I want to know from you serious cyclists. Why do you like climbing?

Yesterday I went to the mountain north of the city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangmingshan
It's not even a particularly high mountain, but the roads were steep. I tried one route in the morning and couldn't handle the steepness so I tried another route in the afternoon and that started off easier but got much steeper. I abandoned the attempt.

Today I tried another climb in the south of the city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maokong_Gondola
I had been up there before doing the tourist cable car thing and it did seem like a good riding route. It too was steep. I tried a different route a couple of weeks ago from the back and that was too steep. Today's was much less steep, but I still had to abandon the climb 3 km from my target. I was passing out and seeing stars.

I can't go anywhere without climbing. I'm sick of it.