What can I say today?

I have been riding my bike half the way to and from the office this week, to work around a maintenance closure on the subway line. In the morning I take the bike on the train from my neighborhood station to the airport, ride the bike from there to the office, and do the reverse in the afternoon. It has worked surprisingly well.  I had not ridden to the office for about two years, it is wonderful to be able to do so.  I enjoy the ride.  

Now I have a strange habit when I am riding, I say "Good morning" or "Good afternoon" to strangers as I pass them on the trail, street or sidewalk, I say "have a great day" to random passers by.  I get stared at, undoubtedly some of them are thinking that fat man on the bike is a few bricks short of full stack.  

The DC subway is a silent anti-social place, if you talk to people on the trains you are immediately tagged as being "not from around here" or "dangerously unstable."  I observe the code of social conduct on the trains.  But on the bike, I let loose.   

I do hope I brighten someone's day.  It only takes a simple kind word to do so.  I was riding into the office one morning on the train, I was fussed and upset about something, the train pulled into a station and as he was getting up to exit, the man setting next to me said, "it will all be okay" to me.  And it was, his simple kind word was what I needed at that moment in time to change my day.  

My current route has me passing through the airport terminal with the bike, it is the easiest way to get from the train station to the sidewalk. If you see a guy riding a bike through baggage claim, saying GOOD AFTERNOON to arriving passengers, don't worry, it is only me on my way home.