Bottas Bares All on Unique Cycle Journey from Malaysia to Singapore GP
· Yahoo Sports
Valtteri Bottas shares his wild adventure, cycling from Malaysia to Singapore GP – what he saw, how it happened, how it came about and more.
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Following an early end to his outing in F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia, Cadillac’s Bottastook off on an interesting journey from Malaysia to Singapore GP on his cycle. He was first spotted by some fans exiting Sepang circuit.
And on Monday, it was certain that he was cycling from Malaysia to reach Singapore GP. Bottas revealed that it was impromptu, but not due to his DNF. It just came up when his girlfriend casually threw a challenge and he took it up.
He had some cyclists from Malaysia who guided him in planning the route and he always had people not far away from him. Bottas explained the route plan to complete major distance on Monday and Tuesday, with a bit of night riding, which was the hardest.
Having not done any night riding, he found it the most challenging part considering he was riding through a jungle. He revealed some of his wild encounters, which were harmless. Fortunately, he didn’t come across any larger hiccup or misadventure.
He wouldn’t rule out doing it again in some place else, but there is nothing in his mind yet. When asked if it would hurt his F1 run, Bottas said it wouldn’t – in fact, it has helped him prepare a bit for the humidity he would face this weekend in Singapore.
Here’s what Bottas said:
How it Came About
“I think Tiffany mentioned it as kind of like a joke, ‘Hey, you could just ride from there. It’s not that far’. And then I was like, ‘maybe I could’. Obviously, I had to check the distance, how the roads are, the timings, and then just made a solid plan for each day. All the roads were planned.
“I also planned that the two bigger days were Monday and Tuesday, so they’re not too close to the race weekend, because if I would do a big day on let’s say Wednesday, then that could already compromise a little bit my Friday in terms of recovery. But yesterday ended up being short ride, kind of like a recovery ride, after Monday and Tuesday were about 100 miles each. Today I can have an easy day as well, so yeah, it was all well planned and well executed.”
Wild Adventures, Hard Run
“Saw some snakes, which I was a little bit worried about, but actually they were pretty chill. They were just doing their thing. I saw one cobra, saw one python just crossing the path in front of me. Saw some of those big lizards that you also see here. One was on the path. I had to jump over it with a bike because I saw it like last minute.
“Got chased by one dog. Got stuck behind a group of cows on a small track. Eventually they moved away. And what was the wildest part was the riding at night in the jungle. Like the noise in there is like, then your mind starts to play games, like what is out there, like who knows what is out there, but then you just need to crack on and keep going.
“But yeah, riding with your lights at night, that was probably the most epic part in the forest. I had local knowledge. There’s a couple of local gravel cyclists from Malaysia. They know all the roads in Malaysia, so they helped me with planning the route and where to stay and stuff like that. So, and I also had a support vehicle always not far away just in case, something happens.”
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Cadillac Formula 1 Team.10.09.2026. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 14, Spanish Grand Prix, Madrid, Spain, Preparation Day.
Reception from Local, Night Run
“From the airport hotel. Yeah, I was going against the traffic. Yeah, that was good. No weird looks. Actually, I was surprised by the I did have some road sections, but it was mostly, well, as much as possible off-road. But even, the locals, the cars, they were really polite. They always would leave lots of space.
“And then I think once the news started to break that I’m actually doing it, there was always some locals who recognized me and just, yeah, cheering on me, which is cool. Normally a couple of hours at the end of the day in the dark. But I always started like around 2:00 p.m. So, the first two hours were actually always the hardest because of the heat. But then it starts to cool down a bit and a little bit in the night as well.”
How Easy or Stressful, Clearing Mind
“Some bits were a little bit stressful, but then I would say probably the first evening when I first experienced the riding in the dark on like a single track with the light because I’ve never really done that before. So, the first part was a bit stressful, but then I kind of got used to it. And at least you know that in the wild there’s nothing that is going to hunt you.
“I don’t think there’s any tigers or anything, so at least, I hope. I wasn’t mentioned about those, but it’s just being aware and then you get used to it. Definitely it cleared my mind immediately. It was disappointing race, of course. We took the gamble. In the end I lost the car. So yeah, I got rid of frustration very quickly on the bike which is kind of nice.
“And then yeah, during the ride I had lots of time to think which is mostly about this weekend, which is a sprint weekend, which can be really an opportunity for us. And hopefully I can have a better weekend.”
Hobby, Long Distance
“I do. Like I’m definitely used to the heat now, I still have today to take it easy and hydrate and fuel myself and all good. It’s nothing, those distances are nothing unusual for me. It’s not like it was my longest ride ever or anything like this. So, I think the news became I was surprised how big it became.
“But if people follow me on my activities, they know that it’s not like something super extreme for me. I love the endurance stuff anyway. I’ve done some 200 km rides and I’ve done gravel races that are longer than one of those days and that’s what when you’re racing. I wasn’t now racing.
“I was just riding and really controlling my pace, controlling my heart rate and power. So that why it’s nothing unusual for me. It really depends how hard you go so you don’t burn all your matches.”
Performance Affect
“No, I think, I obviously wouldn’t do it if I knew it would hurt my performance. So, for sure I’m really well. The amount of sweat in those days was quite impressive. But yeah, definitely you get used to the heat the most time you spend in the heat, so that can help me hopefully a little bit.”
Will Do Again, Next Year
“Well, when I got to the hotel yesterday afternoon, I said to myself, ‘Well, no, not again’ But now today I’m like, there’s…yeah, I mean, let’s see. I mean, it was a good like one-off adventure. I saw a lot, experienced a lot, so we’ll see. You never know.
“I haven’t looked at it yet in that sense, so maybe in the winter I’ll have time and to do some planning, but yeah. Like I said it was fun adventure. I’m really glad I did it because I like the locals said I saw almost the whole of Malaysia in four days and the wild side of it, so yeah, without my bike I would never see those things. So yeah, if there’s something in the future that makes sense and that I can recover for racing sure, why not?”