Independent Lens

[Door opens] [Door shuts] Man: This scar right here is from 1995, the very first surgery.

that was the emergency surgery that they did.

This scar is also from 1995.

This was my second open-heart surgery.

This scar here is where they opened my chest.

I can always hear my chest pop like your ankles would pop.

One of the issues that they had with my third surgery is being able to harvest enough veins.

Probably the scariest thing, though, was when they were preparing me for that surgery and my body rejected the dye, and I flatlined.

I was dead on the table at that point.

I needed to make a change.

My thought process was I'm not going out like this.

I'd rather go out exercising and being healthy than going downhill with more and more medications.

[Static] You're out.

Man two: Out?

Woman: Was it?

I couldn't tell.

It was out.

Man 3: First serve in 20 years.

Agh!

Man, voice-over: I was in a conversation with my son's fiance.

She was talking about how she loved to play tennis.

[Camera shutter clicking] "I played tennis.

I used to play a lot of tennis.

I'm sure I can hit the ball back and forth to you."

Tennis was one of his sports, something that he played often when we were little kids.

It's been a long time.

Son: You remember when you were really good at something, but age and time can remind you that you're not the same person anymore.

Oh, come on.

Woman: With all the breathing and him... [Breathing heavily] it was a wakeup call for Him.

Man, voice-over: I saw myself spiraling downhill with my health.

I decided to do something about it, and I don't know what made me buy a bicycle, but I bought a bicycle.

I walked to the bicycle shop, which was 3 miles away.

Surprisingly, I wasn't really well-received in the bike stores.

I basically went in and said, "Hey, I'm looking for something in this price range," and they were basically saying, "We have nothing in that price range."

I was really nervous.

I'm like, "What did I just do?

"I just spent all this money on this bike.

I can't even ride it home."

From that point on, 3 times a day, I would ride the bike around the block, which is a quarter of a mile, and that was a big achievement for me.

I just kept riding, and I'm continuing to ride today.

When I'm riding, it's a feeling that-- it's almost out of body.

It's rhythmic.

I have no concept of time or space or how fast I'm pedaling or how fast we're going.

I'm just in a groove, and we're just rolling... and I remember my quarter-mile rides, where my legs are burning, and now when I ride, my body isn't ready to ride until I hit, like, mile 10.

If I don't ride for two days, I literally go through withdrawals.

Woman: Your last name Man: Seals.

For Donnie.

Donnie, voice-over: This is the first time that I've gone a year without an appointment, which is big.

Normally I come every quarter, and the last one, he said, "Hey, I'll see you in a year."

I said, "Hey, that sounds good."

Woman: Donnie Lee Seals?

Yes, ma'am.

-Hi, how are you?

-Pretty good.

Donnie, voice-over: I come home one day and I told Mom-- I was like, "There's no way that I can have a heart problem with the hills that I climbed today."

Found my cardiologist, and he said, "Donnie, you don't need this medicine," so he slowly started taking me off pill by pill.

It wasn't overnight.

It was over a period of two years.

Turned out to be about 20 pills a day to be able to stay on this Earth.

I was talking to Mom, and I was concerned about the money that I was spending on bikes, and she made a comment that we spent more money on this medication than I'm spending on bikes.

My cardiologist says my biking is my medication, so as long as I'm biking, I should never have to go back to this stuff, so...

I ride, [Doorbell rings] -Hey, man.

-What up?

Not a whole lot.

You got the loud blue.

They look small.

Woman: OK, but you supposed to fit tight.

They supposed to fit tight though, right?

Takes a while to feel it.

You got to feel it.

[Beep] There you go.

You got to--it takes a while to--yeah.

What?!

Son, voice-over: This cycling journey that my dad is on has really hit the entire family.

My sister got a Peloton.

My brother got a bike.

Son two: It is February-- I'm sorry, not February-- August 5, 2017.

Mr.

Seals and I are going on our first bike ride since I bought my new bike.

Today, I am riding with Donnie Seals Sr. About to get a 35-mile ride in.

We about to head out on a path, do a little different ride today.

About to take this ride.

I don't know where we're going, but he knows Mr. Donnie Seals Sr. showing me what he's doing every day on a regular basis.

Donnie: You got me.

On that piece of ... bike, too.

Ha ha ha!

Wife: They are competitive, but they push each other in a good way.

