I know what you mean - I remember finding that same issue when we toured the low lands, and when riding rail trails in Oz.
It seems like a great idea having a nice cruise on modest gradients, but after a while your legs start begging for some variety. 
I was thinking about this as we rode up a long climb in Japan today.
Standing to climb when riding a bike loaded up with panniers is a bit more challenging than on an unladen bike.
Touring with a weaker rider has its own challenges, when we are aiming to remain in sight of eachother.
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“I live in a flat part of the UK…”
^ I didn’t know there was one! Certainly not anywhere I’ve been in the west, north or southeast where 20+% is depressingly common.. Norfolk maybe?
I’m from England so a slightly different category of climbing than a lot of posts here. Although I have ridden in France, and I enjoy climbing for the same reasons there too. I often measure the success of a route by how many ‘Unsuitable for HGVs’ signs I pass as I explore random lanes around the south east. Which means the climbing is shorter but nearly always unexpected, there’s no real indication where your climb stops, whether the short rise is just that, or just a precursor to a longer climb, whether this dip means we’re near the top or the climb continues to rise out of sight ahead
You fly down a dip and power up a quick rise only to realise that this is nowhere near the top
Or you modulate your effort to cater for steeper pinch only to find you’re heading back down again straight away
Somehow experiences on the climbs stay with you:
One of my favourite moments comes from cresting the top of a, this time fairly familiar, single track lane. Turning - out of breath - into a flood of early morning sunlight glistening and glostening through the trees, serenaded by the dawn chorus as I get my breath back and mentally prepare for the next kick
Or arriving above the tree line at Ventoux, seeing the view for the first time and realising this is why you’re here, and that you have such an uncontrollable grin on your face
No amount of flat gives these enduring experiences
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Ha, no, but Bicester north of Oxford (and only known for a designer outlet). I can get into the Chilterns, Cotswolds etc on a ride to get some climbing in, but most Hill Climb events are a 2hr drive away in any direction.
Luckily I met my partner through cycling so we have a common passion, I’m very fortunate to be able to spend our vacations seeking out cool riding in big mountains (we even raced Haute Route Ventoux in the pairs category 
).
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Climbing Arquette d’Ancizan in the Pyrenees, the tunnel of trees stops lining the road just as you crest and burst out into an absolutely picture perfect valley that fills your whole field of view. Despite being over threshold (this was another Haute Route event) it gave me goosebumps.
Didn’t truly know what climbing was till I moved to Colorado. There, everything you described in your list applied. 
Regarding gearing, I installed lower gearing as it allowed me to comfortably match the slower pace of my friends. I feel there can be lots of camaraderie in cycling and I love a good social ride.
Keep climbing, my friend!!
I live in Colorado and am a mountain biker. I love to climb which is fortunate as you have to climb steep to enjoy the ride back down. I may not enjoy it in the actual moment but for sure it is a big part of the enjoyment of the ride. I love the focus and challenge. It’s why I do not love road cycling at least as much- why be around cars, flat pavement with no technical challenges (needing to adjust the bike and body position for traction and clearing features) and just pure power application. Ironically, one would think I would like that best as a former long time competitive heavyweight rower and sculler. And my mountain bike gearing is a 30 or 32 chain ring and a 10-52 cassette.
I’ve never been a great climber, now with age and some weight I keep getting worse. Still I enjoy it. Cycling is my meditation and never more so than while climbing. It’s easy to be distracted by speed, distance, power…but on a long climb there’s nothing but “keep going”.
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A lot of it just comes down to whether people enjoy the sensations of slow bikes versus fast bikes I think. Most cyclists seem to enjoy riding in the “fast” regime by default, as the bike tends to be stabler and more forgiving.
