Hey, Torrilin, take a weekend to the Dodgeville/Bluemound area....Wisconsin ain't flat all over

But, this is dolcerider's thread....everyone seems to have covered the basics, I'd iterate the usual "oh, but be careful of mashing". I'm a spinner on the flats so I find I rarely go into my large chain ring. I can ride almost the full cassette in the back without chain rub, so my large chain ring gets lonely from dis-use.

Mashing, pushing bigger gears with a low cadence, will place more stress on your knees, and, as I've discovered, your achilles tendon. Like Torrilin, I will often ride a bigger gear than I should on small inclines to give the illusion of a steeper hill, but whenever I do, I am constantly paying attention to form and ready to drop gears if the stress gets too much.