Mithrandir

ROFL. Yesterday was my first rest day in 21 days. Rode almost 700 miles in those 21 days.

Talkers, my ass. Now I'm angry. Why can't I get suckers to pay me $10,000 to haul my 400 pound ass 700 miles in 3 weeks?

Oh right, because I have a full-time job which pays me instead and don't need handouts.

Willbird

As to battery life with aps, I ran cyclemeter and one other ap both at same time on iPhone 5s, the wahoo ap with screen always on is decently efficient, fine for 2 hours or more, and with screen off it is good for 8 hours at least. Having screen lit up is what smoked battery life. Wahoo RFLKT works great too to give you data with screen dark. 5-10 miles a day 1-2 hours is no issue for smart phone really even with screen lit.

beakersbike

I think there are a few reasons he is seen as such an inspiration. I've been pretty close to the 400 mark (maybe over at some point - I tended to avoid the scale). I know how trapped you can feel when you get to a certain point. I think there are a lot of people who are feeling kind of trapped, and they see a guy making a move to try to get out of his situation, and they're all over it.

I think too there are so many easy fixes out there. Look at all the advertising out there about this or that simple thing you can do to change your life. It's not simple - in fact even when surgery is involved it's far from simple. But when you're that deep in it, even simple can seem very overwhelming. And so, even a guy who steps out and does SOMETHING, even if it's only 50 miles - to a lot of people they see it as a start and it's a lot more than they could hope to do themselves, so it's inspiring.

I don't know, I go very back and forth on this guy. I see on the one side how I felt at 393 pounds. I can't imagine how it is in the upper 5's (especialy a guy a fair bit shorter than I am). It's very plausible that a couple of miles could completely take it out of a guy like this. I could completely see how he could have been fully intentional in doing this with no clue how far over his head he is. He's thinking 4 months to do 3000+ miles, and then the reality hits just how hard 5 miles is. I can completely see how it could knock him out for more than a day. Getting as far as he did in the first month, if he actually rode all that way, is pretty plausible, and in fact for his condition doing that much could be considered inspirational.

On the other side, I had some former in laws who were masters at working the system. They knew all the right things to say and all the right buttons to push. They knew there was a lot of charity out there and how to finagle their way into that charity. I see them in a lot of what I'm watching here.

Which one is it? I honestly don't know. I don't think that even those who know him would be able to say for sure because there isn't exactly a lot of objectivity in the reports I've seen. I don't think he'll get much further - and even then I don't know whether to call it a scam or whether it was truly something he thought he wanted to do and realized it was far more than he dreamed it would be and gave up. Maybe it's a bit of both.

Actually, I think what's inspirational about it isn't so much about his weight. I actually kinda like the song he's using as his theme - the thing that a lot of people find inspirational is the concept that has so much appeal in the song itself - the idea that someone would show that kind of dedication for someone else. It's easy to proclaim that kind of dedication. I think people want to see him really show that dedication. But in the end, that dedication is truly only shown through action.

If he's truly sincere, he will plug way. I hope for his sake he does.

indyfabz

Do photos count? 500 miles in SW Montana last year:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davez2...7645062932708/

Four passes ranging between 5,500' and nearly 8,000'. Rain, snow, sleet and hail and only about 45 lbs. of gear, not 300.

TrojanHorse

He's doing it for loooooooove man, love.

oneodd1

Well I did it. I offered to fly/drive out and assist in person. I am sincere about it. What's the over/under on when this gets deleted?

Jason

CatBee

Thank you so much for responding. So funny you mentioned the water bottle. Those seem so unnatural and contrived, along with the banana pic. Even in the pic where he's drinking the water, someone pointed out that the lid appears to still be on it. In any case, they all have an "aren't I a good boy?" vibe that felt sketchy, but I wasn't sure how to articulate that. The same goes for his lack of full body pics for progress shots. With the stated goals of winning back a wife and writing a book, why overlook the most obvious way to show your progress to the wife, potential donors and book buyers? Because right now all I have is his word that he lost 60 pounds in two weeks, face selfies that don't confirm that dubious claim, and scale shots that only show he lost 7 pounds in a month.

At every turn, nothing quite feels right with him, but it's hard to pin that feeling down. It's reassuring to hear from his family that I'm right to be suspicious. Not because I want to be right, but because I felt bad for being skeptical. Like most people, I wanted him to be real, to support him and see him succeed. And I don't want to be the kind of person who doesn't believe in people or cheer for everyone who puts an honest effort into the race. Recognizing that this story was dodgy made me uncomfortable because I was afraid it might mean that I'm becoming too cynical. I'm not any happier though for realizing that I'm just cynical enough.

TrojanHorse

It should be apparent that no amount of internet strangers cheering or jeering will contribute one iota to his forward progress (or lack thereof). He's alone in Rhode Island with his thoughts, and now apparently also his wife. Pedal, don't pedal... he's the only one who gets to make it happen.

