‍The weather was pretty great compared to the abnormally hot weather we've already had in mid April so far, and with light winds and fairly dry air. Low eighties and light east winds. I haven't ridden much up north in awhile so I figured it was time for a long ride around the big city. Doing a 200+ while also trying to complete all the little dead end roads around me as I go and use small streets with lots of big speed bumps and a stop sign at the bottom of every hill, it can take a toll on you and really add up at the end of the day. So i've learned to respect the difficulty and have patience at the low speeds that average out. I left at an hour early enough to allow me to get back around or before sunset hopefully. I breezed through the first 50 miles or so before there was much traffic on the roads and by that time I was mostly doing little neighborhood roads. I decided beforehand to make my first stop at around mile 98 at a QT. But I ran across a Dollar General that I hadn't really considered stopping at around mile 85. But it was very convenient and nobody was there at all making checkout easy. All the really cheap water was gone but secondary cheap sources are still cheaper than QT water. I packed tons of food so I was prettty well set there. Somewhere a bit before this first stop I did find a porta potty that was at the end of a new residential road that had no development yet and was free for the taking so I took the opportunity for a kind of insurance nature break. I didn't really have to go but I figured i'd take the opportunity while I had it. The roads after the first stop and to the second stop were as usual the most difficult. Lots of momentum killing dead ends on steep hills, and tons of intersections. Mostly pretty well free from cars which was nice. And really not much activity going on in the neighborhoods in general despite the nice day. There were a couple of apartment roads that I skipped, and two new streets that needed to be added that I went ahead and gathered data for. Second stop came at a busy retail area on Briarcliff road near I-85 at a QT. This store was really busy but I got checked out basically immediately. I decided to make this my last stop and so I got enough fluids to tide me over for 75 miles. The hills didn't stop afterwards and while I did fewer dead end roads the last stretch, it was challenging because of all the intersections in addition to the hills. Even without dead ends turns out you have to stop a lot when there are stop signs everywhere. I really didnt' pace my efforts the first half very well and so my legs were very tired the second half. I ate and drank pretty well on point throughout and I never really had much issue with the temperature. Tried to just take it easy when I could but I am very anxious riding around other people and so I find it difficulty to mellow out if there is someone nearby. Very silly but being that the whole ride was urban this meant I had people nearby a lot of the time. Slightly raised baseline anxiety is also tiring on such a long timeframe. I had to wait for an intermodal train at a Norfolk Southern yard for 5-10 minutes. It was stopped when I got there so I checked on a reroute around. I was the only one waiting on either side as this was a very little used crossing. I was just turning around to leave and find the alternate when I heard the air brakes letting out so I decided to wait it out. It was only another 5 minutes once it got going. As it was I was a bit short on distance which I made up by doing a couple extra roads in Tyrone and taking the longish way back through Kedron Hills. Got back right at sunset which I consider a win. Not the most difficult urban ride i've done but i'd say par for the course in difficulty. 👏 115.83 new miles 💯 Completed 25% of All of ITB 🏘 Completed 25% of Cabbagetown 🏘 Completed 25% of Reynoldstown 🏘 Completed 25% of Sylvan Hills 🏘 Completed 50% of Cascade Avenue/Road 🏘 Completed 25% of Bush Mountain 🏘 Completed 25% of Laurens Valley 🏘 Completed 50% of Audobon Forest 🏘 Completed 25% of Summerhill 🏘 Completed 25% of Grant Park 🏘 Completed 25% of Cascade Heights 🏘 Completed 25% of Pittsburgh 🏘 Completed 25% of Candler-McAfee 🏘 Completed 25% of Scottdale 🏘 Completed 25% of Belvedere Park 🏘 Completed 25% of North Druid Hills 🗺 Completed 50% of All of ITP 9 🏘 Completed 75% of Stone Mountain Trail -- From Wandrer