[Belches] Oh, excuse me.

Wife: My husband was excited for my son to get a bike.

Now he's got a partner that they could do this journey together.

[Line ringing] Donnie: Hey man.

Son: What up, sir?

Not a whole lot.

Did you see that link I sent you?

Yeah, I did.

There's a big difference in doing 100 one day and then doing 80 the next day.

Heh heh.

I don't think I'm ready for this.

No.

What's the distance from here to Carbondale?

I'm not sure.

That's under 400.

It would've to be, like, a destination.

It'd have to be, like, Chicago to St. Louis.

That's another option.

Chicago to St. Louis.

[Clicking mouse] Eric: We were talking about a one-way trip.

The destination from St. Louis to Chicago.

Donnie: Right.

Do you think you can ride that?

-Uh, I have reservations.

-OK. To do that in 4 days would be very aggressive for me.

So from St. Louis to Springfield... 105 miles.

OK.

So Springfield.

Springfield to Bloomington 66 miles.

OK, that's doable.

Bloomington to Joliet.

So that's 100 miles.

-OK. -OK. An then Joliet to Chicago.

That's, like, obviously 40.

That's 45 miles.

Wife: I don't think Dad could have imagined riding this far.

I think he really looked forward to it when his son came up with the idea because my son is always thinking about-- I call them crazy things or things that seem impossible.

Donnie: You've never ridden a century before?

Eric: No.

Longest I've done is 66.

Well this is what we need to do between now and that trip.

We need to ride at least 3 days in a row to see how your body's gonna respond.

Why are you keep saying me?

My body, too.

OK, but you keep saying "Let's see how you're gonna respond."

-I'm--look.

-How our bodies-- Mentally, I'm still 18, so--ha ha ha!

Yeah, but when you get on a bike and start doing 100 miles, your body will say, "You are not 18 anymore."

That's true.

Son: I felt like this ride from St. Louis to Chicago was a good test to show my dad how far he had come.

It was on a Christmas day.

The weather was fantastic.

I'll never forget.

Like, 63, 64 degrees.

Donnie was a good golfer at the time, and I was a good golfer, and we enjoyed the game, so I'm like, "Hey, man.

Let's get the clubs and go to the golf course."

Donnie got up to the ball, swung.

[Men chattering] That's right.

Curtis: As soon as he hit the ball, he went down like somebody shot him, and we was, like, nervous.

We was like, "Hey, you all right?"

Got back up, and he like, "Yeah, I'm OK man.

"I don't know what happened.

I just--I just passed out."

Later on that week-- I think it was on a Tuesday before it really happened.

Woman: He was in a meeting where he was about to get promoted to director.

Donnie: And I started getting this flush feeling like I had drank too much coffee, and I was telling one of the guys--I said, "Man, I'm not feeling right," and he said, "Hey, let's go to the emergency room, and I'll go with you."

[Siren] Today's ride was the beginning of the training for our ride from St. Louis to Chicago.

This dude is already punking out.

Donnie, voice-over: I have several concerns about the ride coming up.

I've done a century before, but to do two centuries in a week is a concern.

Think it's a mental aspect that I have to get over.

Sir, you are worrisome.

Ooh!

you are flip-floppy Every other day.

That's what I'm saying.

What did you want to say other than that you don't want to do it?

That is not what you texted me.

Oh, I know that.

[Static] Nikki, watch me!

See the camera's on me?

You go like this.

Then put your hands down.

Go like this, go like that.

Put your hands up, hands down.

Donnie: OK, y'all ready?

Here we go.

[Indistinct chatter] Donnie, voice-over: My family in the late eighties consisted of my wife Sharon...

This is the night before Christmas at the Seals' house.

Donnie, voice-over: my son Donnie Jr., and my daughter Nicole.

Donnie Jr.: And Nikki's gonna give me a Fisher Price camera.

I'll give you lucky Rainbow Brite!

Donnie, voice-over: At the time that we were moving to Wheaton, Sharon was pregnant with our third child.

Donnie: You gonna do touchdown for me, man?

Donnie Jr.: Touchdown!

You gonna do touchdown for me this morning?

All right.

All right.

[Kids laughing and cheering] Donnie, voice-over: Financially, we were struggling a little bit just trying to make it primarily from day to day.

