There was a really steep hill on my tri course this weekend, and to be honest, I had a really, really hard time getting up it. I'm not sure if I'm doing this right, so maybe that's part of the problem.

It started with a slight downhill, so I had shifted up into a bigger gear (in back), to keep spinning and ride that momentum. As I started the climb, I stayed seated and downshifted in the rear as it got steeper, until I had no gears left. It was at this point that I didn't know whether to shift into my granny gear, or stand up. Tried standing up (after upshifting one gear). Felt WAY wobbly and like I was in too easy a gear to stand up. So I sat back down, and then shifted into the granny gear, which left me only one gear to go down in the back. Then I lost all momentum. Ugh.

I made it to the top, but barely.

Here is the hill profile (at the bottom of the course).
http://www.firm-racing.com/races/maps/danskin.jpg

Any advice for me? I've read a lot of the linked articles from these boards, but I still feel like I'm doing it all wrong on hills that are steeper, like this one. There aren't a ton of hills like that I have found on my regular routes, so while I am able to stand up and power over smaller hills, when there is a long climb, I'm kinda at a loss.

Thanks.