I've recently, over the past couple of months, have been concentrating on technique than anything else. One of the things that I have found that works for me has been to make sure to get my calves involved in the stroke. When I did that, it smoothed out my pedal stroke and gave me considerably more power. One of the other things I've been playing with is using a big/big combo. I have a 48 big gear and a 27 on the cassette. This has gotten me up a large amount of local climbs here that are sustained. Not sure why, but it seems easier and I believe it may be due to the added leverage from turning a bigger sprocket. I'm sure I'm talking out my ass here, but it did seem easier on the miles of climbs I've done this way.