We felt that being in Wheaton in a primarily white environment was also good because we felt that would be the environment that they would be working in and be exposed to Probably a lot of.

Donnie Jr.: Wheaton, Illinois was not a very diverse town.

As I'm growing up in Wheaton, I didn't think about my Blackness, but white kids in the neighborhood reminded me of my Blackness, especially in school.

Fa fa fa Our family was friends with the few Black families that were in the--like, the 10-mile radius, and the other two Black families were both named Johnson.

My father worked at IBM, and as a kid, that's really the extent of what I knew of his job.

Donnie: I became a software instructor for IBM, teaching machine code, machine language to the people that actually wrote the code.

We lived in a split-level house, and there was a computer room, and I would go into the room, and I would play pinball.

Donnie Jr.: In school, we had to write out these Bible verses.

I loved the fact that I could go home and type them, and so Dad would come down and set up the computer.

It was almost like he had to warm it up because he'd start it, he's like, "OK.

I'll let you know when it's ready to go."

Nikki: And I think there's even a picture of me once we got a mouse, the mouse you had to open up and take the ball out and clean because of all the lint.

And sometimes I was afraid I was misspelling a word.

He's like, "Hey.

don't worry about this.

"There's new technology on it called a spell check."

Then it would print it out on a dot matrix printer, and that would take, like 15, 20 minutes.

Nikki: I didn't know that he was a systems engineer.

I didn't know that before he got to IBM he worked at John Deere.

At a young age, I don't think it ever crossed my mind whether he liked his job or not.

He never said, "I love my job."

He never said, "I don't like my job."

Sharon: When we first got married, I think it was just "I have to find something to provide for my family," So once he got the IBM job, I thought we had made it, but then the complaints start coming.

Donnie: Working at IBM was indicative of our society at that time.

The racial environment of IBM mirrored our society.

Nikki: He often tells a story of this project he was working on where he had to figure out this code, and if he didn't figure out the code, he was gonna be fired, and he worked all night.

I think there were maybe an hour or two left before he had to deliver it, and he hadn't figured it out, and he called my mom Sharon to tell her that he was sorry, and when he was on the phone he said, "I got it."

People put you in situations because they want you to fail.

As soon as you figure out how to succeed in one area, they turn up the heat.

Woman: We know that stress actually has a direct impact on heart health.

Stress can also come from racism and discrimination.

The discrimination that we experience or perceive directly correlates with stress, which raises certain chemicals in our body so it causes our heart rates to get higher, causes our blood pressures to get higher as if we are running away from a huge animal or a huge monster.

Donnie: Right now, I feel a little rundown, a little tired.

I feel like I'm a little behind in my training for St. Louis.

I physically am intimidated by it.

Donnie: This is my pre-meal.

Eric, voice-over: His biggest struggle to me is he mentally psychs himself out.

I think he's scared to do it just because it's unknown.

[Indistinct chatter] Woman: I have good intentions.

It's a big community, D. Donnie Jr.: I felt like cycling could be a huge thing for my dad when he joined a club.

[Camera shutter clicking] My dad is really just an introvert.

Doesn't really like being around people all that much, but cycling made him excited to be around people.

That's a new jersey!

Can I give you a hug?

-Yeah.

-Oh, my goodness!

It's so nice to see you.

Who are you riding with today?

I'm riding with John.

We're riding the triple.

Ah, wow!

Donnie Jr.: To see him jump into this new thing socially, it almost made, like, a new person.

-Hey, Eric.

How you doing?

-What's up, Donnie?

-How you doing, man?

-OK. How about yourself?

Good.

Real good.

You guys cutting out?

Look like you're ready to go.

You guys cutting out pretty soon?

Donnie Jr.: Cycling is something that he could have done by himself, but I think he loved it so much he wanted to join other people that were like him.

Donnie: We're gonna ride from St. Louis to Chicago.

Woman: The Route 66.

Woman two: You look great.

Donnie: I'm doing good.

I'm doing good.

From when I first met you, you've tightened up.

You've really done well.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Thanks.

And I think when I first met you, you were getting into biking to rejuvenate yourself after your-- I've had some medical issues, and biking has turned it around quite a bit.

It's good to see him socialize.

I feel like a proud child.

Donnie: Hey, that's my group.

That's my group.

Hey, Eric!

Eric!

