Reuben Kline

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.

Hi this is Reuben Kline. My choice comes today with much self introspection. It was one which I wish not to make but after actually taking the time to look at my ankle and knee, I have decided not to go on. Pretty crazy to realize that even though they had been bugging me for a while I really haven't had the time to evaulate them fully. When you are crawling into a bivy sack at 11 o'clock at night you really don't have much time to examine yourself. Now that I look at it my knee is causing the most pain. My achilles is also swollen. Yesterday, the whole leg just felt bad When combined with the fact that I am already dealing with a lot of fatigue it makes it rather difficult to believe that it is in my best interest to push it any further. It is sad to pull out. I apologize to all of you who have been so supportive of me and thank you all for following the race. I hope you all continue to follow the progress of the other riders. I have had a great experience and no regrets having started the race. It has been a great pleasure to ride with Matthew in this event. I can't imagine it is possible for someone to have more passion and knowledge about racing the divide than Matthew. e knows every turn on the route and has lot of great stories and information about the areas. This race means everything for Matthew. My regrets to Matthew for not joining him to the end. Sorry buddy and thanks for everything. I enjoyed riding with you. I had some photos I was going to post of my knee and ankle but I am not really sure on how doing that on the internet so if someone wants to make comment and tell me how to post those photos I am more than happy to put a couple of photos on the blog. Thanks everybody. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-06-26 11:36:11 EST)

Hi this is Reuben Kline. Its about 5:30. I think the 23rd. I don’t know what the date is. This morning Matt and I put in about hundred miles to get to Silverthorne. That is where I am now. During which time I asked Matt a couple times to go on without me. In great sportsmanship and friendship, he didn’t want to do that. He wanted me to come with him still. I feel like I need to take some time. Stop and collect what I am doing here in Silverthorne. My knee is pretty swollen and my Achilles in the same leg. Its not helping with my overall fatigue value. Anyway, I’m going to hang out in Silverthorne and try to get some rest this evening and see how things go. See what I think about tomorrow. Not feeling very hot at the moment. Thank you all for support. I will call back again. Bye. (recorder time: 2008-0)6-25 18:28:20 EST)

Hi this is Reuben Kline calling in. It is Monday evening. Matt and I are in Colorado. I guess I should probably state what happened yesterday for the record and to let everybody know who is watching and who has been paying attention out there. I got into Rawlins at about 4 o’clock yesterday, maybe 4:30. For various reasons, I decided to wait for Matthew to catch up. Some of you understand that is what it was. Others are in the same boat as me trying to figure out why. I guess it has something to do with having companionship out there. It’s a long race. Getting tired of sleeping in a bivy sack in the cold. The desire to stay in the hotel Room and it was too early to stay in the hotel room without the catch happening. Film crew showing up at various times kind of motivated a little relaxation. They found me on the internet and looking at the map and they walked in and found me. But you know its nice having company today. Definitely tired like anyone would be at this point. A little bit of knee pain. A little bit of swelling in my Achilles that I’m concerned about. But you know, its all good. I’m satisfied with the decision to wait and reunite with Matt and ride together. I don’t think this is a record breaking year with the conditions. I’d rather ride with somebody rather than feel like I’m riding against somebody. Anyway. Hope you understand that. Keep on watch, checkin it out. Goodbye. (recorder time: 2008-06-23 23:04:47 EST.)

Hi this is Reuben Kline. Call in, I believe that is Saturday morning. Somewhere around 9 o'clock. I'm sitting in the Place Cafe on the back side of Union Pass. I went over Union Pass last night and which thank god it wasn't too bad. But Togwotee Pass was not the most pleasant thing in the world at all, yesterday afternoon. But last night coming over Union I was very happy to see big open roads with occasional patches of snow. Things are going well and I'm about to eat a big stack of blueberry pancakes. Bye bye.

Hi this is Reuben Kline. It is 11:50. I just got done coming over the pass into Wyoming. Once again snow covered. Quite a lot of snow up there. Anybody...well, those planning to come over behind me. Hopefully they give themselves plenty of time. It took me nearly 5 hours to get across the pass. Which I would estimate being 3 hours more than it should have. So now I am going to lie down and go to sleep. I've begged for some food and its all good.

Hi this is Tour Divide Racer Reuben Kline. Calling back in. I called earlier from Lima. Just calling back to give a couple of highlights of the day. Today started out shivering cold in a bivy sack. Followed by about 40 miles of riding on a couple of energy bars. Finally found something to eat the continued down the route. Treat by Schwann Ice Man. Big highlight of the day. He gave me a couple of orange creamsicles to eat when it was hot. That was pretty special. Then I followed up by dinner tonight at Pete's Bar in Lima, cook your own steaks. Everything is going well. Read more »

Hi this is Tour Divide Racer Reuben Kline. It is the 6th day of the Race and I'm currently in Lima. I'm going to hang out here and take some comfort in exchange for some lead time. Yesterday, I hung out with Matthew Lee a little bit trying to get his bike fixed but he needed to stay overnight in Butte so I forged on. Anyway, Everything is going well. Just lots of long hard days. Bye.

Good morning, its 8:30 Monday and its Tour Divide Racer Matthew Lee sitting in Seeley Lake at the Chicken Coupe eating breakfast and trying to warm up. Yesterday was another tough day on the route as 100s of fallen trees blocked the route through the Missions and the Swan. the 120 mile ride was punctuated by Merrill Pass and Richmond Peak Trail. The last mile of the dirt road was snowed in but managable hiking. Richmond Peak Trail was a different story. It was 4 miles of full on alpine traversing through 10' drifts along cornices and through tree tops. The sketch factor was high. Read more »

Hey it is Reuben Kline. I'm calling in from the Border. Went through customs - they let us go pretty easy, everything was smooth. Stopped at the Bar and got a pizza. We are going to roll out about 2pm, I think and start our US leg of the journey. Me and Matt Lee are still riding together pretty much. So anyway, later.

Note: Barking Dog noises in background.