Welcome to bike forums, by the way. We're generally a jovial lot as you can see by looking at any of the other threads.

wade4miles

From what I am getting is, Angie spent the last night at the bar with her boyfriend and misses the flight the next day?

Perisphere

I found this group because of this Fat Con, uh...Guy...and I'm glad to have found you! Go check out my introduction post.

I weighed 340 lbs at my highest and have been 170 to 190ish for the past 10 years. I now work with a gym that specializes in working with very overweight people. We have a member who started out at 527 lbs who lost down to about 300 lbs. To reward his accomplishment, the owner sponsored a cross-country bike trip for him. That young man pulled it out in about two and a half months! It was not used in any way to promote or advertise the gym. In fact, there are hardly any photos. When my colleague and I first discovered Fat Guy, he realized that his iPhone displayed Fat Guy's phone number so I called him!

I told him about our member and offered that if he wasn't able to complete his trip, we might be able to offer him a "Plan B" to come train with us, get his weight down, and learn how to make a successful cross-country bike trip. I also told him that his seeming lack of planning or preparation did concern me. He was very dismissive, talking like he thought doing a bike trip AFTER losing weight was not so great.

I am a published author myself so I asked about his book and he said he would be counting on the royalties to cover the cost of the extensive plastic surgery he'll need for loose skin after losing all his weight. He also claimed to have an agent here in Chicago "on Wacker Drive across from the military park." I know of no such park. If he had an agent already, I wondered why he didn't have a book deal already.

I have since been blocked from the Fat Guy Facebook page and he's generally trashed me as some kind of horrible negative person waiting for him to fail and how my rich guy boss just wanted to use him to promote our gym. Nice! So I'm just sitting on the sidelines, watching all the drama unfold and reveling in thoughts of the schadenfreude to come!

bassjones

Welcome all the newbies!!! Most of us here are in the beginning, middle of or have accomplished a weight loss goal - I'm closer to the goal line than the middle, down to 275 from 420 with about 50-60 to go. I think ALL of us want Eric to succeed but most of us don't think Eric really wants to succeed. People who want to succeed take advice from people who have succeeded at what they are trying to do. People who just want attention, well..., they do what Eric is doing.

Fahrradfahrer

@Perisphere: Ah, yes, he created a veritable witch hunt against you, I saw that. Ridiculous.

I thought your suggestion of a "Plan B" was very good. And even if maybe your first communications might have crossed wires, you very nicely explained later what your intentions were.

But yeah, book, pfft. At this point, if the book is to have 400 pages, he has one page. I did some napkin math yesterday, and so far he covered 0.25% of his journey. That is, one 400th.

Little Darwin

Progress Report.

This one is pretty easy... 2 more days, same progress.



Go Eric Go!!!

indyfabz

That's because your good suggestion would get in the way of him getting more money out of people.

I was banned not long after this story broke. I am sort of glad. I waste enough time already. I will simply keep monitoring this thread for details of the final train wreck.

Time to go ride my bike.

bobotech

Well I'm going to jump into this thread. I have been close FB friends with Rollingblubbler for a few years now. He saw a picture of me on a fat guy magazine a few years ago and added me to FB and we became good friends because we are so alike. I was over 400 back then when we first met. Recently, 3 months ago, my wife passed away and I was at just 399 pounds. I have been riding my bike daily since april 1st of 2014 and haven't missed a day since. A lot of those days being 4 miles of pushing hard on my trainer, I admit. I just have been a terrible eater, my wife and I loved the carbs. I being 48 and newly widowed decided that I was going to take my weight loss seriously and changed all my eating habits and have gotten down to 337 pounds as of 2 days ago. I weigh myself at least every 3 days and it keeps me motivated. Rollingblubbler is always giving me inspiration and kudos. I used to be much more active here on BF back when I was a volunteer for my local non-profit low income bike co-op until they had to close down due to lack of funding.

I am utterly disgusted by this Eric fellow and his "wife". Here I am struggling alone to barely make ends meet, I gave up my computer career 5 years ago to become a full time unpaid caregiver for my wife who health was failing (in WA, spouses can NOT get paid to take care of them). My wife's biggest fear was being alone because of her problems so I chose to stay at home with her except when she had her paid caregiver which was a couple of hours a day during the week. When she died, she was with me and my caregiver, thank god. It has been a serious struggle, she didn't get normal disability since she had no work credits over her lifetime (she was a stay at home mom). We lost our home a couple of years ago. I'm right now trying to figure out how to pay my electric bill which is a month in arrears, LOL. It just sickens me that scammers like Eric are pretending to be these heroes to the fat community who are getting all this empathy and love and money from complete strangers who think Eric is an inspiration and yet people like me just keep on plugging away trying to lose weight and survive. I do get love from my FB friends which really keeps me going. I have gotten a few people who are complete strangers who have followed me or added me as friends and that also makes me feel good too that others are interested in my little life.

