Kunming residents may have noticed a tall, barren mountain dotted with white stone that projects to the north of the Green Lake area and to the west of Beichen.

This is the 2,345 meter-high Changchong Mountain (长虫山), which provides a convenient way to get out of town, see some nature, and get panoramic views of Kunming—in a much more relaxed atmosphere than the occasionally circus-like Xishan.

Changchong Mountain has hiking paths and a road that allows people to drive almost all the way to the top, but a big draw for local cyclists is that it provides the most grueling bicycle ascent anywhere near Kunming.

To get to the base of the mountain from the Green Lake area, go east on Yieryi Dajie to the traffic interchange and then head north on Longquan Lu (龙泉路) for about six kilometers—until reaching the mouth of Hongyun Lu (红云路), shortly after passing the Kunming Cigarette Factory (昆明卷烟厂) on the left side.

Across from the mouth of Hongyun Lu, there is a small road that runs west and uphill, skirting the side of the cigarette factory (photo at left). This is the road to the top of the mountain. If when following this road you are inundated with the sickly sweet smell of cured tobacco, you are on the right track.

Hikers could also take the number 84 bus north from the Jianshe Lu (建设路) bus stop to the Shangzhuang (上庄) stop, which will place you on Hongyun Lu, about 100 meters east from the road up the mountain.

After a short but very steep paved climb, you will pass through a gate (photo at left) where you may be required to register at a fire protection checkpoint (name, phone number, and entry time). From here, continue upward, taking the uphill and most worn branch of the road when in doubt. There is also a hiking trail that branches off to the left shortly after the gate and cuts through the switchbacks of the road.

Eventually you will pass the construction site of a new visitor center and arrive at a stone post labeled "Changchong Mountain Ecology Park" in an amusing hybrid of simplified and traditional characters (長虫山生态公園). Take a left here.

You will soon see the peak of the mountain and it is easy enough to find one's own way to the top.

Upon reaching the top you will be more than 450 vertical meters higher than Green Lake, and if you have been cycling continuously from the cigarette factory, your legs will be on fire and you'll be gasping for breath.

Barring smog or fog, your reward for the climb will be a 360-degree view of Kunming, Xishan, and the forested hills to the north.

On the way back, cyclists can follow an alternate route by going right and through a quarry a few hundred yards below the stone post. Follow this road downhill. It will eventually dump you out further south on Longquan Lu.

With the dry, sunny weather of Yunnan's winter calling us out of the office, GoKunming took a few days off to cycle south to the Vietnam border. Using Guo Duomi's post from earlier in the year as a guide, we planned a route through Tonghai, Jianshui and Yuanyang to the border town of Hekou.

Day Three: Relish The Descent - Jianshui to Yuanyang
After reading in Guo Duomi's post that we faced "almost 35km of constant climbing" at the start of the day, we were a little scared as we rolled out of Jianshui at around 10am. The town lies a little off the highway, and we covered around 5km getting back onto the S214 at the 175km distance marker.

Things were not as bad as Guo made out. There's a 4km climb shortly after you've left town, but then it's pretty much smooth sailing on flat/gradual descent until around the 190km distance marker. Then, there's a 3km climb, followed by a 3km descent, and then the main event begins: a challenging climb of around 8km which tops out at around 1900m above sea level.

At this point, you're basically done for the day, as Yuanyang's new town, which is also known as Nansha (南沙) lies on the Yuan River (元江) at an elevation of around 240m. In other words, mad descending awaits. We shot down smooth roads into the aptly named town of Potou (坡头, slope head) past crowds of waving children, immediately sensing a change in weather and agriculture. A quick lunch in Potou and then we were back into the descent.

The roads are somewhat worn, with patches of unsurfaced road, but nothing a mountain bike and a bit of careful riding couldn't handle. The descent ends with a few switchbacks which drop you out onto a gravel road running alongside the reservoir formed by the dammed Yuan River. We crossed the bridge and headed into Nansha to find a place to stay and some food.

We'd covered 81km in 4hr 40min of riding.

