[Johnny199r]

Newbie road cyclist question:

I have a new Cannondale disc sora road bike. it has a Shimano Sora 9-speed drivetrain w/ dual chainring FSA crank. I've ridden it 3 times.

I understand the left shifter controls the front derailleur, which causes more dramatic changes and is helpful for riding on hills. Pushing the whole left hand lever in, shifts the back, increasing "resistance" pushing the inside lever in, makes it easier.

The opposite applies for the right hand lever.

My Question: Pushing my left lever in, I can feel it click one place over, and it makes my gears make creaking noises, but that's about it. I do not notice a change at all in my ride. It does not make for a tougher ride. I then click the inside left lever back, and it makes the creaking noises disappear, but hasn't really changed the resistance in the gears. Am I supposed to push the entire left lever in when I'm in 1st gear, or once I'm in the max gear on the right side lever? I've tried every single way, with no luck.

When I push my inside right lever in, I get more resistance, but on left side lever, when I push my full lever in, it does nothing besides make my gears make a creaking noise. What am I doing wrong?

Can anyone explain this?

Additionally, when I push my inside right lever in several times, apparently reaching my "top gear" which seems like 7 or 8, my bike gears start to creak the entire time, why is that?

I can't seem to get to the highest gears to ride fast and I'm very frustrated. So far, while I'm enjoying road cycling, coming from a mountain bike background, I'm finding it unnecessarily complex to the point of being absurd.

Thanks for any replies.