Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I did try a higher cadence today..so unnatural, but I will keep trying. The difficulty is that I get a great deal of satisfaction and motivation from pumping hard and feeling my legs really working. But I know it's not worth my knees, so I will keep working for higher cadence.

I do know that a lot of what I'm doing is "newbie" stuff..I hope that over time I naturally learn to stop doing some of what you folks have metioned.

Oh, and I did read all of the posts on cadence and hills.

I like the idea of continuing to ride w/guys because as I've said before, I'm competetive and that motivates me. But I also agree...I am disheartened riding with my guy and need to ride w/women a few times to get some perspective.

So it sounds like most of you agree that my issue is a lack of cardio conditioning and my "strength" being muscle? That would be why I do the low cadence and "push"?

I have been trying to do the west hills in portland during the week. It sounds like just my doing that will continue to condition me...that doing mid-week rides is a good idea.

And for the record, I actually don't hate hills. I'm just frustrated/embarrassed by how difficult I find them. And yes, blasting out and riding fast on a flat out IS way more fun, but the hills are satisfying. Particularly when I notice the next time out that they are just a tiny bit easier.