Originally Posted by
Little-Acorn
I lived up a tall hill in San Jose 'way back then. Always hated riding the basic Varsity up that hill. Standard technique on that hill, was to crisscross back and forth across all lanes, for brief rests when going east-west between the times of riding up the steep part going north. Was a ***** when a car came by, you had to ride straight up the hill, which I couldn't hack so usually had to get off and walk till the car was gone.
My parents lived about 2/3 of the way up a rather steep hill when I was a kid and my bike was a single speed balloon tire J.C. Higgins (Sears' house brand, actually made my Roadmaster, IIRC) that weighed more than I did. The only way I could ride it up some of the hills was to zig-zag as you describe. The local drivers knew to watch out for us and would usually wait while we ground our way to the top.
I was in my 40's when I finally got a bike that had enough gearing to avoid that problem.