saden

I'm a new SV rider and I'm having trouble shifting up and down on a hilly environment. My neighborhood is quite hilly and has lots of stop signs so I find myself in a number of stop-and-go situations. I'm also having some trouble with quick take off as well.

Can you guys give me some pointers on what to do when dealing with hills and how to get going in a reasonable time ins stop-and-go situations? I'd also love to hear your thoughts on shifting in general. I'm currently doing the following and I'm afraid with my current skills I'm not ready for the highway.

Going up hill:
1. Use the back break to slow down before reaching to of the hill.
2. Pull the clutch in and down-**** to 1st gear before reaching the top of the hill.
3. Come to a complete stop using the back breaks.
4. When it's my turn to go I give it some gas and then start shifting to 2nd gear and then finally 3rd. Of course the whole process to get going is insanely slow for me (~4-5 seconds) and cars are right on my tail.

Going down a hill.
1. I'm completely at reset and in 1st gear before descending down hill.
2. I pull the clutch in and let gravity do its thing.
3. I slow down as I am going down and change to second gear.
4. Finally I change to 3rd gear.
5. 10 seconds later I have to completely stop and do the whole thing again.