Day 24 - Antelope Wells

I finally got to Silver City after surviving day 23 when I punctured my front tire which I fixed only to flat again with my only spare tube. Sitting by the side of the trail with badly holed inner tube in hand I wondered if I would ever get to my destination or would I get to any destination given I was 60km from anywhere. I did persevere and after using two tire boots and two tube patches I finally did get the tire to hold air. Anyhow somehow day 23 snuck into my day 24 entry.
Being in Silver City was a relief as it had a bike shop, but unfortunately being Sunday it didn't open until late. As I was standing in front of the store staring at the posted business hours a guy pulls up in his car and we start talking. Turns out he's the business owner and was willing to open shop to get me fixed up.
Normally I hand the bike over to mechanics, they do their magic and I get a well tuned machine back. In this case I was the mechanic so I kept things simple and just replaced the front tire. If it was a test for a shop job I would have failed. Ever time I replace a tire I do it in a completely different but equally ineffective way.
After much strong arming with tire levers I had a new tire on the wheel. I thanked the shop owner, a really nice guy, phoned Jeff, the recommended man for retrieval, ate some breakfast at one of the few restaurants open and off I went.
Earlier I saw Paul go by and I knew with the lead he had I wouldn't catch him, but I had riders not too far behind me and didn't want to be caught. Racing through the desert on old dirt roads was a surreal experience and passed quickly. The last part of the day was on pavement and dragged on. The road went straight over the horizon and little changed after pedalling what seemed like hours. Also the Tour Divide wasn't going to go quietly and threw sideways rain which left me cowering beside my bike for cover. With only a few miles left a strong head wind brewed up that made me struggle for any forward motion.
And then it was over. Jeff was waiting at the end to take the finish line photos and offered an assortment of food. I chose Dorritos which I would rarely ever eat. Most importantly Jeff was my ride out.
Originally I wanted to go back to Silver City, but that was outside of Jeff's desired range. Instead he said he could convince the bus driver at Lordberg to accept my bike without being boxed. The 10pm bus is lightly travelled and there was plenty of room underneth for the bike to sprawl out. That's the kind of information only locals know and without Jeff's help I wouldn't now be sitting in a Tucson motel tapping this entry out at one in the morning after. A regret is that I won't get to have a beer with Kent in Silver City which we mused about earlier in the race.
Now I just got to box the bike and fly home. My Tour Divide adventure is over. I faced adversity which months of training couldn't prepare me for including unending fatigue, injury from a bad fall, violent weather, a pack of snapping dogs, angry bulls and badly washboarded roads that almost jarred me unconscious not to mention the day 23 tire incident that threatened to leave me stranded. I overcome all those obstucles and more to achieve my goal: a sub 25 day finish on the Tour Divide Race.