Quote Originally Posted by DarcyInOregon View Post
If you get enough speed, even if the grade is 15-18%, you can reach the top and still not be in your lowest gears, and your speed might not drop below 12 mph.... If the hill is about a half mile high, you can still make it half way or more to the top before the speed really starts to drop.

Me, not so much. Don't want to be discouraging, but if anything I'm over-bold on the descents. As a motorcyclist, I'm not in the least intimidated by 45 mph on the bici - that's about as fast as I get around here, given the size of myself and my local hills.

I'm slow now, but as an ex-racer, I consider myself very good at maintaining cadence and nailing shift points. But if I'm saving energy for a long ride and not hammering up the hills, I'll be in my 30x27 well before I get to the top of anything 15% or more. Plus, the steepest ones are usually the tallest, too, so the laws of physics dictate you'll only get so much benefit from the hills that lead up to it.

Catrin, it's just a matter of practice. IMO it's really too early to for you be stressing about a lot of this stuff. Get comfortable maintaining cadence and shifting smoothly in the flats and smaller hills. Get used to accelerating from a stop. The hills will come when you're ready for them.