‍ I left well before sunrise and bundled up for mid thirties. The temperature fluctuated wildly between cold in the valleys and warm at the hilltops and I gradually adapted to the cold by being careful to take my left foot out and shake it off occasionally to keep blood flowing. Seem lately to have to do that with my left foot especially. This worked well though and I was pretty warm all morning till it finally began to warm up about an hour after sunrise. I explored Halls Mill road in Meriwether as the first new road of the day. I knew the road ended somewheres but as to where was unknown. I decided to try and find it even though I was on the skinny tired road bike. This was the first time i'd taken the road bike out for a long 200+ mile ride. After a new culvert across the creek the road changed from good gravel to very chunky rocky unmaintained road, and then after a security light at a driveway at the end of a steep hill, the road faded to little used track. Still though it was passable so I continued on until at the edge of a clearing for a timber harvest, there were giant logs and stumps pushed across the track obviously on purpose. I turned around at this point and upon heading down the steep rocky hill back to the gravel I noticed someone had placed a roman statue repilica head on the ground beside the road with the eyes pointing at someone headed up towards the property. Very weird anyway but especially so in the dark. I continued on and did another short dead end gravel road which was flat and pretty packed down so pretty easy on the road bike. Rolled through Greenville and completed the last missing street along the way in the dark. In Durand I completed the gravel tracks next to a church, finishing out Durand. Continued south and did another short gravel sector on Winter road to head south the shortest way to Hines Gap over Pine Mountain. The climb up was gradual and I began to get pretty warm as the sun poked over the horizon. I rode over to Pine Mountain Valley without any traffic at all. Turned south on Patton road and instantly before I even got there I had a sinking feeling that this doesn't look good. Definitely private. Looked like a driveway and basically said so but didn't say no trespassing. Had a wood deck bridge over a creek and then the driveway took a hard right and went up the hill to a house. The track continued in the woods as the road I was supposed to take faded away to leaves and pinestraw. It was pretty early after sunrise and I decided to press on as a quick consult of the map indicated a lengthy detour if it didn't work out. This track was pretty clear of debris but didn't look like it was used at all recently. As I had feared there was indeed houses at the other end next to the road I need to reach, however to my surprise I encountered no gate, only a brand new concrete driveway leading me out. Thankfully there was no activity at the houses adjacent or i'd have had to risk an awkward conversation. The remaining miles through Harris county to Highway 208 were very quiet. Then I was supposed to do a dogleg and turn right on a Weaver Drive only it was a faded track not even used for a driveway. So I continued on, stopped at a church to make sure I was going the right way for the quickest detour and went further east on 208 to turn on another parallel road heading south. I just didn't look at the route closely enough as it doesn't appear to have ever connected through in even the decades ago past preserved by the old USGS topo maps. Next I explored a little gravel dead end that was definitely public but wasn't on OSM which didn't go very far till a gate. Went a bit further south and explored a much longer gravel dead end which was slow because it was pretty loose gravel. By now the morning was wearing on and I was at around mile 84. I decided to stop at the top of the hill with the road junction where there was a cell phone tower and stop to take off all my warm clothes as the temperature by now was around 60 and warming fast, as well as take a nature break that saw me through the rest of the ride. One more road south and I met with the sprawl of north Columbus. I crossed over the Flat Rock trail and did some industrial dead ends and then rode through some new shopping center areas. Stopped at a gas station even though I probably could have waited another 20 miles. What I found interesting about this approach to Columbus from the north is that the traffic began so abruptly, it was completely rural with zero houses and then suddenly stores, highways and housing. Not something I usually see. Usually even proper small towns have their suburbs and associated morning traffic. The first few subdivisions in Columbus were reasonably flat which was very nice since I didn't have as much range on the road bike and in addition my cable had slipped around a guide on the derailleur which made shifting very annoying. I managed to still access all the gears but it was far from ideal. I dared not mess with it as I figured i'd just waste a bunch of time and possibly make it worse. Then I did some subdivisions beside I-185 in Harris county and they were super steep, just crazy. Even with the gravel bike and its big range of gearing it would have been annoying. At least I didn't have to walk although it was close. I stopped again at a gas station after only 40 miles and again I could have waited another 20 miles and probably should have. I topped off everything and rolled away. Stopped at a school soon after and reapplied sunscreen again because it was sunny all day long. The remaining miles left to Hamilton was painless except for the persistent WNW wind which meant I fought a crosswind most of the way back north. I was very glad to turn off onto the Man O War trail and really really enjoyed being off the road a bit and out of the wind. I stopped at another gas station to top everything off in Pine Mountain and made it my last stop of the day. After a bit more crosswind fight heading north from Pine Mountain I was glad to head northeast on Stovall road and finally able to relax a bit. Traffic was non existent as well. I settled into a very easy pace and just focused on trying to make it back before dark. My headlight had the indicator on it blink like it was going dead before sunrise in the morning and I was keen to not have to rely on it at the end of the ride. As it was I think it was fine anyway but since I didn't have a backup one I was a bit worried. I was in a bit of a doldrum on the trip up through Greenville and north to Gordon road. Riding fairly slow and feeling ok but tired. More tired than I figured I should considering how much easier the ride was with all the pavement and on the road bike. Mostly effects from the crosswind I figured. But as soon as I got close to Senoia I got a bit of a second wind and was feeling great again. I rode Rockhouse road really really fast and screamed down Rockaway on the road till I did turn left to avoid it up the middle hill. I flew down the curvy paths north and cut over to Dividend road as the sun went down to use the streetlights and for more room away from golf carts even though the way I was feeling I was faster than even the most modded among them. I just despise even seeing one. I decided to just take the short way by Taco Mac and Hampton Inn since it was late enough I figured. And after only a minute or two I had a pretty safe crossing. 👍 69.93 new miles 🏘 Completed Greenville 🏘 Completed 25% of Hamilton -- From Wandrer