Compact Gear, Big ring vs Little ring

[indysteel]

First off, do whatever feels right to YOU. He's not the one riding the bike.

I'd say he's never ridden a compact crankset. On my compact, I'm often in the big ring, and only use the small ring when there are significant climbs. It's pretty flat where I am, and so I'm often in the big ring for the entire ride.

On my bike with a regular triple, I'm more often in the middle ring, and sometimes in the big ring.

But really, you should do whatever is best for you.

I'd echo what Tulip said. While I often used the middle ring of my triple, I'm almost always in my big ring on my compact. Even for short climbs, I don't bother to shift to the smaller ring. Putting the rings themselves aside, use whatever gear feels most comfortable to you given your preferred cadence, the terrain, wind conditions, etc. So long as you're not cross-chaining, it doesn't really matter what ring/cog combo you use to get there.

Has he said why he thinks you should always be in the little gear? If he's trying to get you to avoid cross-chaining, I can understand his point (my BF nags me because of that). Otherwise, I'd just tell him to buzz off!