Yuanyang is two towns - Nansha lies on the river, but old Yuanyang, which is famous for its picturesque rice terraces, lies high up on the hillside. Nansha is small and laid out on a simple grid. The low altitude means it's several degrees warmer than Kunming at this time of year.

Day Four: Maintaining Efficiency - Yuanyang to Hekou
By now, we'd covered approximately 220km over three days, so you'd think we might make the fourth day easy on ourselves. We didn't. The plan for the final day was to ride 160km downstream alongside the Yuan River to the border town of Hekou. Elevation was going to be less relevant today, as the road only deviates from the river a couple of times, so major climbs weren't going to slow us up. Our concerns were road surface quality and headwind. We figured that if we managed an average of 20km/h, we'd still be looking at 8 hours in the saddle.

It's a ride for time triallists or triathletes: the goal being to maintain a solid effort efficiently for a full day, without cracking. On our side we had an oxygen-rich low-altitude atmosphere and large helpings of obstinacy.

We pulled out of Nansha at around 8:45am, hoping to chomp as many Ks as we could before the headwind got up. We crossed back over the bridge to the north side of the river and turned right for the straight shot towards Hekou. After around 15km, we turned off the Gejiu road and onto the X102, which stays alongside the river. At 42km down, you'll see a bridge. There's a bit of a climb here, up to the bustling town of Huangcaoba (黄草坝).

After Huangcaoba, you'll notice new distance markers, as you're now on the S212, at the 90km marker. Here we encountered worsening road surface, which brought us well below our target pace. At around 55km down, we found the reason: a dam is being constructed across the Yuan River, and the heavy truck traffic has damaged the surface. Once we'd passed the construction zone, via a 2km inland diversion, the road improved, but we were feeling behind schedule. Time to push the button.

At the town of Manhao (蔓耗镇) the road reverts back to X102 while the S212 crosses a bridge to the south side of the river. The X102 mileposts are reset to zero.

At Xinjie (新街), which is also known as Lianhuatan (莲花滩), there's a passport check. Expect a few simple questions from the police officers manning the checkpoint. They offered us a refill of our water bottles as we chomped on chocolate.

The road markers change again here, as we're now on G226 at the 1451km marker. Hekou's still nearly 70km away, but the police tell us the road is good, and we get to it.

The road is becoming more level, but it's still undulating gently, with low 'Tarzan' hills - if you time your pedaling right, you can use the momentum from a descent to help you up the next ascent. The G226 road has low traffic, mainly motorbikes, because above us is the massive GZ40 4-lane highway bearing the bulk of the region's traffic.

We keep pushing, but at another roadside passport check near Basa (坝洒), it's becoming clear we're not going to make into Hekou in daylight. We end the ride in darkness, grateful to arrive on the well-lit riverside road into the town. We ride all the way through town to the border post, where we find a guesthouse near the bus station. We clock 162km in 8hr 20min of riding, and close the day with cold beers at a riverside stall, while gazing over the river to Vietnam.

There are direct buses from Hekou to Kunming that can carry bicycles in the luggage space. Expect to pay 120 yuan or so, plus a fee for your bike.

With the dry, sunny weather of Yunnan's winter calling us out of the office, GoKunming took a few days off to cycle south to the Vietnam border. Using Guo Duomi's post from earlier in the year as a guide, we planned a route through Tonghai (通海), Jianshui (建水) and Yuanyang (元阳) to the border town of Hekou (河口).

Day One: Cheating - Guanlingcun to Tonghai
Rapidly increasing traffic on Kunming's roads, coupled with construction work around Chenggong led us to start our trip the easy way: with mianbaoche transport out of town. For good measure, we got dropped at the top of a hill above Jincheng (晋城) at a place called Guanlingcun (关岭村), on the watershed between the Dianchi and Fuxian lake basins.

We began to ride at the 32km distance marker on the S214 road, at an elevation of around 2100m. We were due to follow the S214 all the way to Yuanyang. A descent of 11km blew away the cobwebs and allowed us to get familiar with the adjusted steering of our laden bikes.

