I just ride as much as I can and make sure that I always have hills included in my rides, I go out of the way to find hills that reflect my up-coming tour. This year I am working on keeping my speed up while I am climbing, I find that I need to maintain as much speed as possible when climbing with my bike loaded or I start having balance issues. It's easy with no wieght but it become much more difficult when you add 40lbs. to the bike. Just my thoughts.