I went from a double on my road bike to a triple and triples on my mountain bikes to doubles. All of them have a wide range 8 speed cassette. At my age I have lost a good degree of speed.
Everything depends on how you want to ride.
My road bike has a 48-38-30 with a 14-36, maybe going to a 14-34. Horrendously low gearing, but it is really more for the 38t chainring. The wide range let's me ride in the 38 for most climbing down to 38-36, and the 48 on flats with a top end around 25 or so with an occasional 48-32 if I need it. The 30 gets touched every now and then, but it is nice to have when needed. I don't have problems shifting between chainrings, but it is more fun to be lazy and not have to.
Mountain bikes are 34-24 with 13-40 for the same reason. I'll ride the 34 and drop into the 40 rather than shift to the 24. The 24 is purely for extended climbing, or a new uphill trail I'm not certain about.
The one skill I wish I had better developed is multiple cadence power, especially mountain biking. Years of riding at a fairly high cadence has not done me any favors.
John
Last edited by 70sSanO; 07-23-21 at 08:24 PM.