There's far to much macho bullshit written about gearing.
Agreed!
The way to decide what you need is to start by working out what cadence you want to ride up the steeper hills you are going to be riding up. It's different for different people, essentially depending on how strong you are.
If you look at the pros they spin up climbs at a high cadence - I don't know what but guessing, 70+. Presumably if they thought it was better to grind up at a cadence of 20, they would put a 200 inch gear on and do that (if there was chainring clearance), but they don't.
I like spinning up hills too. It's easier on my knees, feels more efficient and I go up at least as fast as I do if I shift up three gears and stand on the pedals (that option is still open!). But being less strong than top riders I need significantly lower gears to do it, which means a small front chainring and something of a similar size as my largest sprocket. It might not make the bike look cool but that isn't my objective.
