Well, I wasn't trying to define optimum. "Goal was to shift from the smallest gear ratio to largest with the most even steps and in a way that was simple and avoided high-loss combinations."

Don't think conditions will affect much either way, and unless you want to add more complication to the progression, this should help with exertion if anything.

Still, when choosing between 50/34 and 30/20 which have only a .03 difference in ratio, the decision is pretty clear to me. I'd even go so far as to say optimal, regardless of conditions, exertion, etc. Maybe if you broke one of your arms, although with that choice I'd still probably just lean over and shift carefully