Originally Posted by Digitalfiend

I went the opposite way. I had a compact for about 3 years and we have virtually no flat roads where I live; every route around here has steep rollers or long moderate climbs. I found the compact to be really annoying as I was always shifting due to the constantly changing terrain, worst of it being at the front which typically required a 2-3 shuffle at the back. Since moving to a standard, I've gained a bit of speed, my cadence is more consistent, and I'm shifting a lot less.