After the descent, we joined the Cuida Road (翠大线) which runs along the western side of the Fuxian (抚仙湖) and Xingyun (星云湖) lakes towards Jiangchuan (江川). As is usual at this time of year, we faced fairly stiff headwind blowing from the south. This would be a feature of every day's riding.

At around 31.5km completed, we passed through Jiangchuan, pausing to take on water just after the roundabout intersection with the Yuxi (玉溪) highway. The road stays flat for around 5km, before becoming the Jiangtong (江通) highway and heading upwards for a steady 5km climb. This climb took us back up to around 1900m at the highway's 5km distance marker.

The descent begins with steep downward gradients, but it's worth a stop for the great views of the town and Qilu Lake (杞麓湖). The slope slowly levels out for the roll into Tonghai on Xiushan Xi Lu (秀山西路). The town sits at around 1800m above sea level.

In all we covered 60km over three hours of riding time. As planned, this was a fairly forgiving first day.

Tonghai's population is around 200,000, but it's spread around the lake, leaving a distinctly small-town feel to the place. There's a strong Hui Muslim presence, and Arabic isn't too difficult to spot on signs. A large mosque is situated in Nagu Zhen (纳古镇) on the northwest shore of the lake. The downtown lies to the south of S214 as it runs roughly west-east through town.

Day Two: Ups and Downs - Tonghai to Jianshui
We started out early, the morning crisp and cold, with high cirrus clouds in the sky. As the sun rose above the mountains, the town gradually warmed up as we slurped down some rice noodles for breakfast. We had stayed on the S214 road, just near the 93km distance marker, and it was from here we set off toward Jianshui, which we worked out would be at the 170km marker.

The road out of Tonghai is easy to follow, with a gentle 2.5km climb providing a good warm-up. You'll pass the entrance to the motorway to Jianshui, which is more direct, but not open to bicycles. The descent starts soon after - other than a few bumps, it's around 15km of descending to the small town of Gaoda (高大, ~1350m). Dress warm for the descent, especially if you're starting early, as the steep eastern side of the valley keeps stretches of the road in shade.

In Gaoda, watch out for the left turn which keeps you on S214. If you see the 1km marker on S216 (like we did!) you've overshot. Back at the left turn, there was a sign we'd seen pointing us to Jianshui on the S216, but closer inspection showed it only applied to large vehicles. Past the turn, the descent continues, but at a lower gradient until you roll into Qujiang (曲江, ~1300m). We stopped for lunch here, just short of noon, with 31.5km on the clock.

Soon after we rolled out of Qujiang, we passed another motorway entrance. The road is undulating, with enough climbs to keep us challenged. At the 136km marker, around 13km out from Qujiang, we were up at around 1500m, and at the 143km marker, we were at around 1650m at the town of Lihao Zhai (李浩寨) and feeling a little worse for wear. Water and a rest helped us refocus.

After Lihao Zhai, there's a lot more down than up, and the refocusing was complete. The finale comes with a fast drop off into the valley and then a steady descending run into Jianshui. The town's around 1250m above sea level, which is low enough to start feeling warmer.

At the end of the day, we had 80km on the clock which we'd covered in 4hr 15mins of rolling time.

Jianshui was something of a surprise. The town's tourism machine seems to be gathering steam. Several sites of interest are clearly marked on roadsigns, and a pedestrian street with restaurants and bars is to be found near the Zhu Family Gardens (朱家花园) off Chaoyang Bei Lu (朝阳北路) where we sat down for teppanyaki and a few well-deserved cold beers.

Saturday morning in Yuxi, Nie'er Cultural Square rocked out to the sound of Kunming's Tribal Moons as around 300 cyclists prepared to take part in China Vätternrundan 2009. Locals out for morning exercise showed some surprise at the gathering of lycra-clad, carbon fibre-toting enthusiasts.

