I will trust you. I will do the damn hills repeatedly.

The one really really bad hill we did this weekend (something referred to as "the animals" in Fremont) kicked my butt so bad that I was in granny gear about 100 ft from the top of a 2.6 mile climb, and my legs just gave out. I was afraid I was going to fall over, so I stopped. I've never stopped on a hill before. It really pissed me off because I was soooo close, but I just could not safely do it.

Given, I'm 75 lbs overweight, ride a clunky hybrid, and have a still-healing bone bruise in my knee, so I'm cutting myself some slack. But I figure if I practice, lose even 20 lbs and get a road bike, I'll be flying up the hills. How's that for optimism?