Just put 26x1.5 tires on there Saturday. And yes there's a suspension fork, I think it's an older RockShox model with no lockout option. I thought about trying to rig something to keep the forks extended, like taking some PVC with ID that matches the suspension pistons, cutting in half lengthwise, and clamping each half around the piston. But for $50 I can get a length-correct CroMo rigid fork from Nashbar: https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...28_-1___202440

I think the shocks are blown out anyway as they pretty much stay fully compressed while I ride. But then I can feel them extending and compressing if I stand and pump the pedals during a climb.

*edit* I added a link in my sig to the thread showing what I've done in the past few weeks.

When I first started commuting I had to train some on weekends, and even at that I had to push my bike up parts of some of the longer hills. I think I was riding up everything within a month. I have old Rockshox on my Rocky Mountain bike and while they don't lock out, I don't think they really give me any trouble climbing. You'll get stronger.

Just put some more air in the shocks, that will help some. They are helpful for the potholes.

Do hill repeats in your off time.

Keep riding and over the weeks and months you'll notice that it's not really getting any easier, but you are going faster. Then maybe you'll even start to grin when you tame the hills. If you get time, try and find some really big hills in the area and climb those. It'll help with training and give better perspective about what you are currently riding.

In the famous words of Jimmy V. Don't give up, don't ever give up.

There is some good advice on this thread, just keep at it.

Would love to do that, but not really sure how. There are what appears to be hex-shaped "adjustors" on top of each shock, but other than that I see no way of adjusting or servicing these things.

Actually according to this link, my RockShox Indy XC forks have springs in them, not air pressure (I guess). That makes me surprised that it would seem to sit bottomed out all the time while riding normally. I mean dang I'm not THAT heavy!

https://www.suspensionforkparts.net/rs_indy.php

Oh, and one more bit of encouragement: hills provide a GREAT way to gauge how much you're improving day by day. It can be hard to tell on the flats, and when your weight/waistline is plateauing, but when you can get 10 feet further up a hill before you have to get off and push than you did the day before, it's a nice sense of accomplishment. Baby steps!

Psych yourself up for the hills. Instead of dreading them and having anxiety, try thinking "Man I can't wait to hit that hill and kick it's ass."

Sounds silly, but that kind of thinking helped me not to dread the monster hill on my previous commute. And I felt better as I hit the hill and was climbing it.

I always think "man I can't wait to get over that hill and fly down the other side!"

Pretty much what has already been said, but just wanted to add some encouragement.
If you keep at it then in a week or two you will be laughing off those hills, and then looking for some bigger ones for a challenge

One of the first things I learned when I started biking to work is that the ferocity of a hill is relative to the rider. When I started I hadn't biked regularly for about 20 years and my route seemed very hilly to me, but other cyclists told me that it was essentially flat. The worst "hill" was this:

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll...86.27,,0,-1.47

which may or may not be similar to yours. I don't know. I generally went up that hill in a 28x34 gear and stopped at the top to catch my breath. My 11 mile commute took me about an hour. I should mention that I was 40 pounds overweight and an absolute couch potato before I started biking. Some time within the first year (and I think within a few months) I was able to climb all my hills without needing to stop. Within a couple of years I could do the commute in 45 minutes. Now, 5 years later I can ride up that "hill" at 18-20 mph when I want to. I've since moved and my daily commute home looks like this:



And that's if I go up the less steep side of the hill. Coming down that hill in the morning, I can come to a complete stop near the top of the hill and coast up to 37 mph before I hit the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. So going up the hill in the evening I'm back to struggling (with a 30x27 gear), but I'm slowly beginning to adapt.

In summary, hang in there and you'll be riding strong before you know it.

I was about to ask if that hill you mention is the one in your avatar, but then I thought the scenery in Oregon is a bit different than you avatar.

Yeah, that's Utah in my avatar. If you take out the cool rock formations in the background, there are parts of Oregon that look like that, but happily I live in the green part.

Just for fun, here's the steep side of my hill.

https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll...5,,0,9.03&z=16

I ride that once in a while when I'm feeling masochistic.

Also live in Tennessee and I'm new to commuting, so understand.
The hills around here may be easy for most, but coming from Nebraska, they are pretty hard to do at first.
I also ride a hard tail with an old non-locking fork.
Starting my 3rd month and things are getting easier except the one steep hill as you enter the city from the west.
Was embarrassed at first walking my bike up this hill with so many people around.
Now, it's still the worst part of my commute, but every trip I get a little better.
Agree that doing hills on your days off helps.

Ah yes, the hills of Nashville. I used to live there myself. I'd say those hills are worse than what we have here in NW Mississippi. And not talking about the delta, which is PANCAKE flat. I'm talking about the area just east of the delta and south of Memphis, which is VERY hilly.