hoped to have a plaque placed at the school, where the pair shared so many memories.

“She was always smiling and very bubbly and she had a contagious laugh,” he said.

“She was really close with a lot of people, she was very warm and she obviously got that from her family.”

The Albury man, who has been riding for five years, said it was more important to raise awareness than money.

“It’s not a case of if I don’t raise enough then I’ll be disappointed,” he said.

Mr Rendall said the idea for the trip “snowballed” after he set up a Facebook page in memory of Yasmin, which yesterday had 627 members.