Originally Posted by Ant
Just keep doing it. I live in a very hilly area and have big hills everywhere. For instance try a 10% grade for over 1/4 mile. That sucks and is right in front of my house. Then of course there is the 2 mile climb at the end of my long rides. Believe me they suck everytime but over time they get easier.
This is so true. If your performance is suffering on the hills you have to force yourself to keep riding up them. Now, i'm not saying that you need to climb yourself into pulminary recessitation
but you can get better by performing "hill days" say, every other ride day as an example. That way, you aren't unpleasantly surprised when you DO need to attack that hill. For me, on my non-bike days, leg strength training (barbell Lunges, squats, leg extensions, etc) has made a HUGE difference in my strength on the bike going uphills. HTH - renegade