Reunited

At 110 km into my ride, with about 15 more km to the resting point of the night, my bottom bracket started unthreading. It's the spool at the very epicenter of the bike where the pedals and arms connect into the frame and the front gears. At first, it was a crick that vibrated through the frame with each downward pedal stroke. I have my hearing aids on low when riding but I could feel it coming up through my saddle. When coasting the sound went away. But the further I rode the worst it got. It started chirping twice with each pedal stroke. I was alarmed but wanted to get to my hotel quick so I pushed on. When it turned into three ticks per stroke, I got really worried. The pedal strokes were feeling sandy and gritty and I was creating my own cacophony of noise. The terrain was gravel and bumpy, kicking up dirt that I fear was getting into the normally sealed mechanism. I was heading down a road marked local traffic only because the bridge ahead was closed for construction. There was almost no traffic, the only passerby being a couple of teenagers on an ATV. I stopped and examined the bottom bracket assembly, and found that it was loose and unthreaded. I could see it coming apart on me. I didn't have the tools to fix it and I doubt any touring cyclist short of a mechanic could fix this on the road. I hand threaded the loose parts as much as I could and pressed on. Arriving at the hotel an hour later I breathed a sigh of relief. Upon returning to Toronto my awesome friend and trusted bike mechanic Linus at Dream Cyclery declared the bearings dead and patched me up with something new. Today we are reunited. Quite a bit shinier and so so smooth.