SINGAPORE - About 100 cyclists participated in the first TRI-Factor community ride at the Singapore Sports Hub on Saturday (Feb 26).

The ride is part of the TRI-Factor Bike Asia Virtual Challenge 2022, a "blended" event with both virtual and physical elements. Only invited participants could attend.

National triathlete Nicholas Rachmadi, who won silver in the duathlon mixed team relay at the 2019 SEA Games, was grateful to be invited and hopes to attend more next time.

He said: "I've always enjoyed cycling as part of my fitness regime and I think an event like this is fantastic as it allows me to integrate into the cycling community and make new friends, instead of just doing it by myself."

Principal coach of cycling team bodyFUEL Steven Chan added: "We ride regularly as a group, meeting up a few times a week, but we usually ride within our own club. I felt that this was a very meaningful initiative because we got to interact with cyclists from other clubs."

Elvin Ting, co-founder of TRI-Factor owner Orange Room Asia, said: "This is a great opportunity for us to bring people from different segments of the cycling community together, so they can get to know each other and share their common passion for cycling."

The virtual segment started on Jan 29 and ends on March 13. It consists of two categories - competitive and open - and participants can sign up alone or in groups of two to four.

Participants in the competitive category have to complete 500km (individual) or 1,000km (team), while those in the open category must complete 100km (individual) or 500km (team).