Any thoughts? I climb and move side to side as im powering up any CAT 3,4,5 im running a 48-18 gear ratio and I climb hills everyday.
Technique?Technique for hill climbing??--turn on that switch in your mind that prevents you from moving your legs.
Training? As fixed gear riders, there comes a time when you can't just take your body as it comes and when you're in your 50's like I am, building strength takes longer.--Age doesnt matter, just make sure you eat a lot of veggies,fruits, legumes, and you'll build strength in no time.
Weaponry?--Clipless pedal set up along with some bullhorns. having a pursuit frame with a short wheelbase helps me climb.
A good mind altering drug so you don't realise how daft you are?smoking Marijuana before and after helps you climb faster and recover faster also

My techniques: Find a good breathing pattern that works and don't let your mind wander. Be mentally prepared and keep in mind that the hill will even out eventually.

Drink before you need to drink, eat sugar when you're feeling like you're going to bonk.

It's all mental, really.

I find that this actually helps me climb hills. If I can pretty much space out during a climb it effectively bypasses any of the psychological difficulties.

Mental trick: Imagine there is a rope going up the hill and that you are pulling yourself up it.

There has been a few mentions of "pulling on the handlebars". Unless you're sprinting, or really attacking, you shouldn't need to do that. Go to about 1:50 in that video and watch Contador in his high-cadence climbing pace. You can see how relaxed his grip is on the bars, and he's pushing down as much as he's pulling up. If you feel the need to pull up on the handlebars to off-set your down pressure on the pedals, that means you're not using your rear leg effectively enough.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but I often climb out of the saddle (on longer climbs) to give my quads a break. Really concentrating on pulling my rear leg up from the hip, using the psoas and glutes, then engaging the hamstrings in the top half of the pull, allows me to do nothing but stand on my front leg (no extra push necessary). Doing this for 10 or 15 revolutions can give the quads a little reprieve while the load gets distributed elsewhere, so that they're more fresh when I sit back in the saddle to continue grinding away.

The fastest way up a climb is to use every muscle group on ever revolution. But that's also the fastest way to overcook.

You'll know you're doing it right when you can rest your hands on top of the bars with only a light grip (for side-to-side stability), and you aren't bobbing up and down all over the place.

To add to what dsh said, one thing I've been doing lately doing a lot more climbing out the saddle so that I can figure out how to do without my heart rate skyrocketing.

If I'm going up a large hill, I will always try and attack it as hard as I can before I get to it, build momentum. This is out of the saddle, usually leaning forward on my horns or down in the drops. Once I get onto the hill I just try my best to maintain my cadence. The more I think about this the easier the hill is. I've done some pretty steep hills this way, and the method seems to work.

yeah i usually increase speed just before a hill and keep going strong. my town is in a valley so nothing too major for in city riding but when i bike to vancouver or to work i have lots of hills to deal with the larger is definitely at 10% and runs for about 300 meters in saying that their is a much larger one that leads into it usually if i time the light at the bottom of the two i can just sling into it and keep on hauling. clipless makes a world of difference i always wondered what the hell was going on down there and why i didn't have any power or so it seemed. leather, metal, nylon, plastic cages what have you all give a little when you pull up and clipping out on a hill is not scary really unless you don't have 2 sided pedals i suppose it would be pretty scary with those little nubs.

Has anyone suggested a bigger cog********************?

You've been making the climb harder than it needs to be. Get yourself a 19 or 20 or 21t cog and make the climb easier.

Who cares if keeping up your spin on the way down is the hard part ... you're going down, how hard could it be.

T

The OP does not seem completely oblivious... I'm sure he is well aware that a lower gearing will make climbing easier.

This^ minus the last part regarding cannabis... drops are also good bars to tackle hills with; make sure you go down into them when you approach a hill.

Lifting weights will help you gain strench you can't get from cycling.

I dunno, I've amassed some pretty impressive stench from cycling alone. Ever smelled a pair of cycling gloves after a long, unwashed summer?

You're smelling the wrong places; sniff a chamois post ride bro.