See, I've been using the bike as a singe-speed, and gotten pretty used to riding that way. You hit a little hill, or a moderate one, and you just stand up and honk on a ss. Granted, the steeper (or longer) the hill, the greater the effort. With a geared bike, if you have a nice low gear, you stay seated & just grind. But my Low gear has been a little too low for some hills. Too low to honk, too low to ride the speed I want. And second has been a little short as well. Then High gear feels like too much of a reach for a flat cruise, too low to bomb with.
I now think I'm going to end up using the hub per it's original design: Low for climbing (or I'll walk it when necessary), "N" (normal) for cruising, and High for bombing. So I'll be using the hub mostly the same way I rode the bike before, but I'll have a bail-out gear and a haul-ass gear in addition to my customary direct gear. I'm hoping this will work for an old out-of-shape poop in San Diego.
I'll also still have the option of re-gearing for select rides or events. We'll see how that works & I'll report back to you.
