Originally Posted by justinzane

I've been riding for about 2 years, and the thing that I really struggle with is hills. I can ride the flats endlessly; but there are quite a few hills near me that I simply cannot bike up. Since a number of the local rides are on the hilly roads of N. Cali and Oregon, I cannot participate without improving my climbing. It is also very disheartening to have to turn around or walk up a hill because my legs cannot push the pedals the whole way.

To be clear, I'm talking about times when in low gear (36Tf - 32Tr) that I simply cannot keep going fast enough to stay balanced because I'm beginning to cramp up. An example is a 1400 foot climb in 5 miles -- basically a 5% grade. This is a hill that is in a local century and is ridden by at least 25 people per year based on a look at strava's info.

I'm big: 6'3"/191cm and ~215lbs/98kg. I lost a lot of weight the first year, down from maybe 240lbs; but have been stable as I continued to improve slowly. Short of "doping", what can I do to break through my climbing limitations.

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Should I switch from a double to a triple with a tiny granny so that I can stay somewhere near my normal 75-85rpms?