When you are going down hill be in your biggest cog, as you decend, shift down to the middle of your rear gears, then at the bottom drop your front cog to your middle (if 3) or lower (if 2) gear. You should transition quick, and if you need to tune it in you can shift in the rear as your momentum slows. The worst thing to do is to try to shift once you are really torquing the cranks, your derailers wil never respond quickly, and the front is always more touchy than the rear since it has so far (up or down) to travel. That said if you are on a moderate uphill, and your gears won’t shift, lighten the load on your pedals and slow your cadence, and the gears should shift (especially if you have integrated hub gears. I found that the only way to shift a Capital Bikeshare bike is to sit back and take all strain off the pedals, then they will shift fine. Hope this helps. I once ripped through my 5th gear on my steel cassette by suddenly being in too big a gear on a steep little hill.
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yes I think it’s a good place to learn and adapt your timing of your shifts to terrain.