The full race route of 175.5km went from Yuxi across to Jiangchuan, and then around Fuxian Lake, via Jiangcheng, Lüchong, Chengjiang and Haikou Zhen, before returning the finish in Yuxi. The route offered great views of both lake and countryside, and many locals came out and jia you'd their support. A shorter course of 78.8km finished in Chengjiang, at the north end of Fuxian Lake.

Darren Benson of Australia took first place in the men's long course, with a winning time of 4hr 40:44min, a mere 1/10th of a second ahead of David Tonks of the UK, who had to settle for second place. Liu Min of Guangzhou was 4/10ths of a second further back for third place.

The women's long course race was settled far in advance of the finishing line, with no need for sprinting heroics. Shi Yanmei took first in 5hr 7:54min, with Chen Lijuan next in 5hr 40:39min. Third place finisher He Hua came across the line just over an hour later, at 6hr 41min. More information about men's and women's race results can be found on the race's official results page.

The short course race was split into mountain bike (MTB) and road bike categories. Road/Men winner was Huang Pan (2:10:01). Road/Women winner was Amy Bainbridge of Australia (2:39:21). MTB/Men winner was Pu Jinxue (2:08:45). MTB/Women winner was Liu Ying (2:48:26). The split in categories seemed unclear, as some riders rode teched-out small-wheeled city bikes, and many MTB riders had put on skinny road tyres.

Course conditions were hot, with strong sunshine and a stiff breeze that blew from the south for most of the race. This took its toll on the participants as nearly 50 riders failed to complete their chosen courses. Organisation was handled well, with dangerous parts of the course flagged clearly, and the Yuxi police excelled at maintaining order on the course and offering help to riders in difficulty.

Vätternrundan started in Sweden as a recreational ride around Lake Vättern in 1965 and has since become the largest recreational bicycle race in the world. It is brought to China by sporting event company Nordic Ways, who held the event in 2007 and 2008 at Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province. We hope they return to Yuxi and Fuxian Lake in 2010.

Australian Kim Nguyen began cycling toward Copenhagen from Brisbane on August 10 of last year to raise awareness of the effects of global warming and to bring attention to the UN climate change negotiations that will begin in Copenhagen on December 9 of this year – the day Nguyen plans on arriving in the city. Nguyen has been riding around Yunnan with Kunming as his base over the last few weeks and is preparing to leave.

Nguyen has already cycled more than 7,000 of the 25,000 kilometers he plans on logging during his travels – riding through deserts, volcanoes and rainforests. He is keeping a blog about his journey at www.rideplanetearth.org, which for some reason is blocked in China. GoKunming chatted with him about life on the road and what made him decide to spend 16 months riding toward a conference in Denmark.

GoKunming: When and why did you decide to make the ride from Australia to Denmark?
Kim Nguyen:I decided to make the journey early in 2008, I had heard about the Copenhagen conference and wanted to get there in an environmentally friendly way. The conference is the forum for the most important climate change negotiations in over a decade. In Copenhagen this December the international community will decide on what protocol will follow Kyoto. It is of the utmost importance that the world's governments decide not only on a reduction to a safe level of greenhouse gas emissions but also how to do it. I wanted to get there to help convince the government delegates to take action.

GK: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your travels?
KN: In travelling by bicycle across Australia, Asia, the Middle East and Europe I decided to collect messages from the people I would meet to take with me to Copenhagen to help convince the governments to take action. As such I have met many, many wonderful people with nothing but enthusiasm and support for my journey. I've met many really incredible people during my stay in Kunming and their support has given me the lift I needed to push north onto Mongolia.

The most rewarding things have been when I have been struggling through inhospitable or desolate regions and local people, usually farmers, have taken me in overnight, and given me a warm bed and a friendly smile. Also, it has just been seeing and experiencing so many amazing parts of our beautiful planet. But I am afraid that if we as individuals and our society as a whole cannot make the necessary changes then many of these beautiful places will be lost or irrevocably changed.

