‍I prepared as best I could for staying warm all morning while the temperature was in the mid twenties. I had bar mitts on my handlebars, I brought my warmest gloves. I had two socks on, two insoles, two toe warmers and shoe covers over my shoes. Forgot my baselayer and only realized it once I felt the cold air hit my chest as I rolled away on Wisdom road. So I turned around and put it on. I also had on two arm warmers, and leg warmers with some knee warmers over those. So I was pretty warm for a long time. But sometime just before sunrise deep in Meriwether county for some reason my hands and fingers just couldn't stay warm. Don't know what it was as usually with bar mitts my hands are almost too hot. Perhaps it was because I didn't have a light baselayer glove on underneath at the beginning and they just got too sweaty. Makes the most sense. In any case I was very glad for the sun to rise and once it did the temperature rose very quickly. I encountered several early gates that blocked the length of roads I had figured I would be able to ride down. And at first I thought that Weaver road would be impassable because it looked like a wide driveway that just ended in the overgrown woods. But since it was dark it was easy to miss the fairly obvious narrow trail leading a short distance to the railroad tracks. I crossed on foot and wound my way back to the end of the road on the other side which was blocked with dead trees and rode out on a nice gravel road to cross the highway again. I was at a total ride deficit of 8 miles or so after the first 50 miles before I got to Woodbury. I had a decent amount of highway riding on this ride but for the most part it was quite deserted and painless. Although I got buzzed by a semi doing 55 in Woodbury. Only to see the same truck parked at a gas station a mile down the road. Thankfully I was as far right as I could have been and it was perhaps 2 feet away. As I rode by I fantasized about turning around and taking a knife or long sharp object like a sharpened screwdriver and slashing all of his back tires. Thankfully I turned off and headed to Greenville on Cleggs Ferry road, which I had somehow never ridden on up to this point. Took Old Durand road south to Harris City, paralleling the highway. There were lots of abandoned houses and stores built up at the intersection which is a roundabout now. The old abandoned rail line that runs beside Highway 18 into Pine Mountain and becomes the Man O War trail had been recently cleared here. It would be so cool to have a rail trail that runs north from Hamilton or points further south all the way up to Raymond where it meets the active Norfolk Southern line not far from Newnan. I headed south on quiet back roads to Warm Springs where I decided to make up my missing miles by riding around the little grid of streets around the FDR rehabilitation center and riding to see the Little White House. At around noon Warm Springs was actually full of activity in the downtown mostly at the restaurants but also at the shops. I headed up the highway up the mountain which wasn't too much of a pain as it had two lanes all the way up and there wasn't much traffic at all. Once I crested the ridge I met the south wind which was pretty strong and not what I expected as the forecast was for a very light wind. I battled this thing all the way across and down the other side into Shiloh where I stopped for the first time at the Dollar General. This store was the most immaculate example of a Dollar General I have ever seen. It was properly stocked and it actually had a port a potty with a small portable sink beside, plus a trash can! I sat in the grass next to the building and ate a bag of chips and drank a coke. It was pretty warm by this point but I was still a bit cold after sitting once I rolled away. I opted to keep my leg warmers and arm warmers on despite the temperature in the mid fifties. I stripped down to just thin gloves and took off my extra layers. Rode up and over Oak Mountain in the Oak Mountain Estates subdivision which is a bit strange. It looks like at one time it was gated with a big plan for a vast sprawling street network with houses dotted along all over the ridge and just below at several ponds. But the reality is the main entrance is completely open with the gate house empty, the majority of the road miles being unpaved or dirt and almost no houses even along the ridge. Most of what did get built is along the waterfront of the ponds. Thankfully the result is that all of it appears to be public roads. Next up was Anderson road in Talbot County. At several point already I had ridden by part of roads in Meriwether that had had blowdowns from the recent storms a couple weeks ago. Anderson road in the best of times is dirt and very challenging. But there was a lot of erosion from all the recent rains and although it's been dry for several days before there were a few mud holes and one large tree blocking the road in the middle. So this bit took a long time. But soon I was on pavement and up and through Woodland and heading north up towards the Cove. I did a couple dead end gravel roads in the cove that both bordered the Sprewell Bluff West WMA which is not something I expected. One went right by Buck creek which was pleasantly tumbling over large bare rocks and shoals. This was right around sunset so I was still able to see it. The temperature dropped pretty quick after the sun went down and I switched to full fingered gloves. The trip across the Flint River to Pike county wasn't too bad but I was very glad to turn onto Sands road. I stopped one more time for fluids mainly at the little gas station in Molena as dusk crept in and I rolled off to do the last two dead end roads of the ride. I stopped and put back on more layers to prepare for the last little push home in the dark. I really enjoyed these last few hours. I was pretty tired but was able to keep a low but steady effort and actually was going pretty fast in comparison to previous rides heading north this way despite the cold. I had almost no traffic the whole rest of the way once I turned off highway 18. I didn't get passed the entire trip down Bankstown road, Morgan Mill AND Padgett road! Very unusual. Prett light traffic on 74 as well so I just rode down Dividend drive and intended to use the commute home way but there was a train heading north as I was so I followed it down Huddleston and then crossed the highway at the Hampton Inn. Still needed two more miles so I rode an alt route home to make that up. 45.5 new miles 🏘 Completed 90% of Gay 🏘 Completed 75% of Warm Springs -- From Wandrer