On Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 8:49:43 PM UTC-5, Frank Krygowski wrote:
Snipped

For me, it depends on the ride. If I'm just doing a normal recreational
day ride, I'm fine with attacking a hill, i.e. going hard to get up it.
But if I'm doing an unusually long ride or doing a multi-day ride, my
priority is to make it easy on myself. I downshift at the first
indication of increased effort.

--
- Frank Krygowski

I used to ride with a friend a lot before I moved away from that city. He used to downshift to his lowest gear at the start of every steep hill. I'd wait for him at the top.

Hereabouts I often see bicyclists walking up a hill. When I ask them if they had a breakdown or flat they reply that the hill is too steep for them to ride. I look at their bicycle and 99% of the time the bike is in the highest gear or at least on the big chainring of a triple. I usually tell them how to use the gears simply = big ring for downhill and tailwinds, middle gear for the flats and the small ring for the hills. BTW, those riders are usually on BSOs.

Cheers