I find "known" hills much easier to manage than "new" ones, which means, I guess, that a lot of hill climbing is in my head rather than in my legs.
I'm surprised at this comment, 'cos I prefer it t'other way round.
Whilst cycling in Yorkshire at the weekend, I was actually glad that I wasn't aware of what hills I'd be climbing.
To give an analogy, running my 1st marathon was easier mentally, than subsequent ones; 'cos I was running in ignorance of the pain that I'd be in. In the following marathons, I
knew that I'd expect to suffer from 20 miles onwards.