I still have trouble pedaling up steep hills.

Even in a low gear, my pedaling is choppy and strained. I feel almost like I'm not pedaling in a continuous cycle, but in strokes - push and push and push and push.

If I switch to an even lower gear, I either still have the problem. At an even lower gear, I just feel like I am just freewheeling in place.

Any advice? What's the best way to handle those hills (other than just avoiding them)?

Are you clipless or on platforms?

There are different opinions on this, but may I mention what's worked for me?
I'm a cadence rider now, got a cadence Astrale8 computer and it's changed my riding.

I just maintain 85 rpm on the pedals, and shift gears to permit me to maintain my rpm.
If I'm riding on level ground, I'm in some gear (say, middle chainring-middle cassette) at 85 rpm.
Probably travelling at around 15 mph, but I don't care: I'm focusing on my cadence.

When I hit the bottom of a hill, it gets harder to pedal, my rpm starts to decay, so I shift
to a lower gear, it's easier to pedal, now I'm back at 85 rpm. The hill gets worse, I'm downshifting some more, still striving just to maintain 85 rpm. My speed's probably 5mph, but I don't care- just focusing on my 85 rpm.

I get to the top of the hill and it's flat, my RPM starts to climb, I shift into a higher gear and the RPM stablizes. I get to the other side of the hill and the road drops, my rpm starts to increase, I'm shifting up gears (eventually large chainring - small rear cassette) and I'm still doing my 85 rpm (although the bike is doing 22 mph).

There are other perspectives on climbing, but for me it's cadence.
Different people find different sweet spots - sometimes it's 90 rpm, sometimes it's another number.
Good LucK - YMMV.

Clipless.

Well, the best way to handle hills is to simply practice a lot. I used to have to walk up even short 5% grades. Now, less than half a year later, I love climbing, and I routinely encounter double digit grades.

As chipcom's alluding to, if you're not on clipless pedals (or toestraps), making the switch does make smooth pedaling a lot easier.

If you feel like you're just freewheeling in place, then that's great. Just keep at it, and if your pedaling speed increases enough, shift up a gear while retaining the feeling of freewheeling in place. Going in such an effortless manner won't win you any races, but it will allow you to climb the hill comfortably.

What I find helpful for sustained climbs is to sit up, put your hands on the tops, and not be afraid of shifting to lower gears. Keeping a reasonably high cadence really helps make climbing more comfortable. Also, for some extra power, you can pull on the bars with your hands. While it's not particularly comfortable to do so if you keep it up, you can generate quite a bit of extra power this way. If you find your cadence bogging down, that temporary boost of power can be of great help in getting your cadence back up. Alternatively, climbing while standing for a few seconds is a great way to get your cadence back up, too.

On climbs I try to pay attention to my body. If my forearms are all tight and my hands are gripping the bars tightly, that's energy being expended that isn't helping me to get up the hill. So, I make a concious effort to scan my body for stuff like that and relax it if it doesn't directly contribute to getting my fat butt up that hill.

I also pay a lot of attention to breathing. I try not to gasp. I try to breathe deeply, with more emphasis on exhaling. If you exhale deeply, it makes more room for new oxygen-rich air to come into your lungs.

I also agree with trying to keep the cadence up and steady, but sometimes the hill is just too long or too steep for me to do 80-85 rpms. I'll shift down as far as I can, but after that it's grind my way up, stopping to rest if necessary.

Excellent advice. His only problem really is impatience. Just relax and enjoy the ride. It's a good time to focus on breathing and just see how you are going.

Personally, when I get to the top of the hill, I tend to coast. That's as much of a function of my bike's gearing as anything else. It's a repurposed mountain bike so it's got the low gears, but shifting up to find anything resembling a gear is too much like work. The hills around here are the ends of the Ouachita Mountains so it's up or down. My commute is short. 1.9 miles with a 27 foot drop total to work. But there's 200 feet of climbing and 200 feet of descending inbetween. One hill drops 60 feet in 1/10 of a mile. Whee!.

So, take it easy on your knees and keep them warm this winter and you'll do fine.

i also have a hill which is steep enough to make it difficult to find exactly the 'sweet spot' gear for smooth cadence. i guess one day i might be curious enough to go count all the teeth on my cogs and look up the different ratios so i can tell if there really is a bigger gap between some adjacent pairs than there is between others. that's certainly what it feels like. going into that gear-too-far is such a drop it feels like falling off the edge of my drivetrain entirely. it can really mess up my balance and momentum if i wait until i'm dying to try and use it.

so i'm just trying to work on getting more able to use the gear that's a little too challenging for me to sustain right now. once i'm over the oh-you've-got-to-be-kidding-me part, there's still about three kilometres of steady shallow climb to cover. i tell you, it feels like a joy to ride that IF i still have a bit in the tank after i've got up the hill. so i work on getting up the hideous part in whatever method will still leave me free to enjoy the goodies. what michaelnel said sounds like me, after a few months of trial and error.

two other things. i struggle more if i'm already warm when i go into it. lately i've been using my time at the lights, about 1k ahead of it, to remove my gloves, open zippers, all that kind of thing. and i also try to monitor myself as i go into it. i guess this part depends on where in your ride your hill comes. in mine it's just about at the midway point, so lately i've been kind of experimenting with different pacing combinations during the first part to see how they affect the hill. it seems to help a lot if i think of the kilometre or two just before it as a recovery phase. during that part right now i concentrate on not working hard, just kind of keeping the engine ticking over, so to speak. then when i get to the hill i shift my mind a bit and start gearing the effort upwards again. kind of silly and pompous to put so much thought into a mere recreational ride home from work, but eh. keeps my mind off the streets.

