Valtteri Bottas rode past snakes, jumped over a lizard and got chased by a dog during a four-day, 418 kilometre bike ride from Malaysia to Singapore ahead of this weekend's Formula 1 race.
While a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore often nudges just over an hour duration, Bottas opted for a slightly unconventional journey instead.
The Cadillac driver posted daily updates of the journey to his Strava account. On day one, he cycled 56.60km, before logging 161km on day two along the coast past Malacca City. On day three he did another 161km and then a final 40.16km to finish the route on Wednesday.
Bottas joked the stifling heat had made his bike seat like a "cheese grinder" but said the ride will not have set him back in his preparations for the Singapore Grand Prix.
"I obviously wouldn't do it if I knew it hurt my preparation," he said. "So, for sure, I'm pretty good. The amount of sweat in those days was quite impressive. But yeah, definitely, you get used to the heat the more time you spend in the heat, so that can help me hopefully a little bit [this weekend]."
While Bottas cycled solo, he said he had a recovery vehicle following him to ensure he did not hit any trouble.
Asked what his best experiences were, Bottas told the media on Thursday: "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. So 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. What was the wildest part was the riding at night in the jungle.
"The noise in there is like ... Then your mind starts to play games of what is out there. Who knows what is out there, but then you just need to crack on and keep going. Riding with your lights at night, that was probably the most epic part in the forest."
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His journey went viral this week, with F1 media accounts sharing daily updates from his Strava posts.
"I was surprised how big it became," he admitted. "But if people follow me on my activities, they know that it's not like something super extreme to me. I love the endurance stuff anyway."
Bottas' route was inspired to him by his wife, Australian Olympic cyclist Tiffany Cromwell.
He said: "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, 'hmm, maybe, I could.' I obviously had to check the distance, how the roads are, the timings, and then just made a solid plan for each day. All the routes were planned."
Bottas' journey started on Sunday after the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia -- the Sepang circuit was a late entry to this year's schedule after Bahrain's race was cancelled due to the war in the Middle East.
Bottas intentionally planned the two longest days on Monday and Tuesday so he could have a recovery ride on Wednesday. He has another rest day Thursday before Friday, which features a one-hour practice session and then qualifying for Saturday's sprint race.
It might be a one-off opportunity to do the ride, with Malaysia not on the calendar in 2027 -- although sources have told ESPN talks have started about a potential return in 2030, spurred on by the goodwill generated by its Bahrain stand-in appearance.
Asked if he ever might do something similar, Bottas said: "When I got to the hotel yesterday afternoon, I said to myself, but no, not again.
"But now, today, I'm like, yeah. Let's see."