"Cycling": A Novel by Greg Garrett - weird terminology

of course it;s not primarily about cycling.
but the author claims to be a regular cyclist.

and the main character rides by default kind of.
his life is kind of going nowhere, after a
good start, he is stalled out as a writer, can't
get started on his 2nd book.

his relationships seem to amble indifferently.

the one constant thing he seems to do is bicycle.

he rides a mountain bike, 30-40 miles a day even in west
texas summers, even though by page 50 or so, he hasn't
once gotten off the road.

my technical question is terminology related.

the author has twice now referred to shifting to "higher and higher gears"
when going up hills.

obviously he means what i would call "lower gears" - easier to
pedal.

is there any way that his usage can be the right?

i mean, is there any place in the world where they reverse the normal
usage?

anyway, it is a pretty good book, but i wondered about this..

wle.