Dearest Scrodzilla,

Is my wheel/hub ****ed? Here's the deal: a couple days ago I started hearing a weird ticking sound coming from my bike. I can't reproduce it on the stand, only when I'm riding it. I removed all gadgets and doo-dads (spoke cards, water bottle, a little charm that was hanging off the saddle rail, etc.) to make sure it wasn't something stupid just being noisy.

I've really tried to pay attention to the ticking. It's totally random and irregular in terms of how loud it is and when it happens, and doesn't seem to have anything to do with pedaling so I don't think it's the drivetrain. (I did check my chainring bolts to be sure and they're fine, and the chain is dirty but fine.) It doesn't seem to change with speed, although by the end of my 10mi commute this morning it was barely happening. I think it's coming from the front of my bike. And then this morning there was a new sound - a jingle! Hooray! Well at least this one I could figure out. Forgive me for not knowing the names of the parts, wheels are still a mystery to me, but the silver washer/cap thing on one side of my hub was loose and jingling. I pulled over and pushed it back into place. Later in the ride the same part on the other side of my hub did the same thing. Ugh. Picture:


Untitled by miss_kaz, on Flickr

You can see it's not pushed in like it's supposed to be. I have no idea if this is related to the ticking/creaking.

Any thoughts on what's going on? Is my wheel going to catastrophically fail while I'm riding it? Should I take the bus home today? Am I going insane?