JackoDandy

I was trying to keep quiet but I'm bemused.

How is this thread being OK'ed by the mods? The whole thread is nothing less than a bunch of 'clydesdale / athenas' with a mob mentality and obsessing on a 500 lb man who may or may not attempt a bike ride. For some reason, we are OK ragging on the guys marriage, his wife, his ethics, his weight, his morals, his honesty, his everything. Now we are posting pictures with titles such as 'fatty.jpg' and 'morononabikepizza.jpg' and nobody blinks an eye. Whether he's honest or not, where do we get off commenting on somebody's weight? I thought this forum was the one place a heavy person could visit and not see that stuff.

I'm sure glad you guys weren't around when I started at 315 lbs.

TrojanHorse

Interesting commentary since you are actually the guy that set off our previous visitor.

JackoDandy

How so? You mean the supposed relatives who had no other outlet than to immediately join and complain to strangers on a bike forum?

Does it not strike you as strange that this thread has numerous new members who are passionate about this guy and dragging him down? When I first joined it took me all my time to ask you fine folk about bike fit let alone posting sarcastic 'fatty' pics.

He may very well be a scam artist but we should draw the line at insulting his marriage and his size. He's a complete stranger to us.

If my disagreement gets me banned - so be it. I'm not sure I want to be a part of a group that perpetrates the very thing I joined to get away from.

imi

I kinda agree... This thread should be in "touring" or "general"... you guys in Clyde&Athena are too nice to have it mar your forum
btw I'm a skinny tourer, shouldn't be here anyhoo

scrming

because bottom line, the guy really just appears to be nothing more than a con artist looking to make a buck.... and i simply hate to see good hearted people get taken advantage of...

Willbird

Something made me do the math on his cigs today, 5 miles a day, if he and she each smoke 2 packs a day, $8000 at $5 a pack to go 2,000 miles, so the gofundme might be about right.

Nobody here thinks other people should fund their recreational exercise.

Bill

Perisphere

Even without the brother's comments, it's come out that the wife is engaged to another man and may be in on using the whole "save the marriage" angle to drive more donations. An earlier Indiegogo campaign that was only about doing a trip to lose weight didn't net him any money. The romantic twist was needed to appeal to the public's sympathy. According to other residents of their Indiana town, the both of them have colluded in the past to host sham benefits to bilk people out of donations.

I'm just glad I found this group as I have been wanting to get back to bike riding and I've needed something to get me going on it. I plan on being here. I'll be wrapping up a major project in late September and after that, I'd like to go ahead and shop for a bike and start riding on the lakefront path near where I live before it starts getting too cold.

Willbird

There is no such thing as "too cold" until it gets below 15F.



Be prepared to hit Target when they stock their winter workout stuff....IMHO they only get in ONE batch of Duo Dri stuff, I messed up last year and did not get a Baclava :-). Feet are the difficult part :-). I rode down to 16F last winter, will go colder this year :-). Those tires studs are carbide :-)......

nordek

I agree with Peri,I also am a new member,and got on this site because of FGAA.I wish he was on the level,it would be fun to watch his progress and read about his trip.But his lack of getting on his bike,has made me get on mine and ride more.And when he went viral,he opened himself up to all these comments.

JohnX

I just wish we had some boots on the ground in Newport to get some video for us on the grand restart. isn't someone here from Newport? I have noticed FMAA is cagey about saying where he is staying though.

JohnX

on a separate note, looking at the Newport Bicycle site, I notice they use the GURU bicycle fitting machine. which looks pretty cool. anybody know whether it really works? does it size seats also? is it expensive?

Willbird

The bike shop I'm on my way to in Granger, IN uses Guru, it is included with a bike purchase, or the whole fit is like 225 for a non Tri bike fit. I have never used it.

CatBee

I'm new here, but I didn't see it that way. The forum is clearly supportive and not judgmental about big people riding, and the thread is distancing the community from one guy who appears to be a con, which also serves the larger purpose. It is not empowering, supportive or helpful to any overweight rider to have someone practically making himself a caricature of a lazy fat guy claiming that he works out and is dieting. Or to put unrealistic expectations out there for those who are inspired to start. Reading his Facebook page or fitness group, overweight and obese people are talking about getting their bikes down or buying one. They're following him, but how will they feel and what will they do when they expect to lose 60 pounds in 2 weeks as he claimed? Or when they find out it's not a matter of showing up at Dunkin Donuts without a drop of sweat to post "just made 5 miles!" That it hurts and chafes and their rides will be short and their diets won't include cigarettes and an appetizer menu. He's setting a lot of people up to fail or to believe that they're in worse shape than him when they're not. And eventually to feel suckered for having believed in him and to lose faith in themselves. He's reinforcing the worst stereotypes and the stigma that makes it harder for the next guy to get on the bike or tie on the sneakers. When he ends the con and makes his final excuse so he can go home because he just can't go on, he's going to be sending the message to a lot of people that they can't either, and that's absolutely despicable.

So to me, distancing this forum from that kind of failure is good use. I'm new here and I realized right away what this space is about. I'm sure that others who might find it from FGAA will know too. Hopefully some of those who were inspired to start will come here and find real inspiration and support to keep going. That's what I expect for myself.

Editing to add: I'm also someone who worked hard to lose a lot of weight and I would love to see friends and relatives inspired by this guy. I do wish he was the real deal.

