"I want to know when it going to shift, I don't want to be caught by surprise, and I want to be able to vary my cadence as desired."

Better re-read their web page. You do control the "pitch".

"You’ll find yourself shifting without thought, whenever you feel like it - while you’re pedaling, when you’re coasting (freewheeling), when you’re pedaling backwards, even when you’re stopped. There’s no hesitation, no noise, no waiting for the mechanism to “hunt” for the gear you’ve selected, nothing to synchronize, nothing to guess at, a simple twist of your wrist and you’re at a new ratio."