Originally Posted by ScottCommutes

Let's say that you are rolling down a small hill to the bottom and then climbing out the other side. And let's say that at the bottom you are in your highest gear, but climbing back up you will need your lowest gear.

Because it all happens so fast, you don't use every possible gear. You're going to do every click on the rear shifter and only make the two shifts on the front. The question is when to make them.

Here's the same idea with nomenclature:

My bike has:

11,12,13,14,15,16,17
21,22,23,24,25,26,27
31,32,33,34,35,36,37

Do I go through
37,36,35,25,24,23,13,12,11
or
37,36,26,25,24,23,22,12,11
or
37,27,26,25,24,23,22,21,11
or something else?
I'd like to have this particular highest to lowest shifting pattern pretty well practiced and memorized because it is a fundamental part of riding the bike that I don't want to think about too much in traffic.