You never know who's next to you.

Another picture from Peru with my girl CB.
I figured a random recent photo is better
than none, right?

This morning I was on the spin bike, doing my thing, next to a woman that I have seen at the Y for years. She is fit. I would call her super fit. Spandex bike shorts, sweating like a beast, and just...getting it.

So me and, we'll call her Sandy, strike up a conversation about cycling. You see, Sandy has wanted to take me out cycling with her for a few months now. She has seen how much I've like the spin bike and wants me to try it in the real world.

Today, I confessed my fear to her.

"Is it because you are afraid of traffic?" No, I said. That's not it.

"You don't need to worry about the cars, I'll take you somewhere that's very safe and we'll be fine!"

That's not it, I tell her. That's not my fear.

"Well, what is it?" she asks. "You are in shape, I see you here all the time, you can handle yourself, no problem!"

I then proceeded to tell Sandy what I was afraid of. I told her about the last time I was on a bike.

"Oh, you've ridden before? Then this will be no problem!"

The last time I was on a bike, I was about 90 pounds heavier. It was a task for me to just keep moving on flat ground. I was winded, self-conscious, and a little defeated by the fact that small children can handle a bicycle better than I can.

I told Sandy that I still feel like that girl.

And instead of her telling me "No, no, you're not! You're new! This is gonna be great!" she told me her story. Unprompted, this super fit, spandex bike shorts wearing, sweating like a beast Sandy told me about how she was overweight her whole life until she joined the rowing team in college. She told me about how her husband's whole family is overweight and they tell her all the time that she can't understand what it's like to be big since she is so fit. They have never known her as an overweight person.

She told me that everytime she hears someone make a fat joke she feels it in her heart.

You see, that super fit, spandex bike shorts wearing, sweating like a beast lady next to you at the gym didn't get there magically. She works her ass off. Just like you're doing. She struggles with her weight, just like you do. And she shares our pain.

The coolest thing about all this? As Sandy was pedaling beside me, I looked down and saw a super fit, spandex bike shorts wearing, sweating like a beast person next to her. And I got really excited to be a Sandy for someone else.

-Liz