I installed some mini aero bars on my gravel bike before this ride, to hopefully give me another position to distribute the stress on my hands better and perhaps be a bit faster as well. It worked well although they are short so they arent' the most comfortable pair but it's way more comfortable than just plain old puppy paws on the drop bars. I made short work of highway 34 and the bypass, then rode the rest of the streets in Arnco and Sargent. Crossed the Chattahoochee into Whitesburg as the sun rose and wound my way up to Carrollton. I left early enough that the brief sections on the main highway weren't too bad. The hills were slow as i had a lot of water but also was trying to pace myself appropriately. I had put my full frame pack back on and had bottles on each side of the fork. Managed to get by without a handlebar bag which would be a challenge with everthing else I had on the bars. Carrollton went by without issue and after doing some very nice gravel roads just northwest of town I finally rolled into the Mount Zion Dollar General ready for supplies and fluids. Got plenty here, perhaps too much and rolled off towards Alabama. Most of the dead end riding was over by this point and I was hoping doing more regular roads would make the ride a bit faster. It definitely was but it was so hilly that I could only use the aero bars so much. Encountered a closed road that I figured had a 90% chance to be there and didn't even bother to try it because the reroute was so easy and right there. At length I arrived in Ranburne and got more snacks and soda. I also had a new feed bag on the bar and stem in which I carried a new insulated bottle I just purchased. I filled it up with ice before I left the house and it kept a little bit of ice in the bottom through three soda fillings till the last stop around 6pm. Pretty amazing considering it was a hot day in the mid nineties. I also reapplied sunscreen for the second time here at this stop. Next section I was beginning to slow a bit and get more behind on eating properly. I don't really know what it was on this ride but my stomach never really felt like it wanted to devour anything at any point on this ride and eventually my energy ebbed by the end. I definitely ate a lot but apparently not enough. I also didn't drink enough despite bringing way too much along with me each stop. I did use some of it to pour over my head which helped a bit. I also stopped and dunked my body in creeks 4 times. It definitely wasn't my hottest ride in the last couple of months but it was uncomfortable in the middle of the day. The humidity was a bit lower though. And the morning and evening were pretty nice. I made an unplanned stop In Ephesus because I didn't realize I would go by another store here. I only got a soda and an ice cream sandwich. I only barely got this down mostly because a creme soda sounded good at the time but it didn't really taste all that good to me there. Thankfully they had a shaded part next to the building in the grass and I sat for a little bit and got this down. I didn't really try to fuss at all on this ride about stopped time. I figure when it's hot the goal should mostly be survival for the whole ride and not speed. Just barely rode back into Alabama and rode a very gradual ridgeline climb that offered some pretty nice views of both east and west. This was a lot of fun on the back side as the route trended down gradually as well and I was able to go fairly fast. It was really nice to have the aero bars. Back through Heard county and eventually into Franklin for another stop because I didn't want to bother stopping again. I was pretty tired and sure that I had not eaten and drank enough but I still couldn't get back on track. It's hard to keep up with all the fluids and sodium on a hot day. But I managed just fine, it was a bit slow the last 40 miles. I rolled in just a bit after sunset but had no issues.