Willbird

I just recently read something where he himself said the loaded trailer was 300 lbs. I wish the guy success but I was thinking "why do you NEED 300 lbs of crap?". His last blog posting was July 9th when I looked this weekend.

Edit: I just clicked onto it again and now see a July 26th posting. I dunno, I wish him luck :-).

Bill

indyfabz

Put me the cynical corner. Wondering if this was some sort of stunt to win her back and possibly get some publicity for himself.

As for the 300 lbs., I looked at the photo of his trailer and I have to wonder if it could support that much weight. Even if the trailer itself weighs 50 lbs., a 250 lb. load would put some serious stress on that thing. A B.O.B. is rated for 70 lbs. of gear. While that's probably a conservative estimate given for legal reasons, still....Also, I can see some potential conflicts with rumble strip placement, at least further west, due to the width of the trailer. I remember reading a Crazy Guy journal written by a woman. She was travelling with her husband and friends. They were pulling their young child in a two-wheeled trailer. On a portion of PR 93 in British Columbia the left wheel of the trailer had to avoid the constant rumble strips. I rode that same stretch later that year and saw the problem for myself. And I certainly would not want to descend a steep grade (or any grade) with 300 lbs. pushing me from behind.

If you look at the video accompanying this story you might, like me, wonder how he could fit 300 lbs. into his trailer unless he is carrying lead weights:

600-Pound Man Bikes Coast-to-Coast to Save Marriage, Lose Weight - NBC News

A few years ago Adventure Cycling Association acquired a heavy duty scale and started weighing the rigs of loaded tourists who stopped into their Missoula headquarters. IIRC, the "winner" the first year tipped the scales in the 160 lbs. range. That was for bike, gear and carrying apparatus (trailer, panniers, etc.)

bassjones

500 lbs of rider and 300 lbs of gear... I don't know how he's going to manage ascending hills in Western PA/Eastern OH, let alone any real climbing. I'd like to see him make it, but he's going to have to get his nutrition dialed in, lose at least 200 lbs of unnecessary crap off the trailer and start racking up more miles. Even if he's REALLY slow, he can't be doing more than 2 hours of riding a day.

ColaJacket

With all that weight, I would think that he might be heading south to Georgia. If you go west from Savannah, to Macon, to Columbus, GA, and follow that rough line west, then you wouldn't have as many
hills to deal with.

GH

Willbird

Yea I'm cynical for sure :-). 50 miles a day average not 50 miles a month ;-) would be a lot better. That means 75 some days and 0 others.

He mentioned a "coach".

Bill

indyfabz

Look at his page and read his journal. One mishap after another.

Also....He states that he is starting out with virtually no money, yet he has spent at least three nights in motels and ate out at restaurants. One meal consisted of, among other things, wings, mozzarella, sticks potato skins and a Kobe beef burger. How is he managing to afford all that being broke? Well...He has managed to raise nearly $8,500 of his $15,000 goal through Go Fund Me. Personally, if you are cyber begging for something like this you should be spending donations frugally. But, or course, people are free to do what they want with their money.

bassjones

Believe me; I'm not giving him any money. Encouragement, advice, maybe a ride partner if he comes through my area, absolutely! I'm going to need to some changes before I part with any cash.

MikeRides

Another bum riding across country on the dime of nice donors.

I applaud him for wanting to get fit, but from what I can gather he seems to be running away from something instead of chasing after something which he (and the news stories) want us to believe. He claims in his last blog entry that he's ruined relationships and wasted investments over the years. He seems irresponsible, and attempting to take a long distance bike ride with no actual plan other than beg the public to fund it just about proves it. Living off Dunkin Donuts and a diet of "chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and a Kobe beef burger" (really, Kobe Beef??) not only seems wasteful financially but it's not going to help him lose weight, especially since I doubt he's burning off many calories riding <6 miles a day. One last thing, WHY in the world would someone with not much (if any?) money start his trip on Martha's Vineyard? Besides wanting to meet that big giant swords guy, that seemed to be his first costly mistake.

Nonetheless I wish him a lot luck, and hope he decides to increase his daily mileage because <6 miles a day is ridiculous. Guess he wouldn't get the same publicity if he stayed home, fixed his diet and rode his bike locally to lose weight and build the endurance for a 'big trip'.

TrojanHorse

Who writes stuff like this? Clearly somebody who thought math was a waste of time:

He expects his pace will build in time, but at only five or so miles a day right now, it could take half a year or more to reach the West Coast. (uh, that's 900 miles in 180 days, the west coast is actually further than that)

indyfabz

+1. This morning I was discussing his trip with my GF and basically said the same thing. Why doesn't he simply stay home, change his eating habits and exercise every day to lose weight? Throwing himself into a situation that he's clearly not prepared for (both physically and otherwise) doesn't seem like the ideal way to address all the underlying issues he confesses to having. Assuming his "psychology" is sincere, it sounds like he has convinced himself that a trip like this will definitely be a life-changing event. Unfortunately, deep, underlying issues don't always resolve themselves during a trip like this. I remember begging to get downsized in the wake of a corporate acquisition so I could ride across the county. I convinced myself that during the trip, as I sat looking at some pretty view, everything would become clear and I would know what I really wanted to do with my life. That moment never happened despite some 18 months of voluntary unemployment and about 10,000 miles of touring over three trips. In fact, I eventually got my old job back after being away for exactly two years.

