The wind was calm and the temperature pretty cool the first couple hours of the ride as I made my way south east. Mid thirties and no tailwind to start. Soon though it began blowing and i had a bit of a tailwind for most of the trip to Macon. Strategy this ride deviates from my typical approach for super long rides, which is to head into the day's wind direction so I can have a tailwind on the way back when i'm more tired. Today the forecast was for the wind to start out from the northwest and strengthen throughout the day but drop off to nothing in the mid afternoon. This turned out to be correct and I had a headwind on the return for only 40 or so miles before the wind died completely. Riding on the beautiful Zebulon road leading into Macon I saw a Ferrari heading west. Macon is definitely a city of extremes. The poor parts are dirt poor and the rich are living in unbelievably elaborate and silly mansions, many of which are behind gates and are sending their kids to one of the many expensive private schools in the area originally established to keep segregation going. Had no route errors in the beginning to Macon and no issues winding my way through the streets until I was leaving downtown and a street I was supposed to take north didn't connect(and there was a dead end sign). OSM said it connected but Google didn't and also the old USGS topo maps agreed that it had never connected in the first place. This could have been prevented if i'd just double checked, which I thought I did. Anyway it wasn't that big a deal, I headed west for a bit more on a rather busy but ok road to another street. The pig trail at the Children's Home wasn't busy at all when I got there, and I verified that there were no signs about when you could ride after rains(we had gotten lots of rain on Thursday and Friday). One thing I didn't know beforehand was that the trail is one way with the direction changing on alternating days. So I had to head backwards of the direction I thought I would but this wasn't an issue. The trail was very well built, suprisingly smooth and fast in the beginning half, and the remainder closest to the creek was more technical with more turns, narrower and steeper. I had fun even on the gravel bike. It was definitely in need of some drainage work though, there were several parts with water that looks like it would stay around for days after a rain, including long stretches of trail that had become a creek. Also the city had come to maintain the sewer cut by the creek and so a couple of short sections there were muddy quagmires. Overall glad I came and rode it. The ride leaving Macon was on fairly busy roads which I knew, and Tucker road was bad. It was a narrow two lane road connecting shopping and interstate exits, and hilly. Frustratingly so, I had to stop at a light at the bottom of a hill more than once. Finally though I stopped at a really new Publix and got a couple snacks and used the bathroom, and after this intersection things improved a lot, although it was still busier than my tastes all the way across Lake Tobesofkee. After I left the lake finally the traffic died out completely for my trip over to Thomaston. It was super hilly and I managed to get the bike to near 40 several times just outside town. Stopped for the last time at a Dollar General just off the nice downtown and set off. I stopped at a little park to rest a second and finish my chips, and then set off into the fading evening light. I made a mistake at the store and didn't really get enough fluids but I figured i'd find a church somewhere. Originally in the middle of the day I thought I was making incredible time and would get back home around 8pm. But of course the wind and hills had other ideas and I stopped way more than usual on this ride for various reasons so it was dragging on. When I got to the end of Riveree road I decided to divert to Hollonville so I could stop at the DG there for another bottle, because I had been so low on water for a while I was way behind. Again. You'd think i'd learn my lesson from the previous couple of long rides. In any case I was saved by the Fairview church which had a faucet at the back, so I was saved from having to use a store stop. The remaining miles were uneventful, although i'm always wondering where everybody is going at that hour on a country road. Had more than one person, including a cop, wait behind me for longer than they needed before passing, perhaps out of some concern for my safety? The cop waited a good minute before passing on Hollonville right at Digby, and then I heard a crack from his outside speaker but it wasn't anything intelligible, like he just hit the button(by accident?). In any case he sped off towards Senoia on 16. Weird. Then another car on 85 connector someone followed me from the church to the turn at Bankstown. I think these people think they are doing me a favor lighting the way. Eventually I reached the relative quiet of the paths and rode the rest of the way home.