Quote Originally Posted by Velocivixen View Post
I rode to the Oregon Zoo the other day and there is one .2 mile VERY steep hill that I go up and as I was at the mid point, huffing and puffing (as well as smiling) a female pedestrian said, "Keep going. You can do it!" and that made me feel great! I replied "Thanks" and it made me feel like I could continue on.
I guess hills are partly mental and partly physical. I think they require practice.
The second real hill I climbed was a TERRIBLE street in Carmel, CA. I had only been riding for a month. So on this hill, I was dying; I kept stopping and was almost in tears (at the end, I was pretty much crying and my boyfriend said "That's a really hard hill for even an experienced cyclist, honey"). Well, at one of my stops where I was panting and saying "I don't think I can do this," this random guy walking down the street said, "You go girl! You can do it!" And that totally made my day and I climbed the rest of the hill (before almost puking on my boyfriend).