To the OP, keep climbing. Keep practicing. It gets better. Took me a year of riding hills in western PA (I don't know what flat is) for it to be "easy".
Originally Posted by
smashndash
I have a question, OP. When you are spinning up climbs, are you making sure to keep your cadence above 75-80RPM or so? You shouldn't have to move your upper body around to get enough torque on the pedals. If not, get some easier gears. Someone already said this but many bikes without triples come with pretty "macho" gears. I'm 140lbs and my 36/28 is hard to spin up 5%+ grades.
That isn't always possible for some people, especially new ones that are heavy. I have 100 pounds on you and a hybrid with 26/34 (maybe 32 on the back, can't remember) and I grind up hills at 50 rpm. I can't even tell you how fast I'm going on some hills because my bike computer doesn't register below 2 mph.
Then again, 5% is flat. A small hill around here is 8-10% and normal hill is 12-15%. Difficult hills are above 15% and I always try to hit at least one of the two 18-19% grades I have on my routes.
I certainly didn't spin up Rialto Street in Pittsburgh. Got caught halfway up by a car and ended up stopped. I can't believe I managed to get started again. That's also with my rack, panniers, and about a gallon of water on the bike.