Why won't the thingies work?

When I finally had Pink Lightning (my bike) all tuned up and ready to go, I headed out for a cautious test ride around the neighborhood. There is a perfect 1-mile loop on side streets around the block, with minimal traffic. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the riding position. On a road bike, the rider should look somewhat like this (note that is not me in the picture):

That's a bit different than the more upright position I was used to when riding a mountain bike as a kid. When I started out I felt a little off-balance. It seemed like I was supposed to be looking down, only I was terrified to do so, and every little hand or arm movement resulted in a pretty dramatic swerve - luckily, like I said, there was minimal traffic!

After about a half-mile or so, I started to relax my shoulders as I got used to the position. I decided it was time to practice changing gears and using the thumb-shifters. My bike has Shimano 2200 shifters, with brakes and shifting in one lever, according to the description on ebay. Did I know what that meant? Nope! I thought it couldn't be too hard to figure out though - I could easily see that there were little thumb lever thingies on the top brakes ("thingies" should be considered a technical term) and I figured pressing them up and down would change the gears. I was right - sort of.

I pedaled along and used my thumb to press down on the right lever. I heard a click and felt the gear shift. I was feeling quite proud of myself. With a click-click I shifted down two more gears. I was cruising along quite nicely, wondering if the occasional person passing by in a car thought I was a professional cyclist, and fantasizing about crossing the finish line at my first Ironman. I even had a fleeting thought that maybe I'd meet my goal before the end of the 3-year plan! 

Then, as I rounded a corner to go downhill, I thought I'd better shift back up. I pressed the thumb lever up and...nothing. No resistance, no click and change, the thingy just went up and flicked back down. I was a little bit confused, but kept riding and futilely pressing up on the lever with my thumb. At the end of about the third mile I was absolutely convinced that my Shimano shifters were broken. I cursed myself for buying a bike on the internet, ashamed to admit that maybe the snotty guy at the first bike shop was right. When I got back to the house I stuck Pink Lightning in the garage, glared at her for a while, and then kicked the cement stoop. 

The next day, I put the bike in the back of the car and hauled her back to the bike shop that had "built" her. I wheeled her in and a bike dude asked if he could help me. I told him I sure hoped he could help me, because his shop had tuned up my bike and something was wrong with the shifters. Her hoisted her up onto a stationary trainer, spun the pedals, and started shifting. I was hearing a whole lot more clicks than I ever shifted through on my ride. Hm.

I watched more closely. In addition to using the thumb shifter thingies, he was pressing the front brakes toward the inside as he shifted. WTF!?!?!? Ohhhhh...there were more shifting components than just the thumb levers next to the top brakes. Ohhhh...oh wait...wow I felt stupid. 

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong here..." said the bike dude. "Um..." I said. "Sometimes you just have to press at lot harder than you think," bike dude told me. "Yeah, I guess I wasn't pressing hard enough!" I told him. Strictly speaking, that was not a lie. I wasn't pressing hard enough...sure I wasn't pressing those other shifters at all, but I think that still qualifies. I took Pink Lightning and my pride, and left the bike shop a little bit wiser.

Next time, I'll research the shifting components before buying a bike...