Leighton White

Hey everybody. Leighton White calling from Great Sand Dunes National Park in CO. You probably heard from Adrian, Alan and Dominik about the finish. Pretty fantastic to catch up to those guys and I was definitely honored to finish with them. Alan and Dominik are very strong riders. Pretty cool to hang with them the last few days and finish up. We got picked up by my girlfriend. Then Alan, Dominik and I went back to Silver City, had a great dinner there, hung out at the hotel and then we drove back to Lordsburg and dropped Alan off at the greyhound so he can catch his plane. Took Dominik to Albuquerque. He had about a week to ago and he is actually still with us. Toured through Santa Fe, Talus and going to hit Salida tomorrow. Then we are dropping him off in Pueblo so he can catch a greyhound to Albuquerque and catch a flight out. He and I have been talking. It seems like we didn’t even do the race. It seems like it was ages ago. Bodies are recovering pretty well. The bike needs a complete fork warranty. I need some new brake pads. I rode about 60 miles from Grants to Pie Town area without brakes one day. Burned through the rear brake. Took the front out put it in the rear and burned through it so I was running without brakes. Then I decided in the Gila I should cobble together two of the pads and at least run a rear brake. Thankfully it got me through the Gila and made to Antelope Wells. Definitely wanted to thank Matt and Kevin for doing the SPOT thing. I think that added a lot to the race to everybody’s enjoyment. My brother called, left a message on my phone and said he watched my spot finish. I had friends tracking me. I think it got a lot of people involved. Definitely a really cool thing. I’d just like to thank everybody for following us. It was definitely a really cool experience. Don’t know if I’ll do it again. Thanks. Get out and ride. Take care. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-10 20:03:53 EST)

Hey everybody, Leighton White here, in Grants, NM. Riding with the United Nations Team. Adrian, Alan, Dominik and I have all met back up again. We are in Grants. Hopefully we will finish one of these days soon. A little hot. Other than that everybody is doing good. Hopefully we’ll see ya’ll soon. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-07-04 14:48:19 EST)

Recently, there has been a lot of coverage beyond our blog on the race. Here is an update: Yesterday, the Steamboard Pilot & Today ran an article about the Tour Divide and featured three of our racers, Leighton White, Dominik Scherer, and Alan Goldsmith. Also, over the past few days, MTBR user MarkInTheBoat has posted trail pictures of Matt Lee and Reuben Klein and Alan Goldsmith and Dominik Scherer. Former racer leader Reuben Klein has also sent in some photos of his ankles and knees, as he indicated he would in his final call-in. Reuben mentioned that he believes he messed up his ankle while hiking through the snow, making his attempt the second victim of the deep snows.

Hey everybody Leighton White calling in from Salida, CO. Pretty good day yesterday. Got to Como and had to sit out a little rain storm there. Then put on my rain gear headed to Harstel and it just opened up. Thunder overhead. Fortunately the lighting stayed a little ways away. Looked like a drowned rat when I pulled into the Bar there in Harstel and the locals got a good laugh but I got some free food, some cake and couple pints of Budweiser and went out for a few miles after that when the rain stopped. In Salida, got a little more bike love. Although it appears that my fork is what it is until the end. Nobody has the parts I need to fix it. So I’ll just ride it to the end. Hope everybody is doing well and talk to you soon. (recorded time: 2008-06-29 14:29:31 EST)

Hey everybody Leighton White checkin' in from Atlantic City, WY. Couple of rough days. But it was beautiful coming over from Buffalo(?) this morning. If anyone has some climbing legs, they want to fed ex to me in Rawlins, I'll give you my number. I'm climbing like a snail with an elephant on its back. Any preschooler with a bike with training wheels could kick my butt going up a hill now. But ___ each day. The snow has been pretty entertaining there through MT and WY. Made the Pass through Ashton-Flagg Road at night by headlight in the muck. Anyone that follows me probably thinks there was drunken epileptic midget pushing a tricycle through there cause I was hoppin all over trying not to eat(?) it. I figured I could go through and make it to Flagg Ranch at a reasonable hour. But that wasn't the case with the mud and snow. So I ended going to bed at 2:30 in the morning 10 miles outside. I think that kicked me for the next day. I only made 85 miles the next day. Togwotee Pass. Then they send us on 515 Forest Service Road which was snow for 4-5 miles. I think a rough estimate of snow so far is about 14 miles. I'm in the Basin. Looks like there is a gathering thunderstorm so this is ought to be fun. I'll check in later. Bye (recorder time: 2008-06-24 16:12:03 EST. ) (Note: I had to guess at some of this. Lot of static on the line)

Hey everybody its Leighton White calling in from Lima, MT. Got here a bit ago, had some lunch and did my grocery shopping. Not doing too bad, bike is having some issues. Between the Bike and Myself we are having some issues. Just keep plugging away thought. Getting about 120 in a day. Evidently, I have a following in the bovine population. Pretty funny. Out of Grant, about 20 cows came running down the hill and wind up along a fence when I rode by. Who knew the cycle of bovine followers. About to head out and try and put in some more miles. Thanks. Bye.

Hey its Leighton White. Seeley Lake, MT. Got here last night. Got a hotel to wash off the dirt, dry out from the snow sloggin. Couple of great days in Montana. Saw a baby fawn, probably about 18 inches tall. Then my brain surgeon moment of the trip so far, I'm riding along and I hear Government Mule playing in the middle of nowhere and I say wow pretty cool someone is out here drinkin the tunes, drinkin beer, about 10 minutes later I stop to take a picture I hear Stevie Ray Vaughn in the distance. Little while later I hear Robert Randolph like wow someone has great taste in music. Read more »

Hello this is Leighton White in Eureka, MT. pulled in a little while ago Dominik, Alan and Karl. A couple of them are spending the night. I might push on a little bit.
We have been noisy in this town. Bike and body are holding up pretty well. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Supposely, a lot of snow on Whitefish Pass. We'll see. Thanks. Bye.

Recorded Message showed the date/time as:
2008-06-14 21:14:19 EST.