GK: What are the biggest challenges you've encountered so far?
KN: The challenges have been many, I have suffered several episodes of heat exhaustion, resulting in two hospital admissions, once in Australia, the other in East Timor. In east Timor I collapsed while cycling and managed to fall face first onto the road, requiring several stitches to patch myself up.

Other challenges include the frequent changes in language and cultures I have had to adapt to, broken bicycle parts, extremes of weather and the battering my body has endured cycling up and down mountains for months on end.

GK: What unexpected surprises have you experienced in your travels?
KN: There's always something surprising, usually some aspect of the local place and culture I had no idea existed. Near Shangri-la I was cycling and found some farmers ploughing their fields with yaks, which was new but to be expected. What was unexpected was that they all used small children to pull the yaks. So ploughing the fields was a family affair.

I was surprised by the amount of tourists swarming over Southeast Asia, in that way coming to China has been a bit more peaceful. But I guess most importantly and sadly I have found that climate change is already hitting many poor farmers in Asia pretty hard. Droughts are unpredictable, rain patterns have settled in and food production has reduced. It's pretty scary.

GK: What are your impressions of Kunming and Yunnan from a cyclist's perspective?
KN: Yunnan is a traveler's dream as far as I'm concerned - so many beautiful mountains and varied landscapes. I could cycle around Yunnan for months and still find something new. The people are as changing as the mountains, the headdress and clothing change every couple of hundred kilometers and so there is always a new culture to find out about.

When I first arrived in Kunming it was a struggle cycling from south to north through the city. I got lost, it was pretty crowded and seemed pretty enormous. But after a few days I found cycling around to be pleasant and easy. Once you get used to the unpredictability of the traffic you can fit right in. And it's great to see so many people on bikes and electric scooters.

Hopefully many of the cyclists join the rides I am organizing on the sixth of December this year as part of the Ride Planet Earth project. This is a chance for people to get out on their bikes, traveling in an environmentally friendly way, and demonstrate the willingness and capacity of ordinary people to take action on climate change. Rides are happening all over the world on this day, the day before the start of the climate change negotiations in Denmark.

In Yunnan there are rides happening in Kunming and Dali so far but we hope there will be even more. People should visit www.rideplanetearth.org, or the facebook group The Ride Planet Earth Challenge to find out the locations of the rides. They can contact me via either website if they'd like to set up another ride somewhere else in Yunnan.

GK: Where are you headed next?
KN: So next I'm heading up into Sichuan and eventually into Mongolia. I have to speed up cause I only have 7 months to get to Copenhagen. Wish me luck!

Kunming is a starting point for countless world-class cycling trip options, both in the immediate area and around mountainous Yunnan province. If one resident of the city has his way, it may also soon be the birthplace of the world's first web community-owned professional cycling team.

One and a half years ago Marc Frencken left his hometown of Weert, the Netherlands to come study Chinese in Kunming. During his free time, Frencken has been exploring Yunnan on his bicycle. In addition to being an avid cyclist, Frencken has also long had a voracious appetite for televised cycling events such as the Tour de France.

Earlier this year Frencken launched his current project – CrowdRiders – a drive aimed at organizing 40,000 cycling fans around the world to serve as owners and managers of what – if successful – will be the world's first crowd-sourced professional cycling team.

Frencken said he was inspired by the success of the website myfootballclub.co.uk in organizing more than 32,000 football fans from 80 countries to contribute at least 35 pounds sterling toward the purchase of Ebbsfleet United football club for 600,000 pounds in February 2008. Three months after being bought by its 32,000 owners, the club won the FA Trophy at Wembley Stadium, the greatest achievement in the club's 120-year history.

"Cycling is a much more achievable crowd-sourced sport," Frencken told GoKunming, "A cycling team's annual budget is much less than that of a football team."

The current mission of the CrowdRiders project is to collect the names and email addresses of cycling fans around the world who would be willing to pay a 55 euro yearly membership fee once 40,000 people have committed to the project.

The resulting 2.2 million euros would make up more than half of the 4 million euro budget Frencken envisions for the CrowdRiders professional cycling team, making the 'crowd' the majority shareholder in the team and giving it the power to vote on all the team's major decisions, such as which cyclists it will sponsor, which races it will participate in, who the team's sports director will be – even the team's jersey design.

