Chubby Super Biker has calves the size of cantaloupes, a bike called a Surly and a wife who tells him to get on it and ride when he gets cranky.

His real name is Ben Dinger. I've chatted with him on the phone. I've read his blog - www.chubbysuperbiker.com - and I know a few things about him from his home page.

Just a 31 year old guy with three kids, beautiful wife, two cats, and a minivan. Used to weigh 567 pounds, now I just love to ride my bike.

Who wouldn't want to meet a guy who could write a line like that?

Who wouldn't want to find out how a super chubby guy became a chubby super biker? (Who wouldn't want to just say "Chubby Super Biker" over and over again?)

We meet Wednesday on a Lincoln bike trail.

And pretty soon we're heading west on the Billy Wolf. He's got 215 pounds on me but I can't keep up.

Sometimes he gets "the look" when he's out on his Surly all geared up, says Ben, now 32 and weighing in at 350 - give or take an extra slice of pepperoni pizza.

The look that says: Slow Fat Guy.

Most of the time he has three words for those people as he passes them: On your left.

Ben didn't lose all his weight on the seat of a bike - but he took off the last 105 that way and found a new joy in life (and a wife and three kids) as he pedaled along.

He was always husky, says the Web master who moved to Lincoln when he was 5. He weighed in at linebacker size (240 or so) when he graduated from high school. Post-Pius X, he packed on the weight and eventually quit keeping track.

"I knew I was big," says Ben. "I knew I could no longer fit in an airplane seat."

He knew he couldn't walk the block and a half to work. He knew he had to get a second-floor apartment because he couldn't climb to the third.

He knew he was maxing out the big and tall man store in the Size-70 waist pants he couldn't even button.

"You know those fat guys who wore the shirt that was a little too short, but he didn't know it and his stomach showed? That was me."

But he didn't know, until the day he walked into a local weight loss clinic, how big big was.

His sister had begun Optifast, a medically supervised program, and she talked him into an appointment.

How much do you think you weigh? the staff asked.

Ben ventured a guess. 400?

Maybe 425.

He stepped on the scale, one of those big suckers, the kind for weighing freight, or cattle.

567? 567 pounds?

It took him two years to say the number out loud. But he signed up for the program that day. The weight flew off and he started feeling good.

The first time he tried to exercise he collapsed after 15 minutes on the treadmill.

"I went home, passed out at 7:30 and was late for work the next morning."

Ben is laughing. That was four years ago.

And one summer day last year he rode his bike 135 miles. Up and down gravel roads. Sunup to sundown.

He wrote about that on his blog, too. He writes and writes about his bicycle adventures.

In the beginning he had a blog to let friends and family know about his weight loss progress. Optifat, he called it.

Along the way he was injured in a car accident, packed on some pounds and ended up picking up his brother's old mountain bike.

"I got on the MoPac and within five seconds I was grinning and smiling. It was like my childhood came back in those few seconds."

He started Chubby Super Biker a few months later. He started dating a woman named Jessica, too. They married in September 2007 (he rode his bike to the wedding). He's adopting her two kids and they have a toddler together. They just bought a house. He's nearly finished with college. He has a job he loves.

"He took it to heart, the whole lifestyle change," says biking buddy Oliver Banta. "He's just inspiring to people who need some motivation."

Ben says he couldn't imagine any of this four years ago.

He's learned a lot. That's why he started the blog. Not just to rave about biking, but to let people know anything is possible.

"Like right now, I'm still 350 pounds, I still have probably 150 pounds to go. It's daunting."

He's gained weight, he says. And lost it again. But he keeps looking forward.

Each year he hopes he weighs a little bit less and rides his bike a little bit more.

We ride Wednesday. Against the wind and then with it, pushing us back home. I say goodbye east of downtown, watching Chubby Super Biker - a super nice guy - heading for the edge of town.

There's a picture of Ben at his heaviest on his blog. A huge guy in a ball cap, spilling over a chair, looking down.

I used to cringe at that picture. I hated that picture. Now I kinda dig it, you know?

You know what else I dig? My bike. I rode it today. It missed me. I missed it…

Life is good. Very very good.

Reach Cindy Lange-Kubick at 473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com.