My recent commuting to work going up the hill is much easier than before, i just did a small hack mods to my road bike SHIMANO 105 R7000 11 speed IMG 20200103 174243groupset by changing stock 11-32t casette to big 11-40t mountain bike SHIMANO SLX casette with 'Wolftooth RoadLink' rear mech extension piece to clear the gap and it works!...well it takes lots of tuning and the right chain length to make a perfect shifting. It works nicely with compact 50-34t crankset. However your rear derailure should have long cage to support big changes to the chain shifting movement on the casette during shifting. What was once most agonizing moment huge pedalling on big steep hills during commute in the past now become more enjoyable and less strain on my leg muscles....i did sleep well at night IMG 20200103 174358and ready to commute to work next day. Now i've extended my 10 year old road bike's life to extra usable years. Glad i don't have to splurge money on new gravel type bicycle and stay frugal with simple modification. If you have hill problem just do this simple upgrades to your road bike by using components from mountain bike hardware.