Cycling in a Hilly City. The bitter truth.

Many advocates of cycling as an alternative method of travel that needs to become the first choice for mobility in our overcrowded spaces live in pretty flat places or have an above average fitness level compared to many of the UK's drive through specialists.
having just spent an enjoyable week in Amsterdam marvelling at the flocks of interweaving cyclists and drooling over rare bike porn chained to rusty railings i couldn't help but notice even old, unfit, drunk, mini skirt wearing, stiletto clad, post delivering, skint even one legged citizens have a sweat free and cheap time using cycles as part of their daily lives.
Anybody who lives in Sheffield which is currently in the throws of upgrading the cycling infrastructure with new lanes and cycle gates to try and get the (i'd say about 0.001% or less!) of the population to go chain driven. The problem is Sheffield is built on several hills with nearly every route requiring a granny gear, coupled with a population bio-mass and cardio thats more attack than charge , car drivers who have unlike London and other flatter hubs absolutely zero experience of living with cyclists on their commute, its not looking good.
Of course theirs electric assists but are they really the simple, healthy choice. Also if you lock one up in our city centre, good luck to it being there a few minutes later.
Im a little down about my cities prospects.

I think you'd be surprised, with Sheffield having such a large student population, particularly focussed in the centre, a significant proportion of the local population are perfectly capable of pootling up an incline without breaking out the lycra..

That, and don't underestimate the massive rise of electric bikes and scooters, theres going to be huge change in local transport in the next few years because of little electric motors.

Bristol is pretty hilly (probably less so than Sheffield) and every time I visit I'm struck by how many non-lycra types I see on bikes. Often on single speeds as well. So there's hope yet!

You probably wouldn't lose much time if you walked up a hill instead of riding

Absolutely this!.

Having lived in hilly areas for the last twenty or so years, I'm beginning to see a real change. Years and years of the small coterie of die-hard, all weather commuters/cyclists are now being complimented by a growing group of new/returning cyclists and road users, using hitherto unavailable e-assist technology. Had this technology not come along, and it's subsequently becoming evermore affordable and available to people, I'd wholly share your sentiments (over the years, I have done) but I think you can afford a sliver of hope to shine through.

I often saw young mums with a couple of kids and shopping heading uphill on an electrically assisted mamachari type bike in tokyo
Definitely an option if you wanna bike.

Sheffield is built on several hills

There’s a plan to try and link the valley routes together which would help no end?
Gets my and fam in Kelham all the votes

I live in Amsterdam and I can tell you the wind is absolutely stupid. It's easy to look at the amazing Dutch structure and think it's all roses, but to their credit people here stick at it in appalling weather. Cycling with your eyes closed in horizontal hail is a thing.

The problem is Sheffield is built on several hills

As a counter point, Portsmouth is pan flat, an island, a popular university, traditionally good weather and has really good connectivity of areas.

You'd think cycling would be the primary transport, but it's not. Slowly infrastructure is improving, and electric scooters are more popular (it helps Portsmouth is in the trial of hire scooters), but it's still seen as a relatively fringe way of getting around.

Case being during lockdown they closed the seafront road which dramatically saw increased cycling, scooting, rollerblading and walking. However as soon as the locals in the next road up complained about the extra Cars (ironic I know) the council buckled, and it's back to how it was.

There is also lots of sea defences being built and there was a proposal to change the seafront to cycling and walking only, but again, the car lobby saw paid to that and it's not changing.

So many missed opportunity's in a geographically perfect location.

There is a strong cycling lobby growing though, and the local labour MPs are really switched on and seem great.

Sorry, bit of a rant, bit of info.

Edit, to add positive news, I go to Oxford often and cycling there is wonderful.

Bristol and Edinburgh are both very hilly and you'll find plenty of cyclists of all kinds (and using standard and e-bikes) in both. Get the impression Bristol is probably the more cycle friendly and has a more consistently progressive approach to infrastructure. While Edinburgh has some great infrastructure, there are bits that are pretty dominated by motor vehicles and hostile to pedestrians and cyclists etc. Ultimately, I don't think hills are a barrier.