Bob Ross

I would disagree; ime success (or gratification) is more easily achieved if you find a rhythm you can keep up for the entire climb...which is sort of like saying "find a cadence you can keep up for the entire climb" only it's not so dogmatic.

Going into the bottom of the hill too hot'n'hard is a recipe for failure...but so is going into the bottom of the hill too easy. Go into the bottom with modest effort and as much momentum as you can muster, and then as soon as you feel the tension in your quads start to increase, drop down one cog in the back. Keep calm and carry on, until you once again feel the tension in your quads start to increase -- and this could be 45 seconds after you last downshifted, or it could be 3 seconds later, doesn't matter -- drop down one more cog in the back. Keep this up, where you use your gearing to try and maintain the same perceived effort in your legs. Your cadence will stay more or less the same, but I don't advocate getting too hung up on cadence, it's more about getting your body into a groove that just feels like you could dance all night. Or at least until the top of this hypothetical one mile climb.

What useually winds up happening when I take hills this way is A) by the time I'm 75-80% of the way to the top I realize "Jeez, I've got a lot left in the tank!" and I can pop out of the saddle and sprint the rest of the way to the top (if that's my goal) ...but also B) I've passed all those other cyclists who went hard into the bottom of the hill long before I even get to that 75-80% of the way to the top point.