A Black Guy Shouts At Me, and It Brightens My Day

I wrote Things I Didn’t Say to a Black Racist Bicyclist after an unusual meeting with a stranger. Today I had such a typical encounter that I’m writing it up to put the previous piece in perspective. I was pedaling back from Target when I heard someone yell something like “I like your bike!”

I glanced over. A black guy, probably in his 30s but maybe a little older, was on the sidewalk. He grinned and repeated, “I like your bike!”

I grinned back and gave him a thumbs-up as I kept riding. It was one of those pleasant minor encounters with strangers that please almost all of us because even hermits like me are social creatures.

My bike is unusual. I never could’ve afforded it new—I got it secondhand at the Hub Bike Co-op, my favorite bike shop. I get compliments on it from strangers fairly often. I wouldn’t mention this incident if it hadn’t been the first time a black stranger spoke to me since the racist I met a few days ago. I responded to the guy today without thinking because at that moment, I was just someone on a bike that he liked and he was just someone who liked my bike. For that moment, life was as simple as it should always be.