Originally Posted by
rpenmanparker
Still makes no difference. You should know you are in a high gear if you are peddling during descending and start downshifting if you have to stop at the bottom. Knowing exactly which gear combination you are in is superfluous. And yes, I ride mostly on the flats these days, but that doesn't mean I have no experience in hills.
I like to be in a certain gear combo if I'm stopped on flat ground, a different one if I am on some sort of an incline and yet another of the road happens to slope down in front of me. Short of keeping a constant tab on which gear I have shifted into, I need some visual to let me know how far from my ideal gear I am currently am. Perhaps you aren't as picky.