We're rolling!

Now he calling me to get into gear.

Singers: Ooh, ahh Ooh, ahh Eric: I feel out of shape.

I'm tired.

Tried to stay with a fast group for about 5 miles.

Donnie: I'm not a pickle lover.

I love pickles.

But a pickle today versus that ... you're eating, night and day, man.

I just had 3.

Oh, OK.

I'm gonna have two more before I leave.

That salt.

Yo, that water you gave me is pure nasty.

-Oh, really?

-It's disgusting.

It tastes like chalk.

Did you shake it up?

I figured you did.

I got to shake it up again?

You didn't tell me there was instructions with the water.

[Panting] We just did the hard part.

So you're coming from St. Louis and you're at mile 50, and you got... Got to keep going.

you got 60 more to go.

Ha ha ha!

Eric: Miss Sharon Seals.

Sharon: Yes.

How you feel about your husband?

-How old is he?

-67.

And What's about to happen?

He is going to get a tattoo.

Men go through mid-life crisis, so I'm not surprised that he is doing this.

It's a lot cheaper than getting a Maserati.

Donnie: Scar will be kind of like a line for it, so when I'm riding, you know, it'll be in my face, and it's for me, it's not for anybody else.

It's a reminder to me that I need to continue to live this.

Hey.

How you doing?

Hey.

Real good.

I have an appointment with Nano.

-Sounds good, man.

-Yeah.

So I'll need to get your I.D.

-OK. -got to confirm.

You're 18, man.

Oh.

You think?

I ride my bike like this, so I'm thinking just above-- right there is good, yeah.

Woman: There we go.

Donnie: That's it.

Nano: Good?

Donnie: That's it.

I don't know what to expect in terms of this, but I'm relating this discomfort to my whole journey and my riding.

Nano: The number one thing to do when getting it is just to relax.

I guarantee you've been through much worse than anything you're gonna feel tonight.

[Tattoo gun buzzing] Donnie, voice-over: that right there is-- is no--it's different pain.

It's a different feeling.

Uh, no.

It was a little more pain than this.

Donnie With them checking out my heart with the angioplasty, my arteries ruptured, and from there, open-heart surgery was mandatory because I was bleeding.

Nikki: I didn't understand that he was gonna be rushed to surgery.

I didn't understand the severity.

Sharon: There are things that stick out like the doctor saying to me, "You over there crying.

"That's not gonna help him.

"Right now, we need to get him to the operating room, so you to get it together."

[Heart monitor beeping] Donnie: Open-heart surgery is them cracking your chest open, spreading it apart with prongs, and bypassing blocked arteries with other arteries that they have harvested from your body.

Curtis: I mean Donnie probably at that time was only, like, I want to say 41, 42, at the most 43.

He was a very young man.

Man: There is no disease in the entire human body that produces a symptom in its earliest stage.

That blood vessel block it just wasn't there.

It was everywhere.

If it gets bad enough there, you get blockage enough to your brain.

We call that a stroke.

If it happens in the heart, we call that a heart attack.

If it happens in the legs, we call it peripheral vascular disease, but it's all the same disease caused by the same problem, and none of the procedures that we do actually reverse that.

We can make the blood pressure number better, but it doesn't mean the blood pressure's gone away.

Man: Down.

Come up a little bit.

-Down.

Stop -OK. -Come back down.

-OK. That's one.

The deeper you go, the more you're gonna engage all your muscles and your glutes.

Oh, man.

-You feel that, right?

-Yeah.

Good job.

Keep your-- OK.

Stand.

You want to go up.

You're gonna drive over the top.

Donnie, voice-over: When I got out of the hospital, I was nowhere near where I am now in terms of my health.

I was just pretty much surviving Eric: Mr.

Seals is here.

Pick me up for this Dayton trip.

He is ready to go.

I know he was ready at, like... 3:00 a.m.

I bet Eric: You ready?

Donnie: Me?

Uh-huh.

I don't know.

Ask me that when we get over this first hill.

Ha ha ha!

Donnie: A little anxious for today.

Be happy when get started and get rolling.

No breakfast this morning.

Eric: Cool, and I'm ready.

I had some M&M's and some pickles.

Eric: About to get this ride in.

I'm about to get this--what?!

About to get these 62, 65 miles in.

Donnie: I'm not up yet.

