i did a long ride with hills for the first time two days ago. i went with a roadie friend. he schooled me, but i made a pretty good showing. the closest thing to a 'trick' that i've learned so far is to really use your clips or cliplesses when climbing. there are these hidden muscles in the backs of your legs that can pick up the slack on the upstroke of the pedal. also, go really fast before you start the ascent so you have momentum.
i unclipped at the top of a really steep, long hill in the middle of the countryside, just for fun, to see what it was like.
that's sh|t's f\_/cking scary.