Rob Davis' life changed forever on July 15, 2002, all because of a stray pig on the road.

The pilot and instructor at Massey University was due to be married before he hit the stray pig at about 4am on that day, on his way to pick up a fellow lecturer.

Rob Davis on his trike in Maramarua School on Monday.

His car was left in a ditch for a number of hours before a local farmer found him.

The accident left Rob in a coma for a week with a severe traumatic brain injury, balance, vision, and speech deficits as well as ataxia, a loss of full control of his muscle movements.

Now, Rob wants to help teach the public about traumatic brain injuries, and to achieve this, he'll cycle more than 260km in 11 days, stopping to give talks along the way.

Cycling from his home in Pukekohe to Whakatane during Brain Awareness Week, Rob hopes to raise awareness for the Brain Injury Association.

'Firstly, the Brain Injury Association is underfunded I think. They need some awareness and I also want to make people aware of it because I had no idea what a brain injury was until I had one,” he says.

Biking on his recumbent trike from Pukekohe since March 14, Rob is due to arrive in Tauranga this Sunday, March 20.

Rob and his father Ian visited Maramarua School on Monday, marking the beginning of Brain Awareness Week.

And the roads aren't always a safe place for him to be, even on his trike. 'I need a van to stop crazy drivers squashing me on the road,” says Rob.

The van drives behind Rob as he cycles, to help keep him safe.

'It makes it a lot safer and it means I don't have to carry all my gear on the trike. Ten days' gear gets quite heavy.”

Rob says it can sometimes be difficult cycling on the road, especially when the shoulder on the side of the road changes. But he doesn't get bored cycling for four hours a day as it's not a road he's used to. 'There's always something interesting to look at. The difficulty in driving on a lot of the roads is there's no shoulder on the side of the road.”

'As soon as there's an intersection or a bridge or you need somewhere to use the shoulder to get away from the traffic, the shoulder abruptly gets narrower,” says Rob, with a giggle

Training for such a long trip on his trike was important, to make sure he's fit enough to do the whole trip.

'Quite a lot of physical training,” says Rob. 'I do maybe 20km a day normally, sometimes I do a few rides around but I do get bored doing the same route every day.”

Rob is looking forward to visiting with family when he arrives in Tauranga on Sunday, and says when he's finished cycling for the day, he likes to 'just hang out with people I'm staying with, it's interesting to meet new people”.

Rob heads to Tauranga through Katikati tomorrow, and will have a rest in Tauranga from Sunday through to Tuesday morning.

He then sets off for Te Puke on Tuesday morning, and continues his trip to finish Whakatane on Thursday.

His trip from Pukekohe to Whakatane is a precursor to his planned trip – the 'big trip” he calls it – to trek from Bluff to Cape Reinga, which he hopes to do this time next year.

That trip is much longer, Rob says, being estimated at about 2000km.

This time Rob and his father will visit schools along the way to educate youth on road safety and brain injury.

Rob will speak at the Hillier Centre, 31 Gloucester Rd, on Monday, March 21, from 11am -12.30pm.

For more information, and to stay up-to-date with Rob's journey, see www.facebook.com/NewZealandCycleTrip or www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/helpfor