Quote Originally Posted by latelatebloomer
What a good thread for me to read this morning. It is time for me to get some hill smarts. I had to stop mid-way on the first hill on our club ride last night, and it completely deflated my attitude for a while. The good part of the ride was that a large and powerful mtb biker rode with me and coached me before the hills. One problem was that the ride leader had previously told us to avoid the granny gear. The mtnbiker said, you paid for it, use it for now.
There are times mtnbiking that staying in the middle gear maintains momentum and gives you the traction necessary for short steep or technical stuff; a granny makes you spin too fast and you loose the critical speed.

HOWEVER, you must have the power to use that gear and knees that won't be damaged by it. An ex-pro mtb racer friend of mine who coached on the side, said "They wouldn't have invented gears if they weren't meant to be used." Try to do what the more skilled riders do and you'll clean some stuff you wouldn't have on your own, but take care of your knees first.