well, I've never done anything to help me climb, except actually riding up mts... but since I have a fooked up knee, I find just spinning at a decent cadence is good enough. I can't stand for long. I also use a 30-27 and there are a few places where my cadence drops below 80. Toyed with the idea of going with a mtb crank, but I don't want to drop my big ring all the way down to 44.