I do most of my riding on my old touring bike. It usually has an 11-28 or 12-27 with a 48-34-26. For decades I ran the same bike with a 12-24 7-speed freewheel and 48-45-24 chainrings over every terrain at pretty fair speeds. The cat1 and 2 folks I trained with always looked askance at my triple, but since none of them could ever ride away from me they learned to accept it in the peloton. I carry a bigger weight penalty on my engine than that little chainring.

Spinning up the hills is a great way to save the legs. If you can get the triple working on your bike, that seems like the way to go to me.