When I first got into road riding, my low gear was either 39X23, or 42X23, I don't remember. I remember it being sufficient, although on a few occasions, I wouldn't have minded a lower gear. Every ride had lots of extended climbing, and then gnarly descents.

Getting back into the sport, my low is 34X30. There aren't many long climbs near where I live. Instead, there are lots of short and moderate hills, and rollers. 34X30 is more than sufficient. I am often surprised by how slowly I am grinding up a hill even in 34X21 or 34X24. Around where I live, a 25 would probably, and certainly a 27 or 28 would be sufficient.

I have never touched the 50X12. There aren't many "descents" around here.

Even though the gear range is more than sufficient, both high and low, I still have the feeling that "something isn't right" with compact gearing. On flats, neither the 34 nor 50 seems optimal. In the 50, I'm often using the bottom half of the cassette with larger gaps between gears. That makes it more difficult to find the "optimal" gear. However, in the 34, I use the upper end of the cassette with smaller jumps. However, it's easier to run out of gears with the slightest tailwind or on false flat 'descents.'

Both rings work reasonably well, but in a quirky, non optimal way. I guess I just don't like shifting the front very often. The shifting works well, but I just don't like doing it that often.

I just might welcome a 1X. A 1x13 might be cool...

42 x 10 11 12 13 14 16 18 20 22 24 28 33 38

40 x 10 11 12 13 14 16 18 20 22 24 27 31 36