I second what oak leaf says about hills and shifting down and tend to think that the only way to ride hills is to ride hills until you get an automatic feel for when and how far down you should shift.

Regarding double sided pedals- Personally I love them, but then I am a distance endurance rider ratherr than a speed rider and when you are doing day after day of 80-100 miles, it's nice to have the option of moving my feet around and finding different pressure points. I don't know if that is the same for MTB clips however as opposed to SPD clips so that might be factor for choosing or not choosing double sided pedals.

marni