Hi all,

Neal was generous enough to offer his time to help me put together the bike on Wednesday. We got a lot of work done--he showed me how to install the brakes, run the cables, get the derailleurs on, and so on. Unfortunately, we realized mid-job that I am lacking an axle for my rear wheel (a detail that I neglected to notice beforehand), so we weren't able to completely finish the project. Regardless, we got three hours of work done and Neal told me how to find a new back wheel so I can get the bike together in the next couple weeks. I'm going to go over to the Hampshire Bicycle Exchange and get one tomorrow, maybe--and I'll post pictures of the finished product after I do that. In the meantime, here's a picture of Neal threading the gear cable in my poorly insulted attic--we had our coats on, it was pretty cold. Thanks again, Neal, Doc, and Pastor Bob for your generous donations of time and parts! I'll get pictures of the finished bike and me putting the final touches on in no time.
http://picasaweb.google.com/releach/...71276819534402
Rachel