Just wanted to talk a little bit about how to improve your climbing. The common problem I see, especially here in birmingham (where the hills are short and steep) is that everyone works on anaerobic efforts. That means going really hard for short periods of time. And if the hill is a little too long, they will pop and assume that they are bad climbers. All this means is that your anaerobic capacity can't get you all the way up the hill. Climbing is supposed to be aerobic (under threshold). This is why most climbers cant sprint, and most sprinters cant climb. It is not all about strength to weight ratio (although it plays a big role). This is why most sprinters in the Tour can't make it throught the mountains. Big or small, The guys in the Tour that can climb, can also time trial (lance, contador, Indurance, Ulrich). Sustained efforts under threshold is the key. First of all you have to find your threshold. Then you have to structure your workouts to raise it your threshold. Once you have realized this, you will begin to climb better, time trial better, recover faster, and save tons of anaerobic energy throughout the rides or races, so when the time comes, you can unleash that mean sprint of yours! Hope this helps. Please leave comments or questions.