He is, and I've had coffee Geared up.

Not quite matching how I want to, but I got my A Phi A 1906 on.

I got blue shoes on, but we ain't gonna talk about that right now.

Clear.

We're good.

Roll.

-Hey, now.

-Hello, gentlemen.

-Hello.

Yeah.

-It's all good.

-Good?

-It's all good.

Yep.

Man: I hear you're a recovered heart person Donnie: Several times.

That's incredible.

Several times.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

Congratulations.

Yeah, thanks.

Man two: I was telling them about your story.

Donnie, voice-over: The ride was-- for me, it was tough.

[Timer beeps] Donnie: All right.

Here we go.

I'm pacing myself on this.

Eric: So I think we at the beginning of that hill we was talking about-- let me shift gears.

I think we had the beginning of that hill.

There--not enough.

OK. Oh, yeah.

This is definitely the beginning of it.

[Breathing heavily] Good morning.

Hey, good morning.

All right, man.

Let's roll.

Eric: All right.

Let's go.

Donnie: Come down a little further.

Donnie: No power yet?

Eric: None.

You supposed to get some from the food.

Donnie, voice-over: We have about 9 weeks before St. Louis.

On a scale from 1-10, 10 being I'm ready to do St. Louis, I'm saying I'm a 2, maybe a 3.

Eric, voice-over: I'm not ready right now, and that's the whole purpose of Joliet and Dayton was to see where we're at, and now we have two months to get ready.

It's, uh, 5:17.

I'm in the middle of nowhere.

Donnie: This is the entire route to Chicago.

It's gonna be a tough 4 days, man.

These are the tires I'm putting on, Continental 4000s.

What is our longest?

It's gonna 100-something?

Donnie: I'm looking at Route 66.

We're actually on Route 66.

So, man, this is a 4 lane highway.

It looks pretty busy.

I was supposed to ride with my dad this morning, but I couldn't wake up.

Right now, he's moving pretty nicely.

Eric: How you feeling?

Donnie: Tired.

Very.

My bike got stolen yesterday.

What?!

Oh, man.

Yo.

They got super flies out in the country.

That's from a fly.

Donnie, voice-over: I'm embracing the pain.

I'm not avoiding the pain.

The quality of life that I'm having now is so much better than what I had 20 years ago.

Eric: So how am I supposed to know when you fall back?

Watch him complaint when he comes up.

Donnie: Can't imagine doing a century tomorrow.

Cannot imagine it.

[Indistinct chatter] -You good to go?

-You good?

Whoa!

Eric: It was kind of scary.

I ain't gonna lie.

Thankfully, two guys grabbed my--my arms and pulled me up and dragged me out.

Ha ha ha!

Kind of busted up my knee.

Sharon: OK, so tell me about your ride today, looking so good Going on a century.

We are riding to DeKalb, 110 miles.

You know, I don't see you, don't you?

110 miles.

Sharon: I'm so proud of them.

All right.

Wish we luck.

-OK. -Pray for me.

Oh, yeah.

I pray that y'all gonna have a safe trip.

As long as y'all get along, I ain't worried about nothing.

Oh, we get along because we ain't gonna be talking.

Ha ha ha!

Eric, voice-over: Pretty much told me a whole bunch of rules when they ride.

I'm like, "Ugh.

Bro, I'm just trying to ride the bike."

I ain't worried about cadence or zones or speed or anything.

I'm just trying to ride the bike.

Man: All right, guys.

let's kind of run through an inventory real fast.

Because this is a training ride, I want to limit the amount of conversation because you use a lot of energy when you're talking.

[Timer beeps] Eric: He devised a plan where he's like, You're gonna switch every 5 miles."

Man: Because the two of you all are training for the St. Louis route, I want you all to get used to doing work because you're not gonna have anybody helping you on the ride, so, like, Donnie have a hard time drafting.

Even when he draft, he doesn't draft directly.

He's off to the side.

Eric, voice-over: When we were practicing as we were training, I didn't realize that the biggest hurdle was actually going to be teamwork or cooperation with my own dad.

Man: Go ahead and catch the draft.

All right.

So what I did here is sort of an experiment, and I let it go because I wanted it to be a teachable moment.

Once you set a pace, the person that's leading the group at that point, you in control.

Eric: How you doing?

Donnie: My legs are hurting like hell.

