THANK YOU ALL for the physics explanations. I'll review them tonight, but it sounds like I should no longer kick myself for using lower gears and try to work on increasing cadence rather than using the higher gears. From what I gathered, while trying to multitask, if there are 2 gears with about the same GI [gear inches], you should pick the one with the lower chainring as you will get more speed for the power you generate.