"My legs are wobbly, are you still on performance enhancing drugs?" Patrick asks Rachel and she says "yes". "Do you have some available?" and she digs in her handlebar bag and gives Patrick a paracetamol. We both have slight headaches and body aches from yesterdays long ride. Today is another short day, mostly because of where the towns are spaced, so we start a little later than usual.
The cow country has turned to agricultural and we see lots of John Deere tractors. After 20km, we turn off Mex 180 onto a secondary road and we lose the shoulder and traffic. Lots of waves from farmers driving pickup trucks. Just like farm country in the states, locals wave to everyone. There was a small town that we stopped for a cold drink. The clouds are threatening and a few drops of rain fall and we would welcome more. It's getting hot and we have another 20km to go. The road changes from flat hills to flat hills with a short steep hump at the top.
We get to Abasolo around 11am and check into Hotel California. A nice big roll in room for 350 pesos, TV with some English language movies, and good WiFi. It's nice to be in early to do more laundry. The previous days, shirts have been washed because they dry so quickly, now there will be a longer time for everything to dry.
Patrick goes out to find tacos and drinks for lunch. Then the rest of the day is for recovery. We are three days to the border, the next two 100 kilometers each. Then a final 50km to the border.
Flat lands today, lots of farms big and small. The corn has been harvested and some farmers are preparing their fields for the next crop.
Patrick heard a "ting" today, it sounded like something jumped into the rear spokes. At the hotel we discover a broken spoke with a good bend in it, whatever got into the wheel was strong enough to break the spoke. Good thing it happened on the non-freewheel side so it is easy to replace the spoke. We have been carrying spare spokes from the start and this is the first one we need. Actually, Patrick thinks this is the first spoke he has ever broken on-tour.
