How do you properly change gears on a mountain bike?

So I recently bought a new mountain bike and have not really figured out how to correctly use the gears. The gear on the left side goes from 1 to 3 and the gear on the right side goes from 1 to 7. In general when should I switch to a higher gear on each side? What makes it easier to go uphill also?How do you properly change gears on a mountain bike?
There is an excellent guide here (courtesy of Bob A)

http://bicycletutor.com/gear-shifting/





=1= low gear (hills)

=2= middle gear (normal riding)

=3= high gear (fast riding)



If you are going up a steep hill you will want to go into the low gear range, for example:

left side = 1 =

right side =2 =







If you bought a $99 bike from Walmart or Target be very wary of the gears slipping; when the gears slip your crotch will land with a crunch! Awful bikes.



To change gears smoothly you should only be applying light pressure to the pedals - never try to change gear when standing up.How do you properly change gears on a mountain bike?
Uphill I would use the middle crank. The left shifter on two. From there just move the back ones up and down depending on how you feel. I usualy use the three top cogs(1-2-3 on the right shifter) depending on the terrain. Once you get the hang of it it will be second nature. Hope this helps. Also for downhill feel free to put it in the biggest chainring the Three on the left shifter.
The shifter on your left side shifts the front gears, or the crank, and the shifter on your right shifts the back gears, or the cassette. When you shift, it tightens or loosens the shifter cable, which moves your derailleur which moves the chain to different gears. To go uphill and to get more power, you want the front shifter on 1 or 2 and your right shifter on maybe 1, 2, or 3. For going downhill or on level ground, you want the left one on 3, and the right one on 5, 6, or 7. With gears, if you want to turn something fast (The back wheel,) then you make the gear your pedaling on bigger, with more teeth, and the wheel's gear smaller, with less teeth, so for example the crank gear has 50 teeth and the cassette gear has 10, then for every one full pedal rotation, the back wheel will turn five times, giving you more speed. For power, though, you want just the opposite. A small gear on the crank and a larger one on the cassette.

Also remember not to have the gears set on like 1 on left and 7 on right (or vice-versa, 3 and 1,) because it puts the chain on an extreme diagonal and can stretch it out, resulting in a lot of problems. So if the left is on 1, the right should only be on 1, 2, or 3. Left 2, right 3, 4, 5, etc...



Sorry if this was kind of a novel of an answer, but hope it answered your question. If you're interested, check out this mountain biking yahoo group:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Fam