Originally Posted by
joeyduck
On the hills as long as you keep pedaling and are in the right front gear (chain ring) it will be easy enough to keep going. Find he right cadence (rpm of pedals) that works for you on the hills; it should be effective for forward progress but not get your legs burnt out from spinning or mashing (too fast pedaling with little progress or too hard pedaling with gains but too much effort).
^^^THIS^^^
Longer, not so steep, hills as you describe are more of cardio test than how strong you are. It got a lot easier for me once I got a computer with the cadence feature. I found out my 80-90 rpm was really around 50-60. Speeding up a bit made it easier and the more I did it the longer I could stay at it. 80rpm is quite fast, at least it was to me.
You didn't mention your physical condition. What ill.clyde said is quite true, a lot healthier now. It got easier and easier as the weight came off. I'm 59 and have been at my high school weight for the last year.
Chocolate milk is reported to be an excellent post exercise drink. I usually just eat lunch consisting of real food, not fast food.