‍I haven't ridden a very long ride exclusively in the metro in a long while because it is so unbelievably difficult and takes a lot out of me. But I was feeling pretty good in the weeks prior and decided to test whether I could still handle it. This sort of route is maximum masochistic silliness. Besides the fact that there are hundreds of intersections to be navigated(which means hundreds of accelerations), a lot of them end at the bottom of steep hills, and also the route contains all the nearby dead ends that I would ride past as i'm trying to simultaneously ride all the roads(eventually). These dead ends are very commonly in the middle of a steep hill, usually on a downhill since modern developers avoid building culverts or bridges whenever possible. And then there are the interminable speed bumps, which are there to "calm" traffic. Now i'm definitely a fan of slowing cars down but they are antagonistic to all forms of wheeled nonmotorized traffic, not just bikes. Most of the time there is not a way to bypass. One has to ride the curb gutter carefully to ride around if that's even possible due to brambles or deep leaves(or trash) in the gutter. Some of these bumps are fairly benign but a lot are very jarring. What's more is that there are a lot of them are installed on designated bike routes, which seems counter to optimal planning but I digress. All this to say that this type of route is pretty mental and each time I complete another I am reminded of the extreme difficulty. Far harder than any long gravel race or whatever. So I set off as early as I could manage, to make at least some of the route easier because most intersections can be ridden straight through without stopping early in the morning. The air was very calm which was nice but when I got to the Flat Shoals area south of the city there was a thick cloud of smoke over everything and I was afraid that all the the city was likewise blanketed but it cleared in only a few miles and the air was pretty clean for the day, with very light winds. I got a bit confused a couple of times(minor stuff), and a several points throughout the morning I spotted at least a dozen Waymo cars without anyone in them just driving around, although it was probably the same couple of cars that were following each other. I even had one behind me at one point before I turned off but thankfully it didn't try to pass me. A major point of confusion(after sunrise) was a beltline connector near Tanyard creek, which was pretty far off on the map. The path led down to a playground on a beltline connector, and then a large expanse of grass where it wasn't obvious where the little informal path up to the cul de sac I needed was. But I found it eventually. My first stop was at a QT in Doraville by 285. I filled up water here and got a coke and some pickles. I brought plenty of food till the next stop(and indeed for most of the day). Outside the perimeter to the next stop it was mostly subdivisions and lots of dead ends. This was the hardest part of the ride. The roads I had picked to follow south seemed on paper to be pretty deserted but in acuality were somewhat busy and since they were hilly and curvy it was maddening to try to make lefts off of it. And there were some pretty steep hills here. Lots of very tall trees with some shade in lots of the subdivisions though. At long last I stopped at a new looking Speedway gas station and got some more soda and a large bag of chips. I planned to fill up my bottles at nearby Lions Park in Lilburn which from previous experience knew had a bathroom. It took a while to wait for traffic to clear enough to make a run for the left turn to the back entrance to the park via path, and when I got there it was completely packed. There was lots of softball going on and long lines at the bathroom. I picked a table that was in the shade and ate some chips while waiting for things to die down. It turned out that it was just the women's bathroom that had a long line: at least a dozen young girls or women waiting at any given time while the men's side was free the entire time other than a couple guys who went in and out fairly quickly. So I was able to have the bathroom to myself mostly. There was a bottle filling station a bit apart from the bathroom building but there were so many people just hanging all around I felt like being watched everywhere I went so I ended up just putting my bottles in my jersey and filling them up in the sink. Oh well. Also the toilet was clogged with no plunger in sight. I still did what had to be done however. Good times. Many more difficult subdivisions followed making my way south towards Stone Mountain and I was really ready to get a move on once most of the dead ends were over. However it was a LOT of waiting at redlights to cross various highways. The roads were okay but not great to ride from a traffic perspective but I did see several road cyclists out. I was just glad to be rolling through all the dips in elevation without having to u turn. My water supplies basically ran out by the time I hooked up with the Stone Mountain trail and I knew that somewhere there was a bottle filling station or bathroom or something along the way but I didn't know where. I was empty for miles by the time I found one that was thankfully fully working and I filled up and drank a lot as well in assurance that it would be enough for the remaining 50 miles or so. The remaining miles through the city were on quiet streets or paths. The first Beltline section I did was so unbelievably packed that it was shoulder to shoulder people walking or riding scooters and bikes for like a mile. All places along the path were similarly packed, it was just nuts. I guess it's a nice Saturday evening at the end of spring break? Anyway it was completely crazy. I did what I could to weave around people but I spent most of my time basically track standing. At the Krog street tunnel I turned of onto streets a bit till the next section of beltline. The next section was unclear beforehand if it was open. It was closed for construction(the beltline will not be even close to completion in my lifetime) but despite fences and gates and big heavy equipment littered everywhere and very rough torn up dirt and gravel piles with holes throughout scattering the path, there were STILL a few dozen people out walking and riding bikes. Although I must say that this time going through here it did look like the bridges are mostly done and the path just needs to be graveled and graded(and paved of course). So maybe its coming along. Who knows. I went south through Hapeville to get back to 29 and Buffington road. This was pretty okay other than a million intersections and the unrelenting sun. It was a very warm day for mid April but the humidity was very low so it was pleasant, especially in the shade. I really felt all the little accelerations of the day and was just unbelievably tired these last 40 or so miles. It seemed to really take forever and to top it off I needed to ADD 6 miles to reach my goal mileage for my personal Eddington number challenge. When I got to 29 I found it busy of course. It took awhile but I found a break in traffic and mostly was able to keep up my speed with the speed of traffic. I figured that the new roundabout replacing the light at Washington road would help with flow but of course people are clueless with roundabouts so this took about as long as waiting on the light used to. At Buffington I also kept up with traffic till I got to Naturally Fresh Boulevard where they are far enough along with the road widening project there that I could ride over in the closed off gravel for the new lanes, separated from Buffington. I also did a couple of trips down to the dead end on Naturally Fresh blvd to add miles free of traffic. Rode 2 lane Buffington down across the interstate which was fine. Coming home I added miles by taking Oakley road which involves a right then left on 138 which probably wasn't the best idea given the hour but I waited till it was totally clear and it was fine. I also added miles by going down Coastline to Lees Lake. In Tyrone I stopped for more water since I was out again. I definitely did poorly on drinking. I probably ate enough but was bad on hydration. 👏 104.46 new miles 🏘 Completed 25% of Peachtree Park 🏘 Completed 25% of Garden Hills 🏘 Completed 25% of Buckhead Village 🏘 Completed 25% of Collier Hills North 🏘 Completed 75% of Colonial Homes 🏘 Completed 50% of Channing Valley 🏘 Completed 75% of Collier Hills 🏘 Completed 25% of Candler Park 🏘 Completed 25% of Swallow Circle/Baywood 🏘 Completed 25% of Lakewood Heights 🏘 Completed 25% of South Atlanta 🏘 Completed 25% of Blandtown 🏘 Completed 25% of Atlanta University Center 🏘 Completed 25% of Knight Park/Howell Station 🏘 Completed 25% of English Avenue 🏘 Completed 50% of Ashview Heights 🏘 Completed 25% of Buckhead Forest 🏘 Completed 25% of Lake Claire 🏘 Completed 25% of Chosewood Park 🏘 Completed 25% of Underwood Hills 🌉 Completed Bridge over 400 🚂 Completed 75% of Beltgrind 2018 🏘 Completed 75% of Stone Mountain Trail -- From Wandrer