Gents, as a former Category 1 rider, I want to caution you all NOT to pull bigger gears, especially on those hills-spin, spin, spin, and your knee problems won't develop. Another thing to consider is using some form of toe clips to keep your feet in the pedal-gives you considerably more power, especially on the hills. It also makes it more difficult to get the feet out quickly if needed, and shoes are always an issue-they're all low-topped shoes. it takes some time to get used to riding with locked-in feet!
I ride a fully-suspended Felt Virtue Three, with hydraulic disk brakes, which comes in really handy. A bunch of us used to ride up a closed forest road (closed for motors)up to the wilderness boundary, stash the bikes, and hike in to work over the trout. Every time I'd hit the road back, which was 5.5 miles of downhill, I'd have one spot where I was moving about 35-40mph. There's a bunch of rock maples at the bottom of this one straight stretch with a little right-hand turn, and out pops a doe about 30 yards from me with the "gotcha" expression on her face!!! Talk about locking up the brakes