Even when gearing is low and fitness is high, there comes a point as the road steepness where speeds fall and the sensations change. This is where Climbing begins, and even if that happens at a different gradient for you than it does for me, that point exists for everyone. At these speeds, the dead spot becomes noticeable each pedal stroke, the bike gets twitchy, you have to negotiate with the road texture, and every little acceleration, falter of power, or pitch change in the road can demand a gearshift or push you out of your ideal cadence range. It’s a much more active experience that demands more attentiveness and interaction from the rider. If you don’t want to engage with the bikeriding of it all, climbing feels punishing and annoying, but choosing to lean in to the experience makes riding feel more interesting.
I currently live in a 150 foot-per-mile kind of place, but I’ve previously lived and ridden thousands of miles in a miles-per-foot place. I’ve learned to love both climbing and riding on the flats but they are very different experiences for me. Climbing makes the bikeriding much more engaging but it also demands that attention, sometimes to the detriment of other aims I might have for an outing. Flats let me focus on something else, whether that’s exercise, introspection, socializing, or just listening to a podcast.
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Love climbing, 7-13 miles 2-4000’ (3-6000m?) up fire road or non-chunky single-track, a mental battle for the physical & review of the self dialog, then the rip downhill, southern California terrain so dry & sketchy, old person perspective
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I once climbed Ventoux with 39-23 gearing. That was not fun! In part because I had to haul myself up all the way. Mostly because up to the chalet there are no views and past the chalet I could see maybe 100 metres due to thick fog. There simply wasn’t anything to enjoy.
An hour earlier, I was climbing the Gorges de la Nesque. Great views and gradients around 4-5%. That is, up to date, one of the best moments I’ve had on a bike.
I love climbing. And I love the fact that modern gearing has made many climbs much more accessible (although back then triples existed, I just didn’t liked the way they looked 
). If I could I’d climb all day, every day. Sadly near home we only have short, steep hills.
On a side note: when riding without a head unit how do you navigate? I’d love to get rid of tech myself but hang on for navigation duties.
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Low-tech navigation: Before a ride, I used to pull up a map and write out turn-by-turn instructions on one or more 3x5" cards. I had a simple homemade clear plastic holder on the handlebar. I did this because I didn’t like the idea of staring at a computer when I wanted to enjoy being outside. I’d also have a paper map in a sweatproof bag in my jersey pocket.
What eventually changed my mind was the number of unmarked intersections I found while on back roads. I found I was pulling out my phone to check the map, so I wasn’t escaping tech – just making it less convenient.
I enjoy the trance like effect of a long steady climb and the locomotion mindset that provides both motivation and reward.
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I spent 3 months this year on a sabbatical from work bikepacking from Porto to Munich (87 days riding and 6 rest days), purposefully packing in all the mountains I could. 9,200km and 203,874m of climbing. I think that means I must like climbing.
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Hi Peter,
Regarding high gearing, I was just talking about this with a friend yesterday. Almost all my riding involves mountains, and I own a couple of vintage downtube shifting bikes with gear ranges like 52/42x13-24 or 14/26. I told him I save those bikes for days when I’m tired, want to do a long ride, and am in a hurry. They compel me to finish quickly, or topple over on the climbs.
Regarding getting rid of tech and still navigating: On most of my rides, I know where I’m going. On rides where there is a predetermined route that I’m unfamiliar with, I’ll use my Garmin Edge Explore. I’ll load the route to the point where it navigates, but I won’t hit ‘start’ to record the actual ride, and I keep the unit on the map screen, or a screen that just shows ‘distance to next turn’. Since I don’t use tech for any other rides, I don’t have the habit of looking down at my computer every three seconds like one of those toy birds that dips its beak in and out of water. When I hear the device beep for an upcoming turn, I’ll look down to see what direction to turn, and that’s it.
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I think there are degrees of escaping tech. Using a device for mapping every now and then is a lot less intrusive to the pure act of riding a bicycle than, say, squinting at a screen with 8 data fields on it in order to closely monitor one’s speed, average speed, distance, power, cadence, heart rate, climb gradient, climb remaining, and whatever else the kids these days find so much more fascinating to observe than the actual world they’re riding through (including traffic, potholes, debris, dead animals, stopped cars, the side of the road, etc).
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