Adventures of a Novice Wrench Wench, Part 1

Success! I have successfully overhauled the rear wheel shifting system on my bike. This is the most complicated repair I've done yet.

Saturday night (3 hours):

1. Removed rear derailleur from bike and cleaned thoroughly with denture brushes, Simple Green and WD-40.
2. Scrubbed chain link by link with toothbrush and dish soap.
3. Wiped grease off face, scoured fingers with toothbrush, and dashed out of house to serve as marketing ambassador for The Brothers Karamazov.

Tuesday night (2.5 hours):

1. Bought cable cutters, cable and housing.
   
2. Removed old cable. (rusty derailleur cable = fun new cat toy!)
   
3. Took GripShift apart. Dropped spring assembly; spent 1 hour trying to figure out how to return spring to "spring cavity." Replaced accidentally-wiped-off GripShift lube with Vaseline.
4. Ran cable through arbitrary lengths of housing; attached derailleur cable; adjusted; prayed.
5. Hopped into car to hear election news from Stewart and Colbert.

Wednesday morning:
SUCCESS!! Quick & dreamy shifting!