Those mountains are by all reports pretty brutal, who's up for it?
And all the buffalo you can eat.
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On yer bikes: Timor's challenge to Australian riders
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/on-yer-bikes-timors-challenge-to-australian-riders/2006/05/01/1146335670080.html
Leading the peloton … Jose Ramos Horta takes a tour of the Dili waterfront to promote the East Timor mountain bike race. He will launch the event in Sydney today. Photo: Glenn Campbell
By Lindsay Murdoch in Dili. May 2, 2006
JOSE RAMOS HORTA was determined not to let recent mob violence on the streets of Dili deflect his plan to put East Timor on the international sporting map.
The Foreign Minister jumped on his red mountain bike and pedalled along the capital's waterfront to promote the inaugural $US50,000 ($66,000) Tour de Timor-Leste International Cycling Event that he says will "make the Tour de France look like a picnic".
"Nowhere else is there such a tough race into mountains and valleys where the scenery is absolutely fantastic," he said before leaving for Sydney where he will launch the event today.
Dr Ramos Horta decided to proceed with the launch only days after a demonstration by hundreds of sacked soldiers escalated into violence that left five people dead, about 50 injured and about 100 houses destroyed.
"The most recent crisis must be seen in perspective as just another episode in the slow and painful process of nation-building," he said.
Thousands of people who had fled to makeshift shelters in church grounds and embassies on Friday and Saturday returned to their homes on Sunday and yesterday as calm returned to Dili.
But observers warned that the situation was "fragile and fluid", despite the Government having agreed to set up an inquiry into the soldiers' grievances.
Dr Ramos Horta and Xanana Gusmao, the President of East Timor, have publicly sided with almost 600 soldiers - more than one-third of the country's armed forces - sacked after they went on strike last year over claims of discrimination because they come from the country's west.
Criticising months of inaction by his own government during a stand-off with the soldiers, Dr Ramos Horta said: "We must ask ourselves whether we allow problems to linger and fester rather than promptly and resolutely address them."
The Government has urged the men, many of whom have regrouped outside Dili, to report to police, who have guaranteed not to arrest them pending the outcome of the inquiry.
Dr Ramos Horta will launch the bike race at Parliament House in Sydney this morning.
"In a couple of years this race will be a top attraction in international sport," he said.
The 388-kilometre event over nine days in August is expected to attract about 250 competitors, including a team from the Australian Defence Force. "Australians have a macho image … I challenge them to take on Timorese who are toughened by the horrendous terrain," he said.