No advice about the pedals or the hills, but I know something about bifocals.

You'll get used to them. It took me two weeks not to feel like the ground was coming up to meet me, fast. That first time on the bike--scary. Then I just kind of adjusted.

I started wearing them 2 years ago, but I couldn't handle the changing glasses all the time in the sun--they were just a pain altogether, especially since I'd never worn glasses until then. So last August I switched to monovision contacts. (One eye for reading, one eye for distance.) That, too, took adjustment, and it's not an ideal solution, but it's the best compromise I can come up with to avoid having reading glasses around my neck all the time, or wearing glasses nonstop.

The adjustment to bifocals was permanent. On days that I don't wear my contacts, I put on the glasses and don't even notice the difference.

Karen