VegasTriker

It takes time and effort to build up endurance on your recumbent trike. If you had purchased a trike without e-assist you would have encountered this as a new rider. I remember starting out back in 2003 with a brand new 36 pound trike with 19 to 98 gear inch range. I wasn't fast (still not!) and the steeper hills were a real challenge. It got easier quite quickly but I was riding approximately 3k miles per year back then. Unfortunately for some e-assist can act as a crutch so it becomes harder to achieve your maximum endurance. Your post made me go to the Sheldon Brown calculator and enter in the information for my mid-range chainring (39T) and the values for the Catrike cassette 11-13-15-17-19-22-25-28-32-36. Drive wheel size is 700C X 23 and cranks are 170mm. What I got out in gear inches are 29.2 - 32.9 - 37.6 - 42.1 - 47.9 - 55.4 - 61.9 - 70.2 - 81 - 95.7. These are the gears I use 95% of the time. Occasionally I use the 52 tooth chainring going downhill and extremely rarely use the 30T chainring. It has to be a hill I would rather not climb to go there.

That makes me realize I am mostly starting out on a level stretch in 61.9 GI and progressing up to 81 GI or 95.7 for most of the time. If I hit a hill I might go a bit lower starting out and drop down a gear or two. I wouldn't get far in my 42.1 GI gear before exhausted with spinning too fast for my preference. I'm not a masher (use too low a gear) because it hurts my knees to do so. I just pick a gear that seems comfortable and don't worry much about which gear it is in.