I try to maintain a high cadence, although it drops a little on hills. I also try to maintain an easy work-rate so my breathing is not too deep. I let speed drop to whatever it wants. The effort involved in going fast up a hill is simply not worthwhile.
It helps if you and the bike are reasonably lightweight , you are using a pedal attatchment system (clipless or toe-clips) and your cranks are approx the right length.
Pedalling style can vary up a hill. I switch between seated (quite far back) spinning with a circular (not up/down) motion, and standing to get over steeper sections. In French they call this style en danse. It is dancing on the pedals, not lifting weights.

My commute is literally uphill both on the way to work and home. Each way the route has me descending down a winding steep hill at breakneck speed into a bowl then a slow climb back up another hill to the same elevation I so gleefully departed a few minutes earlier.

I find a combination of high cadence pedaling (85-95 rpm) works good for me. I also alternate switching to a higher gear, get out of the saddle and stand on the pedals for a while.

Usually I can do switch between the two quite a few times with no effort but every once in awhile I swear I can hear Phil Liggett's distinct voice and words floating through the air "His legs have turned to rubber and his effort reduced to mere survival...."

Get clipless shoes&pedals, or at least toe clips. Then when you get to the hill, stand up and HAMMER. Select a larger gear than you coud handle sitting down, 'cos standing up, you'll prefer a low cadence and have lots of power. It's best if you have an old roadbike with downtube shifters. Then you have no chioce but keep on hammering to the top You know you want to push yourself

You've gotten truly excellent advice from all above. Above all, calm down and enjoy, don't be such an overachiever. When you relax your mind you'll get a better feel for climbing. I've found this so.

Everyone (mostly) has given you good advice. Learn to spin smoothly, relax, keep your cadence up and downshift well before you start getting all jerky. Don't avoid those hills, tackle them - the best way to improve your climbing, in addition to improving your spinning technique, is to climb.

I think the biggest improvement in my pedaling came from simply relaxing my ankles.

This makes my heel drop below the toes at the top of the stroke and adds some springiness to the motion, making it smoother. It also ends up making the kick-back section at the bottom of the stroke easier because this way the calf muscles get added into the mix.

What did all this mean for me? I could go up the same hill faster in a higher gear with less fatigue.

The downside of all this is you might end up having to wait at the top for everyone else to catch up

I go for cadence and adjust my gears appropriately to keep it up. When I am real tired (usually later in the week) I do a bit more standing up pedaling.

I know this one is odd. When I really need some energy I get mad at the hill. It is silly to get pissed at a hill but it works for me. When I am mad I tend to have more energy. Go figure.

+1. Learning good spinning technique is important, but don't be afraid to stand. Standing uses different muscles than spinning, so you can often ride significantly faster for long periods of time if you alternate standing and sitting.

The key to climbing hills of any size is to just relax. If you try to power up the hills, you'll burn up your legs unless you don't have far to go.

Yoda would be very disappointed

You should see what happens when it is very windy. I'm downright evil
Damn you wind gods! *shakes fist at the sky*

Thanks for all the great info.

I guess one place for me to start would be to learn more about "spinning". Wasn't familiar with it as a concept before... but it makes sense. Could you guys elaborate on it, or post a link to a page on it?

I'm surprised, no one suggested the problem might be compounded by the vehicle. What's your gearing?

Chainrings: double, triple? Number of teeth?
Cassette: number of speeds? range in teeth?

If you don't know, look up your bike and see what it comes with.

Given that the original complaint was that EastCoastCoder was first working too hard and then freewheeling after downshifting, the gearing would almost have to be triple with a really wide cassette in back.

The problem is that what's appropriate really depends on the rider, riding style, and the terrain. Unless you know the rider, it's hard to recommend gearing.

Sheldon Brown gives a brief description here: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_sp-ss.html
Spinning usually means pedaling comfortably at about 90 rpm. It's an efficient cadence for most cyclists, but definitely not all. Many road riders like to pedal at 90+ rpm, while mountain bikers often ride around 80 rpm. Please note that I'm generalizing quite a bit.

If you feel like you're not going anywhere while pedaling up hill, your gear may be too low. Try standing and pedaling in a higher gear, or simply sit and push a higher gear altogether. It will be more work, but you'll get stronger. You could also try only using one gear for a while. That's right, only use 1 of your 20+ gears. You'll be forced to spin on the flats, and get out of the saddle and hammer up the climbs. It works different muscle groups and can give you as good a workout as you want.

The many suggestions to relax are all great. Keep relaxed. With practice, you will feel like you're gliding along effortlessly, yet you'll find that you're going far faster than you used to go. Tensing up doesn't do you any good. Even if you're standing and hammering, you should be relaxed.

Forget about it. Literally.

Try to stop thinking about it. Soon, you'll be halfway up that big hill and realize you're mind was drifting into thinking about something else...

just hammer