Quote Originally Posted by KnottedYet View Post
My shortcut: I sort of think of myself as having 3 gears; corresponding to the 3 chainrings up front. Uphill, flatish, downhill/fast. Then I use the cogs in the rear to fine-tune my "three" speeds.

It's not perfect, and not entirely accurate, but it gets the job done!
I think that's actually a good way to conceptualize the chainrings, Knot. Beyond your classifications, I've come to think of the two rings on my compact as the small ring being my "easy" range of gears, and the big ring as "The gears that will make me stronger" (someday ).