Riding China’s Western Border Route! 中国西部边境线骑行
A story of slow travel through amazing landscape, trying to fathom China’s complex, remote border regions and the melting of different cultures.
- Days: 88 days riding.
- Road: G219 as much as I can.
- Distance: 10,500KM
- Elevation: 100,000 Meters of climbing
- Peaks over 3000m: 25+
- Peaks above 4000m: 13
- Toughest Section: West Tibet / East Xinjiang
The WBR (Western Border Ride), a epic exploration along or near China’s Western border and its amazing G219 Highway.
The route goes through Guangxi, Yunnan, Tibet & Xinjiang, bordering 12 countries!
The journey follows ancient trade routes, international passes, border towns, high altitude wonders, spiritual mountains, amazing lakes and giant rivers.
I aim to start and finish 2025/2026 doing it in manageable sections with approximately 88 days of riding, covering 10,500km on the bike, with around 100,000m of climbing. Some small parts I’ve covered a few years back but most is undiscovered for me.
WBR Ride Blogs
2025 riding season in the area is done. I managed to do most of the Guangxi and the Xinjiang section, plus a few extensions. This leaves me to tackle Tibet in 2026. I’ll probably end up doing half of Tibet’s western border as some areas are off limits and some are seriously boring trucking routes, which I have no interest in doing.
Rides to Date: a RWGPS collection of the rides ive done along the route. I will update every so often https://ridewithgps.com/collections/4480934
Goals:
Cycle as much of the G219 highway as possible and as allowed. Some detours in Tibet are required.
Self-supported where its possible. A car and guide is required for Tibet.
Meet and interact with the local to understand the complex, dynamic and muticultural sides of the area.
To make a short film about the experience.
A how-to guide so other foreigners (and locals) can follow the route or parts of it.
A trip diary in the form of a vlog.
To raise awareness and support for; MND & responsible travel in China.
Meet my family and friends for some of the journey 🙂
Supporters
A great thanks to the companies and individuals who support me; www.wildhomestay.com for my logistics, specialized.com.cn for my bikes, SRAM for my components, www.coros.com for my gps navigation, www.rekkiworks.com for my custom luggage, www.chinabasetravel.com as my Tibet travel partner and www.lululemon.com.cn for my apparel.
