Originally Posted by
Arcanum
Use lower gears, get in better shape, ride with less weight (be it a lighter bike, a lighter you, or lighter cargo). Unfortunately, moving X weight up Y distance always requires expending the same amount of energy. All lower gears do is let you spread that energy expenditure out over a longer period of time, and give you enough leverage so you can actually pedal at all.
I'm usually on one of, if not, the lowest gears going up a hill. I'm working on losing weight, and a new bike would definitely help the weight. I don't carry much cargo, so that's not really an issue.
Originally Posted by
adclark
I agree with everything Arcanum said. Also, one thing I have found that helps me is clipless pedals. Being able to pull up on the pedals can do two main things: 1. Allow you to use a wider variety of muscles. 2. Let you distribute the load among different muscles to lighten the strain on all of them.
At this point, I don't think I'd want clipless pedals. It seems like it'd be a rather expensive setup, plus they wouldn't be too great in traffic.