Graduated from the "Granny Gear"

I bought my first road bike about a year ago, a Trek 1600 aluminum frame bike with carbon forks, Ultegra rear deraileur and Shimano 105 for the other components. A decent intermediate road bike. It has a triple crankset with a 50/39/30. These numbers in case you didn't know are the number of teeth on each of the 3 respective chainrings. The smallest of the three rings with the 30 teeth is called the "Granny Gear" because it allows you to spin at a high cadence even on the steepest of climbs.

Up until today, I've used the small ring very frequently because I like to climb steep roads and because it's a good crutch to lean on when you're tired, plus I just simply wasn't fit enough to use only the bigger rings on climbs.

Well, today I'm happy to announce that I have successfully graduated from the "Granny Gear." I climbed both sides of Suncrest tonight without once having to shift down to the small ring. I was tempted many times, but stayed strong.