Any tips on mountain bike uphill climbing?

[anderzoho]

I recently purchased a Felt Trail Niner, I am new about this but there nothing more that I want to do as a hobby. The problem is that I don't have that much muscle on my legs, I'm 5'10" 145 lbs 20 years old and I'm having great difficulty climbing hills. It even forces me to halt sometimes. Please don't tell me I need to build muscle, I am going to the gym and am slowly climbing steeper hills. What I am really asking is, what gear should I have it on (front and back) if I have weak and mildy skinny legs? Thanks for any feedback

[katew]

If you figure it out, will you promise to let me know?

<ices new crop of bruises>

[DavidB]

Since we're primarily a road cycling club, this may not be the best place to ask, since the vast majority of our members will go out of their way to avoid going over gravel. That said, a really good place to learn would be http://forums.mtbr.com/forum.php. In Victoria, Simbs operates Hartland Mountain Bike Park, and do a regularly scheduled beginners ride.

Your username is suitably androgynous, so I'm going to chance that you may want to check out Dirty Girlz, who are a womens-specific MTB club, also based here, who run a very good beginners clinic.