ShortLegCyclist

Spin Zone? Great folks there, much nicer and more accommodating than Albright's or Pro-Form.

ShortLegCyclist

Actually, anyone who is OK with publicly funded parks, bikeways, etc. does believe that, including me

GinnyRED57

It's too bad that now that the family members are banned, we won't get the more colorful detail. I could sympathize with the sister-in-law's aggro, I've also had to put up with a relative like Eric for about the same amount of time, and have a pretty short fuse about his many and manifest shortcomings.

At least Eric got to his start point with his comically disorganized stuff; part of my fascination with him is how he reminds me of my relative, except he's allegedly doing something to change his life. Also the way the stories and excuses and unmet goals never quite true up are disturbingly familiar to me.

JackoDandy

Well, when you finally do get your bike and excitedly post a pic of yourself sat on it, hopefully nobody posts a 'comical' rendition of of your picture with a caption balloon stating your'e on your way to '31 Flavors' for a cone, or titles the picture 'shamuGoesForACone.jpg' or similar. Apparently that's fine to do now on the forum.

We've opened the door on fat-shaming so if its done to FGAA, why not you supposed 'newbs' who will 'eventually' post riding pics and stories - after major projects of course.

You dont see the irony?

JohnX

Yep, we get it. From someone that has been well over 300 but now a svelte 270, I understand. Concentrate on the con, not the fat. I agree.

Who took the picture of the policeman talking to him? Again, not riding. Posing.

And again, I mention sit point pain. This has to be an issue. At least it is with me, still at 270. Which brings up the issue of seats. But, I digress. Seats are an altogether too complicated issue.

JackoDandy

Thank you sir. I started to feel I was in the wrong place. I agree it seems a scam, but I wasnt too far from his weight to make fun of it.

You probably know but two fine clyde seats are the Brooks B17 and the Titanico X - just my 2c.

Willbird

Yes spinzone :-). I bought a set of resistance rollers from them :-). As far as public parks and rails to trails for all heck yes :-). As to gofundme to buy plane tickets, tats, cigs, vehicle repairs,coca cola and Jack links kippered beefsteak....NO. For the folks who came here because of the Fraud Guy....don't be a fraud :-). Make a thread here....share who you are and what your goals are :-). Control your caloric intake (90% of the battle)...and do SOMETHING to raise your heart rate for at least an hour a day :-). I use and reccomend myfitnesspal, sign up and I'll be glad to add you as a friend there :-). These are just suggestions but many here do those things and are very successful :-).

JackoDandy

Call me gullible, but what if this thing started as a scam but then took off way beyond what FGAA expected. He then finds himself under tremendous media pressure to ride while also realizing that the ride IS funded.

Then, he gets on the bike and gives it a shot, gets hooked, and never looks back. There's a possible movie in there someplace....Stranger things have happened

PhotoJoe 

The mod team is in a constant no-win situation. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. But let me explain what's going on.

First, I've posted several times that this thread is very unique to the C/A forum. This forum is a very positive, supportive place for people to come and be open and honest with their journey and get support from like-minded people who have been there, done that...and succeeded. However, this thread is less about FGAA's weight than it is about the spectacle that he has deliberately made of himself. Is there a weight aspect to it? Absolutely. Will we discuss that? Yup. However, he has chosen to make himself a national story. He's even gone and hired a publicist! He's taken people's money, and done nothing but spend it without delivering on his stated goal. I'm not going to rehash any more. You know the story so far.

What we will not accept is fat-bashing. I've posted a couple of times that we will not tolerate that. The brief discussion about him taco'ing wheels because he's fat had to stop. Discussing his unique means of truing those wheels is fair game. Taking a jab at he and his "lady-friend" (I have no idea who she actually is to him) needing external apparatus to engage in sex because of their weight is unacceptable. I will admit that I think naming the image "fatty" was extremely tasteless, but where do we draw the line? Regarding the images with the bubbles, I think it's a jab at the fact that (again), he's taking peoples money for this amazing "weight loss journey" (his words, not mine) and has done nothing but sit around and eat a lot of really bad food, that's really expensive. Kobe beef burgers? Really?

The mod team is watching this thread very carefully, and trying to walk the fine line between maintaining the positive tone that this forum has always maintained and allowing an open and honest conversation. With that said, if there is something you feel crosses the line, please feel free to report it to the mod team. Clicking the little triangle with the exclamation point at the bottom-left of each post will put the post into the mod que for evaluation.

PhotoJoe 

I think we would all love to see that happen. Many, many people have stated that we fear it's a sham, but at the same time we hope to get to ride with him when he's in our area. I'm in SoCal, so I REALLY hope I get to ride with him on this adventure. If your scenario were to play out, he would become the face of determination and commitment to millions of people!

WonderMonkey

You are right. I made a joke earlier that was unacceptable. I will go remove it. I got too comfortable in this thread and took an easy shot. And to think I find myself passionate about helping others as I've been helped, and I make an easy joke? Not good.

I'll go find it and remove it.

JackoDandy

What a perfect opportunity for him though. Fully funded, and if he DID seriously try (crossed a full state etc), I'd throw a few bucks at him to keep him going.

There is one certainty, if he did give it a serious shot, he'd come out the other side a different person. Who knows, possibly life changing with an honest book (he claims to be a writer) on how a scam saved his life. I'd buy the book, but the journey comes first.