I did a 22 mile ride yesterday while pulling my son in a trailer. We were off-road for about 11 of those miles, and 4.5 of those were in water and mud in the swamp. I promise you that I made judicial use of the 8-speeds that I had at my disposal. There was no way that any single gear would have allowed me to pull a trailer through mud and also cruise along the ocean front at a decent pace.