Tough rides and tweaked shoes

Yesterday I did a 28-mile ride, on the same route I rode Monday.  It is a very hilly route, and there is about a 3-mile stretch in the middle of the ride that seems to go uphill forever!  I routinely sink into single digits on that hill.  I also routinely swear I am giving up cycling altogether on that hill.  I intend to keep riding that route multiple times a week until I reach a level of competency on it where I don't want to cry like a baby and curse like a sailor during that 3-mile hill of torture.

The already significant torture of the hill was compounded by the fact that I have been having serious problems with my shoes.  I adjusted my cleats a little farther forward a few weeks ago, and since then they have been nothing but trouble.  After a few times of unclipping at intersections, the cleats somehow get slightly twisted, so they are at an angle, and as a result they get stuck in the pedal.  At several intersections and at the top of one particularly arduous hill I was literally stuck to my pedals.  I almost pulled a muscle trying to get my shoe out of the pedal!  It was terrifying, and I ended up riding the last 12 miles of the ride not clipped in, during the hilliest sections.  I know I screwed them up when I adjusted them, since I never had a problem before that.  Now I have to figure out how to fix them.