Originally Posted by stapfam
I ride with a group of others and one of the things we hear from new riders is "What gear are you in". The stock answer is "The one we are comfortable with"
Too true. I had a riding buddy ask me if I was on a single speed, because he hadn't seen me shift for a while and we were going over rolling terrain. If I'm comfortable, I'll probably be lazy as well, and not bother to shift. That may explain why I own two singlespeeds as well.
At the same time, my wife used to forget to shift before getting onto a climb. She would always wait until she had come to a virtual stop, then try and go from the big ring to the granny in one shot.
I suggested [from a safe distance] that she shift earlier.