And to go full-cynical: After looking at his funding and reading his posts, I am really wondering if part of his motivation is the money, and it is quite a lot of money he has raised so far.

indyfabz

He's allegedly coming to Philly. I might like to get a look at him in the flesh and check out the 300 lbs. of gear he is allegedly carrying. As someone who tours, I am quite curious to see what he has stashed away. I did notice in one journal entry that he had 4 lbs. of beef jerky. Say wut? (My tent weighs 3.25 lbs.) From what I could tell, a bird came down and flew away with one of the bags. That must have been one strong bird.

XR2

"Make it" implies an honest effort. Forgive me but he hasn't a clue what he's in for. So for me he'll "give up."


4 pounds of beef jerky? I like jerky and probably haven't eaten that much in my 56 years.

fmt_biker

Keep in mind that his whole approach seems to have changed ... per the latest update on the gofundme page, he's going to have his wife drive their truck as a support vehicle at least for the first half of the trip (after that she's going to supposedly join him on a bike). That would imply that he would no longer needs a 300# trailer. It also would make it very easy to throw the bike into the back of the pickup when he wants a more than 10 mile day.

Yendor72

I'll admit that I didn't read his whole blog, with that said, I don't think that any part of this is 100% real, sounds like an easy way to make a buck.

Beachgrad05

I'm sorry but I find this to be a scheme to raise money. Yes, I'm cynical and skeptical.

indyfabz

And which would mean less need for the $8,500 he has already been given and, quite frankly, would be contrary to the entire alleged reason for the trip.

And he doesn't need a 300 lb. trailer to begin with. This is sounding more and more like a fraud.

indyfabz

"I thank everyone for their support financially and verbally. I know it's not cheap making this trip, but when finished it w'll change my life and help me to become healthy. I hope to change other lives in the process too."

At least he's not hoping to change the world, like someone who some of you may be familiar with.

MikeRides

He does admit in one of his blog posts (his latest?) that he was a hoarder. Still, 300# seems a little exaggerated unless he's carrying (nearly) everything he owns. That would definitely explain why he has only averaged, like 6 miles a day since starting. I just cringe at the thought of carrying 800+ pounds (not including the bike itself) on a XMART mountain bike, no wonder the wheel(s) taco'd.

That was my thought initially. Why would anyone touring on a bicycle need to create a gofundme page in the first place if they weren't riding for a charity? If you can't afford to ride a bike across country, here's a thought, don't go. Really, I've read some CGOAB journals from tourers who average less than $5 a day on a nationwide tour, $5 a day! Obviously they're not visiting Martha's Vineyard and eating a big meal while riding less than a couple city blocks in a day. Of course that sort of trip isn't for everyone, personally if I ever get enough free time to tour I'd appreciate a shower, an actual bed and a big meal at least once a week. The rest of the time I wouldn't mind finding a stealthy spot to pitch a tent, and live off of beanie-wienies and Top Ramen LOL

PhotoJoe 

Maybe he is carrying all that stuff. I don't know. I'm wondering if maybe he was trying to say that his hypothetically 200 lb. brothers should throw 300 lbs. of stuff in a trailer so they could see what it takes for a 500 lb. guy to pedal a bike down the road.

TrojanHorse

Well, he blew more than that on each one of his appetizers at the tavern, never mind the kobe beef burger.

I'd go stark, raving mad with his agenda. Ride 5 miles and then what?

Willbird

I think it would save time to just walk the 5 miles by the time you put on your kit, fill water bottles, pump tires, ride 5 miles, take off kit, dump water bottles, do post ride bike maint ritual :-).

Rowan

Eat.

I am not prepared to say fraud, but I am prepared to say ambitious way beyond his abilities and means. And some things just don't ring true -- the wife situation being one.

indyfabz

You would. Most people who tour would. In 2011 I planned a tour in Montana. I broke what would have been one long day with lots of climbing into two, partly because of my partner and partly because we wanted to stop at a hot springs resort for a soak. Turned out that we could have done it all in one day and ended up having a lot of time to kill after both day's rides. The equivalent of a short day for someone reasonably fit is fine every once in a while, especially when there are opportunities like hiking or cultural sites to visit, or when you need to recharge the body and take care of things like laundry. But multiple days like that can leave you bored.

In his case, however, he is struggling so much that it sounds like he really enjoys not riding more than he enjoys riding. As for what he does with his time, his journal suggests that he plays with his electronics a lot since he repeatedly writes about recharging his gadgets, sometimes more than once a day. And with all the hotel stays, I'll bet he has watched a lot of TV.

indyfabz

That assumes he has lost the weight he claims he has. I have to wonder since at one point he writes that he needs to visit a truck stop to weigh himself because a regular scale won't go that high. He doesn't mention actually doing that during the first 10 days of his trip during which he claims to have lost the 60 lbs.

Rsmith11

Yeah, this guy just seems like he's pretending to go through all this trouble to get some money from people who feel bad. The whole wife situation seems weird. I hope it's real and I hope he legitimately tries. Use the 9k you've earned and buy a nice bike that will ride easy and support your weight.. especially since his wife will be driving with him soon. Not buying.