I dunno. I guess I'm just bitter at people like Eric who are going to make us look like idiots and cheats down the road. I am proud of my progress though. I'm attaching a picture of me going on a no-drop ride with some guys from a local bike shop last week. I was only able to keep up with them for the first 9 miles but then we got to the hills and I had to bail. They are all hard core roadies. LOL



If anyone is curious to follow me, feel free to look me up on Facebook, my name is Bo Snyder and my profile pic is of me on a boat with a red shirt. I do admit that I like the kudos and support from everyone and I am kind of a social networking butterfly I guess.

I just hope that Eric is shown the door when people realize what a sham artist he really is, I just feel bad for all the people who have given money and realize that they have been scammed.

WonderMonkey

Request sent. Flap those wings, butterfly.... flap those.... wings.

ColaJacket

@BobTech, if you like the kudos, make sure to do your rides on Strava and join the Clydes/Athena group on there.

Let us know who you are, and we can follow you, and give you kudos for your rides.

GH

PhotoJoe 

Fixed it for you! In a week or two, you'll keep up for 9 miles plus the first hill!!! Nice job!

OriginalFerbie

Well, there haven't been any updates yet from Eric today, but this was just posted on the page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

Little Darwin

@bobotech, I just made a friend request on FB.

I am in need of motivation for weight loss, and I have it with a friend, but maybe a more public weight loss effort would help to keep me accountable and dilute the "efforts" of people like Eric. I may even post some rides with MapMyRide

I see you just accepted my request... See you on Facebook!

bobotech

When I first started to get serious with weight loss 3-4 months ago, I just posted vague mentions ("I lost 4 pounds so far") rather than my actual weight but I realized that posting a picture of my medical scale with the numbers generates a lot more realism for me when I look back so I just said screw it, and started posting my weights publicly. I also generally post all my rides on FB via strava but I have gotten lazy about inputting my daily trainer rides, I need to update them, I'm missing about 6 over the last couple months that I have written down. I also joined a clyde group on strava but honestly I don't pay much to it?

Haff

Why the hell is he donating food? Dont get me wrong, donating to veterans is a cool thing, but he is supposed to be carefully managing his money so he can ride across the land. He is also supposed to be getting his wife on a bike and something else... what was it... no, wait, I'll remember... oh yeah. RIDING HIS ****ING BIKE!

JackoDandy

Oh the horror....the horror. Fat, lazy AND a heathen. Where's my pitchfork.

Let's all respond with how many more times we go to church than Fat-Guy AND we ride our bikes there - 50 miles each way and both ways UPHILL!!!

Perisphere

He donated food? Like he's bought so much food now he's donating some? WHA?

That is maybe the only full body photo I've seen of Mr. Hites. I really do not see how this man can ride a bike at all. I think he got on one and promptly bent the rims while maybe getting just a few yards. I think he got rides for the few miles he has gone. I had a friend who was over 500 lbs when he had weight loss surgery and I remember how he could barely sit on anything but a large and very substantial sofa. Very short walks would leave him winded. He was about Mr. Hites' age at the time.

As many have pointed out, there are NO photos of Eric actually riding. I doubt he ever has.

mahlers2nd

My take -- as someone who has more than once proclaimed that I was going to run or walk a marathon (and even signed up for 2) is that it was an impulse... seemed like a good idea at the time and you think "how hard can it be". I also have declared an intention to do 2 legs of a baby triathlon -- swim and bike. I swam as a kid, biked as a kid and still enjoy doing those things. But first time I went to swim laps, could barely get across the pool once -- much less a full lap. My first 2 bike rides yesterday -- barely 2.5 miles each... The reality sinks in: "crap, this is going to be REALLY HARD". And I haven't "made the mistake" of telling the world and taking their money to do it.

I still plan to plug away but I think this was an impulse -- just like eating a dozen donuts is an impulse. He probably had memories of being able to ride a bike as a kid and it didn't seem so hard then so should be able to do it now. But then he started taking money and becoming a media w**** and it really has snowballed out of control. There is no way for him to back out if this cleanly.

I applaud the Perisphere for offering him a logical and productive alternative -- it would have provided him a relatively clear exit strategy which would have allowed him to save some face... It is too bad that he didn't have enough sense and has too much pride to actually grab the lifeline.

I guess I have been driven by impulse to do something that is definitely beyond my ability. So I can understand that. If he admitted his mistake and said "look, I bit off more than I can chew -- I'm going to have to regroup and get a real plan together", I think even his most ardent supporters would, well, support that...

Instead, he is going to ride that bike off a public relations cliff... and when everyone turns on him, he will blame the world for his failures once again and probably use the money he has collected on high calorie binges... until he weighs 1000 pounds...