[QUOTE=alpinerabbit]Actually when I stand up on a hill, I find it is more satisfying to even shift one gear up right before getting out of the saddle to avoid this nasty "bottomless spinning" feeling - of course for those killer hills, the smallest gear and standig is in order but I am out of the saddle before that.

Aha! I remember standing up hills as a kid, back in my ol' 1-speed days, and now I can't seem to get it to work for me. Too little resistance, too high a ... is it called cadence? So maybe gearing up is the answer. Thanks for the tip! I'll try it, weather permitting, on Sunday.