A lot of hills where I ride are staircase types, so I find myself standing on the steep parts to get to the next step.

I've noticed a tendency of a few of them to finish with a half mile -> 1.5 mile steep section, though, which is near impossible to stand all the way through.

I've also noticed recently that when a gradient gets above 14-15% or so, my hoods are nearly in my armpits and it's hard to bend my elbows enough to get a good stomp going. Maybe I'll switch to the drops, Pantani style.