Special ep: Orogenesis Dispatches, part three
Spin Cycle
Escape Collective
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the latest installment of our special edition podcast, Orogenesis Dispatches, Josh Weinberg talks with adventure cyclist Kurt Refsnyder, who is riding the entire trail from the US border with Canada all the way to Mexico.
Kurt checks in from Bridgeport, California, about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) into the 5,000-mile (8,000 km) route. From there, with it being nearly halfway through the route, he reflects on challenges that have included substantial sections of deadfall in Oregon, smoke and fires in Idaho, and unexpectedly hard sections like a soft rail bed in Northern California. He also reveals a feeling of relief being in California, where the trails are more established for bikes, and deadfall will hopefully be less of a concern.
The bulk of the conversation addresses reader/listener-submitted questions that span a multitude of topics, including using an electronic drive train over a mechanical one, riding without a chamois pad, how he chooses camping spots, the daily joys of waking up on the trail, and what lies ahead.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another special edition of the spin cycle podcast. |
| 0:13.1 | This is the third edition of our Orogenesis Dispatches. |
| 0:19.1 | I'm Josh Weinberg, and I'm here with Kurt Reff Snyder who is in the midst of |
| 0:24.3 | attempting to ride the entire orogenesis trail. And this is a continuation of conversations that we've |
| 0:31.4 | been having along the way. If you haven't already, I encourage you to listen to the previous |
| 0:36.8 | episodes so you can get caught up |
| 0:38.6 | to where we are right now. And something that I haven't really mentioned in previous |
| 0:43.3 | conversations or podcast episodes that I'd like to mention now is that it is because of all |
| 0:51.7 | of you, all of our members who are listening in that we're able to do this sort of thing. |
| 0:56.5 | Of course, everything that we do at Escape Collective is thanks to our member support. |
| 1:02.8 | And so it's just a thank you for being members. |
| 1:06.4 | And we appreciate that very much and appreciate being able to do this kind of work and bring |
| 1:11.4 | stories like Kurtz to you over the airwaves. So with that, let's see what Kurt's up to. Oh, |
| 1:19.7 | and Kurt is actually on the trail right now. He's in Bridgeport, California, sitting outside of a |
| 1:24.8 | small museum as he was telling me before we hit the record button. So you might |
| 1:29.9 | hear some wild noises in the background, such as maybe some large semi-trucks or birds or something |
| 1:39.2 | of that sort. So yeah, Kurt, good to see you again. Yeah, likewise, Josh. Thanks for having me back |
| 1:46.3 | once again. I just rolled into Bridgeport like 25 minutes ago, enough time to grab something |
| 1:51.7 | cold to drink. It's still, what, 80 some degrees here Fahrenheit. I don't know what that is, |
| 1:56.5 | like 28 Celsius, probably 30 Celsius. Man, we were, we chatted last. |
| 2:02.1 | I think I was in southernmost Oregon, just a few days from escaping from all the |
| 2:06.2 | deadfall in southern, the southern Oregon trails. |
... |
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