560-Pound Man Riding Bike Across Country to Save Marriage

When 560-pound Eric Hites was dropped off by his dad on the side of the road in Massachusetts with his $170 bike last month, nobody believed that he’d actually start pedaling across the entire country. But he had nothing to lose.

And he wanted his wife back.

At 40 years old and weighing more than a quarter-ton, Hites hit a wall in life. His estranged wife, already a widow, said she didn’t want to repeat the past. He couldn’t hold a job, in part because of his weight, and prospects in his hometown in Danville, Indiana, were scarce. Friends and loved ones were tired of his excuses, and so was he.

“I was just failing as a human being,” said Hites, a DJ, pizza maker, telemarketer. “You name it, I’ve done it.”

Today: Hites is 60 pounds lighter and 55 miles into the journey of his life. And a man who described himself as a miserable failure just a few months ago now finds himself in a story becoming bigger than, well, himself.

“Everyone seems connected to this story,” he said from a tent outside Bliss Congregational Church in Tiverton, a coastal town in Rhode Island where he’s been on a layover for more than a week. “Everyone is coming forward and wants to be a part of it.”

When he wobbled into town, his rims were warped from all the bumps in the road against his immense weight. His spirits were a bit dashed, his meager funds were dwindling and any sane soul would say he should probably call it quits.

“I get thinking a lot and parts of me scream ‘What are you doing? Go home you idiot. But I know I’m not going to do that.”

With not much cash left and a busted bike, he was thinking about rigging up a harness and pulling his trailer of 300 pounds of stuff like a horse, feet on the ground, heading forward.

From a post inside a Dunkin’ Donuts, Hites has been doing what he’s done since he first pushed off from the side of the road in Falmouth, MA, and that’s telling his story. A story of love for a woman, determination to shed not just weight, but the self-loathing and sadness that comes with it.

‘Bigger than just me’

It didn’t take long for word to spread, and on Friday, Hites will set off once again on a brand new bike donated by Newport Bicycle, supplies donated by the Tiverton Police Department, and a growing online community of thousands rooting for him and inspired by his story.

“I’m just trying to lose weight and build a new future for me and my family,” Hites said. “But now, it’s grown bigger than just me.”

Like many people who arrive at crossroads in life, Hites knew something had to change. And he was determined to finally follow through. After decades of falling short of expectations, it was time to prove everyone wrong — including himself.

A few months into the separation, he called his wife and said, “I’m going to change. I’m going to get my health back and give us a future.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she replied.

She thought he was all talk, as usual, but he was driven in part by a song by The Proclaimers: “500 Miles.”

“I told her, ‘I don’t think I can walk 500 miles, but I’ll ride my bike that far just to prove my love for you,’” Hites said. “’While on the road I’ll find somewhere for us to move, out of our crappy town, to start our life over again.’”

He started hitting the gym to prepare. He picked what he thought was a sturdy bike. He rigged a trailer to haul 300 pounds of stuff. And on June 10, after a long ride from Indiana, he was alone on the side of the road, watching his dad drive away.

And he was ready to pedal across the United States.

Overcoming obstacles

The initial goings were a slog. It turns out he got a bike with the wrong type of suspension and less-than-ideal gearing, so much of his energy was wasted. He labored to make progress, sleeping on the side of bike paths, in a hostel and sometimes resorting to a hotel room if no kind stranger offered a place. He posted his progress on his blog and on Facebook, though not many people noticed at first.

He kept pushing ahead as best as he could.

It didn’t take long for his wife to take notice. After two weeks, she realized that he’d actually meant what he said.

“When she realized I was gone, that I had left and actually was doing what I said, she said it pretty much was the most romantic thing,” Hites said.

Along the way he’s met artists, shopkeepers, craftspeople, tourists, young children, old men and women. He’s fought rain, heat, met up with a personal trainer in Martha’s Vineyard and attended church services in places of worship dotting the route. One night, he nearly lost all his charging gear and his wife’s diamond ring, but a friendly police officer saved the day and found it after multiple trips.

It has been lonely and there were occasions, “I get thinking a lot and parts of me scream ‘What are you doing? Go home you idiot,’” he wrote on June 27. ”But I know I’m not going to do that, but it still makes me feel like I’m never going to make it home, or hit my goal, or that I will fail and be a laughing stock and lose what I hold so dear.”

When he rolled into Tiverton about a week ago, Hites was facing yet another crossroads. It looked like he had won his wife back, but his bike was broken and the Herculean effort ahead was no less daunting than when he began. He could have stopped.

Afterall, he did win his woman back.

Community steps up

Things, though, have taken on a life of their own. His posts on Facebook made the rounds and messages started to pour in. Even after Newport Bicycle offered to give him a bike with a suspension set up for his frame, offers and messages kept pouring in. Meanwhile, his dwindling GoFundMe account started to balloon in value, increasing from a few hundred to nearly $3,500.

“I’ve had offers for 60 bikes now,” he said. “Everybody came through.”

By Wednesday, his story was starting to get national attention. The Beach Body network of personal trainers is working to launch a national campaign to get people moving with Hites as he pedals his way across the nation.

“When she realized I was gone, that I had left and actually was doing what I said, she said it pretty much was the most romantic thing.”

And most profound for Hites are the messages he has been getting from people who find themselves exactly where he was a few months ago: stuck, alone and overweight.

“This trip has so many meanings for me and now it seems to have so many meanings for everyone else,” he said. “This is my job now. To make it the whole way.”

As his coach said, “This is your job until you’re done. You job is to talk to people and do all of these things.”

And even if he wanted to quit, he can’t now. For a man who set off to save his life, he now finds himself the driving force for others to save their own.

“Everyone is counting on me now,” Hites said. “I don’t have an exact route or a plan. I’m taking it day by day, sort of letting myself randomly choose which roads to go on.”

Whatever route Hites takes, he’s blazing a trail. This “Fat Guy” has found a path that leads to a better future, and not just for himself.