Well, the commute hill this morning seemed to go better than normal! Maybe I'm just wishing it so or maybe it actually was? Either way I'm happy

Dropped a gear (to the middle ring on my bike), psyched myself up, and went for it. Today I had a "rabbit" and my goal was to keep up with him, and it worked! Granted he wasn't a cyclist, but he seemed in fairly good shape and wasn't on a huffy BSO (bike shaped object) so I'm happy.

I've been attempting to relax my upper body which is very good advice (thanks for the reminder) ; I just need to get better at it. My shoulders always tense and hurt going up the hill on my commute; I think that's a function of my pack. On actual rides my goal is to get rid of the "lance hump" I've discovered I have which is actually closing my diaphragm off to some extent. New bike might help with that since it's a hair longer as will ditching my camelbak for some bottle cages (I am a mtn biker after all)