I learned on my trip to Austria this summer that i have never really been up a mountain before... I climbed 3 "hills" with 12-15% grades. One seemed long, but it was probably a mile. The others were shorter. At one point, I was going 3-4 km/per hr... on all of them. I didn't care. I cared that I got up them, didn't have to stop or be picked up by the support van!