Sorry I didn't read the other responses so this may have already been said but here goes anyhow. Find your ideal gear first, not too high not too low for me personally this is on the real ring not the granny.. and usually very near the higher end, even though I'd prefer the highest I leave myself two gears to go up for speed, and that leaves me something like 7 lower gears for dealing with hills, if I really feel like it I don't even down shift the rear and go into granny if I feel REALLY lazy about a hill. I'm just saying find an ideal gear, and make sure you have range around for hills or hauling ass it's a very simple concept