Don't get me wrong -- I am happy for and do use my granny gear on steeper climbs. But there are some hills around here that are either short, and I can power over pretty quickly if I just stand; or long and slow, but not too steep, where I just don't want to have to shift up twice in back to get to where I can shift to my granny. I'm stubborn that way.

My MTB, which I also do urban rides on often around here, is obviously geared much lower, so staying in the middle ring most of the time is not even an issue. But on my roadie, I do have to work a bit harder to stay there.