Anyone got some tips on how to build the muscle/skills to be able to better handle long uphills, or short very steep hills (other than practice, practice, practice)? Are there particular exercises I could/should be doing when not on the bike that might help when I'm on the bike? I'm about to move from a relatively flat area to the top of a hill. There's only two roads in/out of the neighborhood -- one is a 500-foot hill that's less than .25 mile in length, the other is the same gain over 2 miles. I can do the two-mile route without too much trouble but it's unfortunately the WRONG side of the hill (opposite direction) for errands. So if I want to use the bike instead of the car, I have to conquer the steep monster.

Any suggestions?

Cindi