Because every time I get in the front, you he-man and say, "Ooh, let me get in the front."

Yeah, no, I'm just trying to share the pace.

On that headwind, I know it's tough.

Yeah, but you ain't even letting him get 5 miles in before you jumping.

Yeah, you jumping so early.

Make sure y'all sharing the load.

You ain't sharing the load if you keep jumping, and you definitely ain't sharing the load if he's fresher than you right now.

And I wanted to hear Mike tell my dad that because my dad won't listen to me, but he'll listen to Mike, so I'm like, "You know what?

If he says it, then it'll be good," so I'm gonna just be quiet.

I'm gonna play my role.

Donnie: I was trying to carry my load.

Sharon: My son and my husband have a strong personality, and when they clash, they go separate and my thoughts were, "Oh, my goodness.

they've gotten into it, and Dad went his way, and Eric went his way."

I got to step over here.

This man... Donnie Seals Sr., AKA He-Man, decides that he wants to do his own thing, so he starts going out faster.

I'm just like, "Yo, that's not the pace we talked about."

I tell him about it while we ride.

I'm like, "You OK?"

Like, "Yeah, I'm fine."

You know what I'm saying?

Because you can't tell a father nothing.

It's just like this would be a lot easier if we do it together, but he's not on that right now, so I'm not gonna embarrass him because he's out here with, you know, other people.

I'm not gonna lie.

Like, You shouldn't want to ever cuss your father out, but I want to cuss him out right now because he's really pissing me off.

Yo.

Mile 85.

I'm done with this.

Heh.

Almost 90.

I'm so tired.

My dad straight up left me after I...pulled the group for damn near 75 miles.

Now they all fresh, and I'm slacking back here, and they all left me, but when they slowed down, I would slow down so that they can get my draft, But do they do that for me?

Look.

Hey.

Good morning, Tom.

Tom: Good morning!

Donnie: Oh, it wasn't tight enough.

No.

Tom, voice-over: I am looking primarily for any adjustments that need to be done, worn out parts.

Just the basic stuff that for a long ride like this you got to depend on.

I think what's going on here is this is just worn, so all I did was take the front end up and...

Saw that.

Saw that.

Yeah.

Tom voice-over: anytime you're trying to do 60 to a 100 miles, that's a long way for the human body.

You got to be able to rely on your equipment.

All the training that they've done leading up to this has built them up so that they can handle 6 to 10 hours on the road and then just to be able to believe your bicycle's not gonna fall apart on you.

Eric: You said you were gonna put some different type of tires on.

I have the Gatorskins to take with us.

I'm going to leave these on, and hopefully nothing will happen, but I got the Gatorskins, which will fit your bike and my bike.

Eric: No, your audio is connecting.

You're not connected yet.

There's a prompt that says, "Connect your audio."

All right.

so check this out.

Day two goes right through downtown.

Eric, voice-over: Tomorrow, we're leaving for our ride from St. Louis to Chicago as a celebration for my dad's 5 years of transformation, purchasing a bike, changing his life.

Inner tube and tools.

This is in case we break down.

I got my CO2 cartridges.

I don't know if the weather's gonna get cold, like cold in the morning.

What is that?

-These are arm warmers.

-Oh.

So I just take them off in the middle of the day if it gets too hot.

But you can only wear that with one jersey.

Why?

Because it matches.

Heh.

Ha ha ha!

Eric: Thankfully, my dad is an overpacker.

I'm mostly focusing on the things that are gonna be on my bike and the clothes that are gonna be on my back.

I would typically pack triple that just for the amount of days you're going.

Triple that?

I'm not working.

I'm riding.

I know.

Donnie: To accomplish this ride is very important to me just because of where I've come.

I look back at 5 years ago and see where I was, and the fact that I'm riding from St. Louis to Chicago, it was not something that I would even dream of.

Does this match?

That technically goes.

Sharon: They have found what's bonding them together in a hobby sort of way.

I think when you work together, ride together, you find a commonality with family members when you find things that you have in common.

Eric: I'm excited to ride with my dad.

I'm glad that we're going through this challenge together.

Throughout the trip, I constantly was thinking about "You're riding with the version of yourself 30 years later."

Donnie, voice-over: My thoughts go all over.

I was thinking about St. Louis and enjoy being with my son, thinking about how blessed I am just to be able to do it.

