With his good mate, Napier real estate agent Simon Tremain along as co-pilot, the pair were flown to Laos to take on 13 other international teams in the competition.
"We got to Laos, were greeted by the Land Rover people and fast-tracked through customs and escorted away in brand new Land Rover to the hotel."
It was about 3am when the phone rang - and everything changed.
"It was Simon's business partner Cam Ward, who delivered the news that Nic Magdalinos, who was my best mate really, had passed away.
"It was a bloody bombshell. We were just blown away - completely and utterly floored.
"We were pretty exhausted, it had taken about 14 hours to get there and we were so pumped up on adrenaline from winning this competition. I was just devastated."
The pair then decided to book flights back to New Zealand but when he connected his phone to the hotel Wi-Fi he received a video message from Nic that had been sent the day before.
"He just said good luck mate, bring the thing home. That was a pretty big moment.
"It was great to have Simon there, because we were both good mates with Nic."
However, the earliest they could get flights home was on the Sunday, which was after the competition had finished.
The decided to continue with the two-day driving competition.
"Laos was really emotional for us, it was almost supernatural. There was an out-of-body feeling about the place. All the experiences and emotions were amplified.
"There some real highs and lows."
The competition included eight challenges, mixed in between driving across Laos.
A win on the first challenge saw the pair "elated".
"We smoked that first challenge. Then we moved on to the second challenge, and I completely bombed.
"Simon and I were absolutely devastated and because everything was amplified the highs were highs and the lows were lows."
After that challenge, the teams took a drive to a local Buddhist site before heading on to another challenge.
"We were standing on top of this rock, with the other Kiwi team, looking out over Laos. It was one of those sacred religious sites and Land Rover had permission to go up there. We were up on this rock looking out over all of Laos. I just though here I am alive, with a great mate. I thought 'you just have to get stuck in, if you have a dream you have to get started on it. Don't delay'.
"That had all built up from all the conversation we'd had in the car. There were some real emotional moments for both of us. I was driving along in tears, trying to make sense of it all."
Following good performances in the following challenges, the Napier mates got themselves back into contention and needing to finish ahead of Team Brunei in the final challenge.
Team Brunei finished first, well in front.
"We walked over to shake their hands to say congratulations and they said no mate, we've been disqualified.
"I literally sprung up and jumped on Simon and then I just hear Simon break into this haka. It was so emotional, we were just fired up."
It was all the more emotional because Nic had originally been the one who would have taken part with Rick.
That win sent the pair to Peru on a tour, driving a new Land rover Discovery 5 almost 644km from the town of Huancayo, in the Andes, through the desert, to Pisco.
"The time Simon and I spent in Peru has been some of the most fun, exciting and emotionally-charged days/nights of our lives. We truly believe Nic played a hand in this journey, he was a connector and although we are great mates, he connected Simon and I as an unstoppable team.
"Between Laos and Peru we had Nic's funeral, and this journey for me has been life-changing.
"Everything is different now. Some of the things that I though were important have become less important and some things that I didn't even pay attention to have become priorities.
"One the big things, is spending as much time as you can with the people you care about. You are never going to regret those moments, you're never going to sit back in your rocking chair and wish you had spent less time on the cricket field watching your kid play cricket or rugby."