The remaining 1.8 million euros are to come from shirt, equipment and website sponsors, who Frencken feels confident CrowdRiders will be able to attract once reaching critical mass.

"I'm convinced that once we have an organized group of 40,000 cycling fans from around the world it will be easy to attract sponsors," Frencken said, "Ideally the sponsors will be involved in open-source or crowd-sourced business models."

At present, CrowdRiders has collected 142 'aspiring CrowdRiders' – prospective members who tentatively agree to pay membership dues once the target of 40,000 members has been achieved. As CrowdRider number one, Frencken has already set an ambitious target for the CrowdRider team – to enter one of the three wild card slots in the Tour de France.

CrowdRiders currently has members in China, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Brazil, Norway, Australia, Canada, Spain and several other countries, Frencken said, but the project's main development challenge is getting its website translated into several key languages.

At this point, the site is only in English and Dutch, but Italian, French and Spanish versions will be needed to attract cycling fans from the traditional cycling powerhouse countries, Frencken said. In addition to these languages, Chinese is also a priority language, as China is not only where the CrowdRiders concept was born, but it is also a large internet-savvy country that has only recently taken interest in professional cycling, he said.

GoKunming contributor Guo Duomi recently took his bicycle to the high roads of northwestern Yunnan shadowing part of the ancient tea horse route from Deqin to Lijiang. Here he shares with us details of his journey through the foothills of the Himalayas.

Deqin is reached by bus or private vehicle from Zhongdian (中甸) aka Shangri-la (香格里拉), a trip which allows you to gauge what is in store for the return journey by bike. About 10 kilometres northwest of Deqin (德钦) sits the tourist hamlet of Felai Si (飞来寺) which is towered over by the as yet unconquered Meili Snow Mountain (梅里雪山)- known in Tibetan as Kawakarpo or Kawagebo.

There are innumerable hiking opportunities in this area which is popular with outdoorsy types from China and all over the world. It is advisable to spend a day or two here to soak in the scenery and allow yourself to acclimatise to the altitude.

Day 1 – Deqin to Benzilan (102km)
The road from Deqin to Benzilan (奔子兰县) encompasses breathtaking scenery and two breath-sapping passes over 4000 metres high. The first 30km out of Deqin are almost all uphill, be sure to look back for glimpses of the imposing Kawakarpo through the clouds as you go.

The road is quality tarmac until about the 20km mark at which it turns to cobblestones. At around 30km you will reach the highest point in the ride of 4300m. Don't pat yourself on the back too hard though as the next 12km is hard going on undulating cobblestone road through to the second pass at around 4200m. The scenery here is other worldly as you pass glacier covered peaks, bare mountain sides, grazing lands for hardy yaks and the odd abandoned car.

After the second pass it is basically all downhill. Unfortunately the first 20km or so is on bone-jarring cobblestone but after this it is plain sailing on good road. The air warms and the scenery changes to denuded, shrub covered hills with terraced farming occurring at all altitudes.

Day 2 – Benzilan to Zhongdian (86km)
Having surveyed the route on the drive in you may consider discretion is the better part of valour and hire a van back to Zhongdian. If you wish to ride the road remains good, the scenery fantastic and the traffic light. The first 20km is fairly flat road until you cross the Jinsha River (金沙江), the headwaters of the Yangtze. From here it is a masochistic 66km of almost constant climbing to Zhongdian. On large sections of this climb water is not easy to obtain, if you ride this section you should head out well-provisioned and early.

Approaching Zhongdian you will pass the town's two-run ski field and the beautiful Napa Lake (纳帕海).

Day 3 – Zhongdian to Baishuitai (108km)
This quality of the road on this stretch is good, the traffic light and the views awesome. The first 20km is pleasant gently undulating road taking you past numerous Tibetan villages, hot springs and the entrance to Emerald Pagoda Lake Park (碧塔海公园). From here you bid farewell to Tibetan country, undertaking the first (and biggest) climb for the day followed by a lengthy descent into the Yi village of Jiligu (吉利古).