Eric: Oh!

It's crazy.

Wow.

This is amazing.

It's a good starting point.

Donnie: Yeah, it is.

Eric: Ha ha!

About to start day one.

First day is gonna be about a hundred and some miles.

Donnie: I'm anxious.

I'm ready to go.

A little nervous about the unknown because I've never ridden this route, obviously I'm excited.

All right, sir.

Donnie, voice-over: Leaving St. Louis was interesting.

We had our route all set.

It's kind of confusing.

Just keep going.

It's definitely this way.

100% Eric: Wait, wait, wait.

Is that it?

No, we're way--uh... we're way off.

It's way--way up there.

Donnie: We got 2/10 of a mile, and we take a right.

Eric: Yeah, so let's just go up on the street.

Oh, OK. Eric: So right now, we can't even get out of St. Louis.

Heh.

All the trails are blocked.

In theory when you're creating your route, doing it from a digital map, but then there's the real world.

Is that the path?

Is this it right here?

Donnie, voice-over: So it took us a little maneuvering to get on the path and then be able to go across the bridge.

Eric: McKinley Bridge.

Well, let's hope that's the hardest part of the route for the next 4 days.

Donnie: Most confusing part anyway.

Most confusing part, getting out of St. Louis.

Leaving Missouri.

Leaving Missouri.

Almost made it to Illinois.

Woman: I believe Anywhere I want to go I believe The places that I want to see I've got the drive inside The will to live this life I'm stronger than I think And the journey's up to me We kicking it up a little bit.

Donnie: Oh, am I?

Eric: Yeah.

Donnie: No.

Slow me down, man.

We ain't getting anywhere today.

Eric: We're not gonna break too long because We learned that if you take long breaks, one, it makes the ride take forever, and, two, you start to get cold.

Eric: I'm good on water.

You haven't been drinking?

-Barely.

-Yeah.

I'm gonna get some water.

That pickle juice, though.

That pickle juice hit.

Whoo!

Eric, voice-over: That pickle juice, that's crazier than a shot.

It hit my chest harder than any vodka, any tequila, anything I've ever taken.

Let me take a shot of my Jack Daniels real quick.

Whoo!

Donnie: Early on I said I'd know how I feel after mile 10.

Eric is going a little fast at times, but-- Eric: Tell me to slow down.

It's all good.

It's all good.

Tell me to slow down.

No.

It was just that incline.

OK. No, Dad, still you can tell me to slow down.

Donnie: Yeah.

The 13.15 we're riding is good.

So what are we?

At mile...24.

Ooh.

You are checking a lot for us not hitting 50 yet.

He doesn't like it when I say where mile 10 in, and I said, "99 to go."

Donnie: I think it was 3 months later I was back at work.

I was still complaining of cardiovascular sensations.

Sharon: He's intuitive with his body, and he said, "Something's not right," and when he complained to his doctor about that, he gave him some flip answer.

"Well, we opened you up like a chicken.

What do you expect?"

Donnie: I was constantly told that it was post-surgical pain that I was feeling.

I was positive that it was not.

Nikki: He came into my room, and he just said, "They're going to have to cut on me again."

Donnie Jr.: I worked at Outback Steakhouse.

The night of the surgery, I told the manager that night-- I'm like, "Hey.

I don't think I can work tonight."

The next day, Outback sent a bunch of food to my house, but all the food that Outback Steakhouse sent was food that we shouldn't have been eating.

You know, The Bloomin' Onion, cheeseburgers, steaks, fries.

their hearts were in the right place, but that wasn't a good gift.

Sharon: We started a search for another cardiologist.

He always felt like something wasn't right at that first hospital.

Briggs-Malonson: There's a lot of good reasons why sometimes the Black community does not trust healthcare systems, and it goes all the way back to when the very first enslaved African was brought to this country, where there was intentional medical neglect in order to oppress them, so various different medical care was withheld even when the slaves were sick.

They were placed in squalor conditions so that they couldn't be as strong in order to potentially fight back against the white masters but strong enough to go and work.

The issue around, you know, Black men and distrust of the healthcare system has some really strong and well-known historical underpinnings.

Oftentimes, we think first of Tuskegee and the syphilis experiments.

Essentially African-American men were allowed to have syphilis and not undergo treatment.

