YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I TOTALLY relate. I am not a great climber and when I first started, it was a huge thing for me to pass anyone ever. I still don't consider myself a great climber, but I have come a long, long way (and you will too). It's all relative to who you are riding with, though. Now that I have gotten my own speed up, I tend to ride with faster people who I can stay with on the flat, but I'm one of the last, if not the last, to the top of the climb. However, in relation to the over all world of cyclists, I have found out that I am a faster climber than a LOT of them (after 4 1/2 years of riding). When I used to do organized events, I'd never pass anyone on a climb. I just did the Solvang Half Century with two friends. We left a little late and rode in a pace line all day. We literally passed people all day long. I was passed ONE time on a climb and later passed her. The three of us together got passed once by a tandem and shortly after passed them ... on a climb none the less. Most every time we got to a climb, I would lose my two friends, who would wait for me at the top ... yet I was still passing everyone else on that climb.

I say all that to encourage you ... keep it up and you will be passing people left and right!!!

My favorite climbing story I like to share is when I was doing a long hard climbing ride up a mountain rode with a group. Well, I wasn't really WITH the group, of course, once the climb started. There were a lot of other riders out and I found myself passing several of them. Once when I was passing a guy and a girl, I heard the girl saying to the guy, "How do you GO that fast?!"

She has no idea how I am still to this day reveling in the glory of that quote!