Originally Posted by
AlexCyclistRoch
Or, you might like to try a 'split shift" setup, where you just buy a smaller front chainring only 4 teeth smaller than your large ring, and keep your wider-range rear freewheel. This will allow you to 'split' each gear with the front derailleur, giving you a lot more fine-tuning for gentle grades and headwinds.
Depending on the particular chainrings and freewheel, splitting the difference and 1.5-step shifting when necessary can also work fine.
Here's a log chart of the ratios on a 52-42 14-16-18-21-24-28, for instance:
