More than 20 years ago, 7th-grade Kurt entered his first mountain bike race at the Minnesota Zoo, and he's been racing and adventuring on bikes ever since. After bouncing around the road and scenes while in graduate school, he eventually returned to the dirt and became enamored by probing mental and physical limits in multi-day ultra endurance events, winning and setting records in some of the toughest bikepacking races in the United States – Tour Divide, the Arizona Trail 300 and 750, the Colorado Trail Race, the Iditarod Trail Invitational, and more. 

Today we’re honing in on Kurt’s recent completion (only the third ever) of biking the CDT. Yes, most of the CDT is bikeable (I didn’t know this), with the opportunity to take different routes through the non-bikeable wilderness segments. This trail is hard so even for a seasoned and record-breaking cyclist like Kurt, the mileage doesn’t come easy. 

Rugged backcountry trails are where he loves riding the most. He rides for the Industry Nine - Pivot Pro Backcountry team, and beyond pedaling his bike, Kurt is a co-founder of and the Routes Director at Bikepacking Roots, a cycling coach, a former geology professor, and an advocate for landscapes, backcountry trails, and climate.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/kurt.refsnider/

Coaching website: https://www.ultramtb.net/

Team website: https://backcountry-mtb.com/