FOR the love of cycling, 15 expatriates living in Singapore pedalled 800km in 43 hours from Thailand to the Malaysian Embassy here.

The trip, known as the Trans Malaysia Express (TME) bike ride,  kicked off from Sungai Golok in Thailand to cover the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Johor ) before finishing in Singapore. The ride is a collaboration with Tourism Malaysia to promote Malaysia as a great and safe cycling trail.

Sponsor Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd brought cyclists and their bicycles to Kelantan from here. It was night when the cyclists started their journey.

They were led by two traffic police officers on Honda CBX 750 motorbikes, and escorted by a police car, a civil defence ambulance, as well as the organiser and members of the media along the journey.

They were cycling continuously at  32kph.  Every two hours, they would stop for a 10- to 15-minute break.

The team took care of each other by alerting members about potholes or other dangers, encouraging each other to keep going, and having toilet breaks together at roadsides.

After nine hours of cycling, dawn  broke in Terengganu. Cyclists and their entourage had nasi dagang at the wooden stall near the beach.

Continue reading at NST