The theme of this ride from the get go was simply survival. Forecast was for upper nineties with heat index values over 100 with little to no wind. I figured i'd be cooler going down south to explore a WMA since it was forested and thus should have shade. Nothing is in season for the summer so it would be deserted. I stepped outside to a thick warm soupy air that was already rather intolerable. I rode away around 4AM and only once I crossed the 54 path bridge did I realize that I had forgot my extra water bottles. So I rode back home and grabbed them. To make up for this and since it was early enough that traffic was very light, I decided to shortcut my way south and just take the main highway. By the time I rode away from Senoia the temperature dropped to under 70 and was actually pretty pleasant. I rode some new roads in Meriwether county, one which had a closed section south of Durand for a collapsed bridge. Still easily rideable. Another road that was open last time was closed due I guess to a bad culvert. It wasn't obvious why but it was easy to go around the low barriers. These early miles in shade and cool air were great. I rode through Pine Mountain and rode some really nice Harris county gravel. Stopped for the first time at the Whitesville Dollar General where they were in the middle of a remodel. I was able to get what I needed, which was a lot because I would have the toughest part of the day ahead. Soon after I rode into Blanton Creek WMA and right away I knew I was in for a difficult ride. The road was typical GA WMA: big chunky gravel very loose over hard pack. Very difficult riding. Some of the side roads didn't get really any traffic(they were gated(seasonally I think) so while thankfully they weren't too overgrown, they were very rough. And it was pretty hilly as each branch went down almost to the river. And of course a lot of the property had been logged in the recent past so a lot of it was very open. Still though I felt pretty good and enjoyed my time here despite the difficulty. But I expended a lot of effort and by the time I was back out to the highway I was really ready for a store stop. The ride in to West Point was really hot and I was struggling to stay cool. I considered getting a subway and a coke so I could spend time sitting in the AC to cool off. But ultimately I decided to just get a couple cokes and a snack at the DG and sit in the shaded area at the strip mall. It was so hot by this point in the day I just wasn't comfortable even in the shade here. It was just unbearable. I did eventually cool off mostly by drinking lots of cold fluids and after a few minutes I felt a bit better. So I pushed on and tried to focus on getting to the next stop in around 30 miles. I was really struggling though mostly due to the heat and I rolled up to cross HWY 219 and I had forgotten that there were stores here. So even though it was really too early to stop again I went in and grabbed more cold fluids. I felt a bit better for awhile but still was hot. I decided to find a church to hopefully cool off at in the shade somewhere. I found one with a big covered area that had porch swings. I stripped to just my bibs and eventually cooled off a little bit. I stayed here for a good long while and eventually had to push off again. Felt a little better though. In addition I decided to try to do what I could to stay as cool as possible so i took off my sun sleeves and applied sunscreen, and removed my cycling cap to hopefully get more airflow on my head. I should have worn one of my helmets with holes but had the brain bucket on. This did help a little bit. Still stopped at the next store for more fluids, tried to stop and sit on the grass to cool off and eat some chips but again it was so hot in the shade that it wasn't worth it so I rolled away, cooler riding the sun than sitting in the shade. Just tried again to focus on the next stop at Rocky Mount. By this point I was foregoing several dead end roads I had planned. They're close to home and I could easily do them some other time. I shortcutted so much that I trimmed the ride total down from an initial 212 or so to an eventual 203 so I figured i'd just do some extra miles on the way home to get to 205. As the day wore on the sun dipped a bit and there was noticably more shade and it was finally cool enough that I wasn't struggling to stay cool. In the middle of the day I was so hot my heartrate was 15-20bpm higher than normal. But the last 50-60 miles were better. I finally made the decision with about 45 miles to go to stop at a creek and actually cool off completely. Should have done this much earlier. I thought about it but decided against it and I don't know why because it was the ultimate in effectively cooling me off. I picked a lovely pretty large creek just barely in Troup county, Beech creek, made my way down to the bridge and sat in a little shoal right underneath the bridge. The water was so cold it was breathtaking after being in the heat and it felt great. I sat here in the creek and occasionally doused myself with water to both cool off and to fend off the horseflies. I could have stayed here till sunset but after a few minutes I felt so relieved and cooled off that I was confident enought that I could finish the ride and rolled away. In the middle of the day at the hottest point I did seriously consider having Jen come pick me up. I was overheated plus I had done way too much at Blanton WMA. But ultimately I felt good enough after Beech Creek that I knew I could limp in no matter what. The ride in to Senoia was sunny and still hot but not unbearable and there were dark clouds off to the east and northeast. Could there be rain at home? It made for some pretty clouds and it did serve to knock down the temperatures even more. The trip down Rockaway was a breeze and didn't get passed at all past Line creek and to the path. I added couple extra loops on the roads off Hip Pocket to bump my total to over 205 and finally finished, just glad to have survived the ride.