From Jiligu it is a climb, descend, climb rotation over three further (and progressively lower) passes to reach the Naxi village at Baishuitai (白水台). Whilst the famous limestone terraces at Baishuitai are themselves a little underwhelming the surrounding scenery is spectacular.

Day 4 – Baishuitai to Tiger Leaping Gorge (82km)
The road quality in this section is again excellent, with the occasional massive pothole made by a falling rock reminding you that you would not want to be riding the road during or after heavy rains. The first 40km or so is undulating road through beautiful countryside with even less traffic than the day before. The route takes you into Haba village in which life meanders on under the watchful gaze of Haba Snow Mountain (哈巴雪山). A short climb out of Haba is followed by a lengthy descent offering impressive views of Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡).

From the small town of Jiangbian (江边) it is another 12km mostly uphill to the back of Tiger Leaping Gorge and the village known as Walnut Garden (核桃园).

Day 5 – Tiger Leaping Gorge to Lijiang (105km)
Taking the back way to Lijiang requires you to retrace the last 12km of the previous day to Jiangbian and then proceed to the old ferry to Daju (大具). The 'road' down to the ferry is a poorly signposted trail and lugging your fully laden bike down to the landing is quite an exercise, though probably less taxing than pushing your bike up the hill when you get to the other side.

The climb out of Daju may be described as many things; picturesque, unrelenting… soul destroying. The traffic is light but the road is cobblestone and despite the fact that it constantly appears a pass through the mountains is just around the next corner the climb continues for 30-40 kilometres.

From the top the road alternates between tarmac and cobblestone and begins undulating with some serious climbing still required. You pass the yak meadow chairlift and then the cloud fir/dry sea meadow chairlifts at Baishui. After here the road descends to the plain for a 30km dead straight slog into Lijiang.

*Note: After hitting the base of the first climb at Daju in the early afternoon my companion and I found ourselves well shy of the top in fading light (and teeming rain) so we flagged down a van heading for Lijiang to complete the journey. If you were to tackle this ride it is highly recommended you leave Walnut Garden at first light carrying ample food and water. You should be prepared to overnight in Baishui and complete the ride on the next day. You can alternately ride through Tiger Leaping Gorge to Qiaotou (桥头) and take the main road to Lijiang; whilst still very challenging this represents an easier route.

On August 26 of last year, a rafting accident on the Nanpan River in southern Yunnan took the lives of three Kunming residents. One of them was Michael Sutherland, an American who had been living in Kunming since 1994.

An avid cyclist who helped organize mountain bike races in Yunnan, Sutherland was affectionately known throughout the city as "Bike Mike", or "Lao Danche" (老单车, 'old bike') in Chinese. During his 14 years in Kunming, Sutherland was one of the city's most recognizable international residents.

In addition to organizing cycling events and parties, Sutherland also founded hemp clothing company Peopleshemp and served as a director at the Hemp Industries Association. His devotion to cycling and hemp underscored his dedication to raising environmental consciousness in Kunming and beyond.

Shortly after Mike's passing, Sutherland's brothers Abraham, Benjamin, Paul and Sam visited Kunming to find out more about his life in the city. Benjamin Sutherland, a documentary filmmaker and journalist, decided to commemorate Mike's time in Kunming with a documentary about his life here.

Benjamin Sutherland used video interviews with Mike's friends plus video he shot on a previous visit to Kunming and some of Mike's own video footage riding his bicycle around Kunming to produce the documentary film Skylight Kunming, which will have its first public showing in Kunming tonight at Speakeasy Bar.

The screening of Skylight Kunming will take place at 6:30 - admission is free. GoKunming has viewed the documentary and recommends it to anyone who knew "Bike Mike" Sutherland or anyone who is simply interested in the changes that have taken place in Kunming over the last several years.

Related article: Obituary: Michael Sutherland, 1966-2007