Special ep: Orogenesis Dispatches, part four – the end of the trail
Spin Cycle
Escape Collective
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This final installment of the Orogenesis Dispatches series, which features host Josh Weinberg interviewing ultra endurance cyclist Kurt Refsnider, who has just completed the first full ride of the Orogenesis route – a massive backcountry mountain bike trail traversing the western U.S. from Canada to Mexico. The episode reflects on the full journey, covering logistics, experiences, highs and lows, and what’s next.
After riding for 72 of the past 82 days, Refsnider had just completed his ride and was enjoying some downtime before heading out again, this time to tackle Mexico’s Baja Divide Trail. He detailed how, during his time following the Orogenesis route, he rode 3,130 miles (~5,000 km) and climbed nearly 413,000 ft (~126,000 m) of elevation across three states and a mix of singletrack (40%), pavement (10%), and a remainder or dirt tracks and Jeep roads.
Looking back on the past three months, Refsnider talks of how the adventure was both a personal and collective effort. He experienced Orogenesis firsthand and tested what a purpose-built, bike-specific, transcontinental singletrack route feels like, while also demonstrating that the route “goes,” hopefully inspiring others to attempt it and validate the years of planning by the Orogenesis team. He also offers key highlights from the experience, lessons learned, and a deep dive into the gear he selected for the journey.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to a special edition of the Spin Cycle Podcast. |
| 0:13.1 | This is the Orogenesis Dispatches. |
| 0:16.7 | I'm Josh Weinberg, editor and temporary host of this special edition. |
| 0:21.8 | I'm here with Kurt Raff Snyder. |
| 0:23.1 | Hey, everyone. |
| 0:23.8 | Hey, Josh. |
| 0:24.7 | He's been joining us along the way as he's been riding a pretty ambitious trail called |
| 0:31.1 | The Origenesis that traverses the kind of western states of the United states from the border with canada down to |
| 0:39.4 | mexico kurt has just recently finished the ride um you started on august fourth and it is now |
| 0:46.8 | october 28th um you got done a couple days ago and this is that this is it this is the end |
| 0:53.8 | this is the last one this This is the last time we're |
| 0:55.6 | going to hear from Kurt about this project, at least. And so today we're going to talk about the |
| 1:00.4 | whole ride. Kurt, I thought maybe we could get started with some facts. What were some overall stats, |
| 1:07.0 | your mileage, your climbing, your elevation, all that. And then maybe just give us a little |
| 1:12.0 | recap on what Orogenesis is for those folks that might not have listened to the previous |
| 1:17.5 | editions of this podcast and that sort of thing. Yeah. So I think some of these summary stats |
| 1:24.9 | will kind of illustrate what this route is. |
| 1:28.0 | So I think some just basic numbers from adding up every one of my days of riding. |
| 1:32.5 | And it was three months or so that I was out there. |
| 1:35.6 | I think it was like 82 days or something from start to finish. |
| 1:38.7 | And I think 72 of those days I was riding and then had some days off along the way. |
| 1:43.0 | And total mileage, total distance for |
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