But one day I got tired of being soft and weak and after arriving home from work, serviced my mountain bike, strapped myself to the pedals and hit the street. It was easy enough to get started but hard to maintain my breakneck pace of 45 minutes per day on the bike. Just seeing all the rollerblading girls in sportsbras at the lakefront isn't enough motivation when your legs are burning with each rpm. So, I looked for additional inspiration to keep me going. I settled on my old favorites, vanity and fear.
Nobody likes to be referred to as Tubby.
Either way, it was a considerable blow to my self esteem. I was no longer the heavy metal thin that the girls with mall bangs love so much. But I didn't need to be reminded of it. Reality was more powerful than my self-delusion and I could no longer block it out. A healthy dose of vanity was what I needed.