Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 4,094
Likes: 2
From: Bozeman
Bikes: 199? Landshark Roadshark, 198? Mondonico Diamond, 1987 Panasonic DX-5000, 1987 Bianchi Limited, Univega... Chrome..., 1989 Schwinn Woodlands, Motobecane USA Record, Raleigh Tokul 2
Seriously, you're blowing this out of proportion.
On my 3x9 commuter (overkill, I know) I stick in the middle chainring most of the time, and do the majority of shifting in the back. If I'm flying down a hill I'll kick it up a chainring.
I rarely use the small chainring.
You can definitely use more than 4 gears when you're in the middle chainring. At LEAST 7.
If you shift like you have above, you're going to get annoyed with front shifting quickly.