Whoever does the back 3 gaps is a stud!

I had my first"gaps" experience yesterday and it hurt me real bad! Signed up for 6 Gap at the end of the month and knew I needed to get a training ride in (ideally more than one) so I would know what I was in for. I'm decent at hills but had never ridden mountains. Big, big difference. Was supposed to go with a small group and do the back three (Jack's, Unicoi & Hogpen). Of course, everyone flaked out and I ended up going solo. Got to the dirt parking area at interesction of Hwy 19 and Hwy 180 at 10:15AM and hit the roads by 10:30. First gap (jack's) kicked me to the ground pretty hard. I ended up having to stop twice on the way up to get my HR under control. Made it to the top where Brasstown peels off and laid down in the grass to drink some and rest for a sec. Couple of hikers (had a forein accent) wondered if I needed medical attantion and offered food and water. I assured them I was okay and I was just old and too heavy (and I guess not fit enough either) to be a good hill climber. Had a fun descent and then hit Unicoi. This one wasn't as bad for some reason. Only stopped once. Made it down to Alt 75 and realized I had better get some water before I attempted Hogpen. Hit the flea market and filled up. I was already hurting pretty good at this point. I should mention that I forgot I was doing this ride somehow on Monday and ended up doing heavy deadlifts at the gym so my hamstring and buttcheeks were a little pre-pi$$ed before I even began (not that that's a valid excuse for my poor performance). So I started up Hogpen. I knew this was gonna be tough from prior comments I've read here. All I knew was 7 miles and I would be done. Turns out I was "done" long before the 7 mile mark. After the first portion of the climb (until about mile 2) I was already cramping pretty bad and had to take a break or two. One the second and longest portion, I just blew up. I started waliking my bike up. What a miserable experience. It's tough enough to walk in biking shoes much less up hill, with crampy legs and oh yeah, it started raining to the chip asphalt was slippery as all get out. I sucked in a couple of Gu's and made sure to ration my 2 drink bottles to make it (hopefull) back to the truck. I was getting delerious and wondering if this is how it was gonna end. I always thought I'd end up in a fireball death scenario somehow but no, I wasn't gonna go out this way, from exhaustion. Turns out I was to be mauled and eaten by bears. That's right, freakin bears. I had been walking my stupid hybrid for about 2 miles now (turns out my triple chainring hybrid was a good choice here cause I used all 27 gears and was looking for another dozen or so more). I was sort of half laid across the aerobars while pushing the big and my big butt up the hill when two black bear cubs come tearing through the woods and across the road only about 25 yards in front of me. Well, sh*#! I knew momma wouldn't be far behind. I spun my crank and threw a leg over the bike and clipped one foot in and stood up, ready for action. I had brought a 4" folding knife with me (its so sharp I'm even afraid to handle it) but knew better than to bring a pocketknife to a bear fight. I was prepared to turn tail and fly down the hill (if absolutely necessary but I really didn;t want to loose any ground on getting back to the truck at this point). Mom came blowing through the forest (okay, she really just ambled out into the middle of the road). She stopped and was giving me some serious stink-eye and I guess just smelling some sweaty aroma at that point. Thank goodness she decided to follow the babies onto the other side and back into the woods. At this point, despite the massive leg and butt cramps, I figured I needed to put as much distance between me and ungentle-Ben as possible so I hopped on and flew (okay, I was in my granny gear and 27 tooth cog so I was no more than 8mph at a 100rpm cadence). Made it another mile up and then fell back to walking. I traded walking and riding until I finally got to the top, but he77 no, that wasn;t the top. How deceiving to have a parking area and signage at some intermediate point along the climb. There was still more pain to be dealt. I finally made it to the "real" top about another mile later. Thanks God!!!! I knew it was pretty much downhill (with a couple of rollers for good fun) until I got back to the truck. Turns out, the downhill from Hogpen (aside forom the bears of course) was the scariest part of the ride. It was still raining on me so of course that chip asphalt was pretty slick. Also, turns out the brakes on my hybrid weren;t really all that great. I was doing all I could to keep from going faster than 35mph. just couldn;t get enough braking force on the wet rims. I used up all that road getting down but at least survived. Anyway, finally made it back to the truck and did live to tell but man-o-man, I'm sorta gun-shy now. That put a hurtin on me. I'm really considering whether I should dial back and only do the 3 gap 50 now. Very hard to tell what impacts the pre-ride deadlifts and being only a week back from the flu had or if I really suck that bad. Gotta give props and respect to all those that ride those hills regularly. They are just unrelenting!