If you want a great climber that's fairly fast everywhere else too, get a Carbent. But beware. My rule-of-thumb is that the hillier the terrain, the harder it is to ride with the uprights. You'd be playing leapfrog for the entire ride. That's because most people will climb more slowly on a bent. That leaves you with a choice of getting dropped on the uphill and catching up later; or going off the front and letting them catch up on the climbs. Another factor with hills is that the uprights take the hills differently. They lose speed more quickly at the bottom, and if you get caught behind them you'll end up hitting the brakes just about the time all of them stand on the pedals and dance away up the hill, leaving you in the wrong gear and with no momentum. Because of that, I recommend the going-off-the-front tactic.

When I do Hilly Hundred, I generally average about 17.5 mph average each day.