Originally Posted by
67tony
This guy is 65 years old, rides some hills but no major hills, and would never be loaded.
You haven't said how fit he is, and different people might have different understanding of "major" in major hills.
I have a bike with 43+27 chainwheels and 11-to-32 cassette. It gets me up slopes of 18% --and, far more importantly, long slopes of 10% -- and I can go about as fast as I want when going some distance in a straight line slightly downhill. Occasionally I wish that my top gear were higher, but only occasionally. (More often I'm happy to freewheel.) This double is a bit less finicky than the triple I have on another bike.
But of course I am not your acquaintance.