Now got the definitions and after a long ride I get enough relief at having stopped riding so a masseus would be superfluous.

On those rings. I normally ride a 50/34 compact. That will get me up all the hills in my area. OK they are not high with a max climb of 600ft but they vary from a long drag at 5% and a short sharp nasty at 16%. I have a rear cassette of 27 so my lowest gear is 34/27. I found out a couple of years ago up Ventoux that I needed a lower gearing of 30/28 and as I grow older- I might need lower still. But on 10 speed that is not possible (I know about the IRC 11/34 cassette but that is not a good cassette). I was thinking of converting one of the bikes to 9 speed so I could get 34/34 but 9 speed brifters are now impossible to get unless you go Tiagra and I do not want to do that.

So to get that lower gear- I went triple. 30/27 will be a good gearing for the severe hills and will be suitable for a good few years. BUT there are triples and triples. The OCR has a triple with 52/42/30 gears. This one is 50/39/30. The 50 is better and I use it. The 30 is the same on both and on the OCR I used that. It is that middle ring that made the difference. The middle 42t is not low enough for the slopes round here so every time the road went upwards- I was using granny. With the 39 I found I was able to get up most of the hills in the middle ring. Those 3t difference make a heck of a difference. In fact I only used granny twice. Once to recover after a steep bit I did in middle. amd one where with the compact double I would be out of the saddle and working hard.

As I found yesterday- There is not much difference on the gears I used between the compact and the triple. But the thought at the back of my mind was that IF the hill was steeper- Or if there was a strong headwind- Or if it was at the wrong end of a long ride---I would be glad about those lower gears that the triple would give me.