At that time, it was done by highly educated scientists and physicians, but I think it goes beyond that.

I think the distrust now comes from our inability to deliver high-quality healthcare services to everybody equitably.

When folks go into the hospital and they literally are treated differently, when they go into the hospital and they tend to die at higher rates, when we live 7 years younger than any other racial and ethnic group, including Black women, then, yeah, I mean, you're not gonna trust the system that produces those outcomes.

Donnie: I chose to have the break as far into the ride as I could, so we had our break at mile 80, which is really deep into the ride.

-Put your mask on.

-Hmm?

You want to have your mask on?

Nobody else does.

What's that got to do with anything?

Can't have it on to eat.

Huh?

Can't have it on to eat.

You're not eating.

I'm out of gas.

Woman: All out?

Donnie: Yeah.

I have nothing.

It's kind of hitting me that we're really doing this thing, even though I'm tired.

I mean, we got 3 more days.

It's always a range for me where I'm just like, I don't want to do this anymore.

Yeah.

When you get to a point, you just want to go.

That's how I get.

I asked myself, like, 20 times, like, "Why did I come up with this idea?"

Oh, that beer looks good.

All right.

Can we get back to the hotel first?

-I'm sorry.

-This dude.

Maybe I'll get a shot when I get to the hotel.

Get me a shot of tequila.

That's the first thing I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna go to the bar, and I'm gonna get me a shot of tequila.

A double shot.

Donnie: How's it going?

Woman: It's going pretty good.

Looks like it's gonna rain, though.

Yeah, I know.

I'm gonna get wet today.

Where's your next stop?

-Uh, Springfield.

-Springfield?

That's a good place to stay overnight.

Hey, ladies.

Thanks for everything.

Appreciate it.

Woman: Yes.

Have a beautiful journey.

Eric: Watch the dog!

Watch the dog!

Dog!

Dog!

[Dog barks] You already Boohoo already Oh, you want me to fall Fall from the top They want me to drop, they want me to stop They want me to go Already on ... that I'm on [Timer beeps] This is my longest century.

Donnie, voice-over: Positive is this was the longest day.

I'm concerned about day 3.

Day 3, we ride a century again.

Now this picture is after my surgery.

Boy, I'm looking at my stomach.

It's pretty big.

Glenn Thomas died of a heart attack shortly after this.

Recovery for open-heart surgery, it's a long recovery.

I was on a lot of medication.

They felt that the blood flow going from one chamber to the heart to the next was not sufficient, and that was one of the reasons that I was labeled disabled and was not able to go back to work.

His temperament was a little bit more impatient.

Donnie Jr.: I was always butting heads with my dad.

He would be quick to get angry about things, and I remember my mom coming to me and saying, "Hey, your dad has just been through something "really serious.

You need to be patient."

I resented the fact that my dad was sick because I'm like, "He can't be-- he's not that sick."

I feel bad thinking about that now, but, um--because he probably was very sick and very weak.

I remember when they called to say that he had to return all of his equipment, so he went to work after the first surgery, but because he wasn't fully healed, he wasn't working full days.

Donnie Jr.: To know my dad is to know he's very upfront and blunt, like rip the Band-Aid right off type person, and so I had walked in the door from school, and he's at the top of the stairs.

He goes, "Hey, D. I was fired from my job today.

I don't have a job anymore."

Nikki: The way that it was positioned to us as children was he was going into retirement.

He wasn't even 50, I think, at the time, so I'm like, "OK. That doesn't fully make sense."

Donnie: My doctor, who supported me very well, he called me one day.

He said, "Donnie, the disability asked me "when are you going to die because "you're living beyond their expectation."

They had an option to buy me off entirely.

They decided not to do that because they thought I would die before I reached 65 anyway, so they were betting on me dying, and they were asking my doctor why was I still alive.

Woman: I am a living testimony Congregation: Yeah, yeah.

Could have been dead and gone All right, all right.

But, Lord, you let me live on And I thank you, Lord, I'm still alive Come on and help me, choir Choir: I am A living testimony I could have been Well, I could have been dead And gone But, Lord, you let me live on But, Lord, you let me live on Oh, oh, oh All: I thank the Lord I'm still alive Really low.

They're that low?

Mine are.

Oh.

Better find out now.

Now my dad's like, "Make sure you bring your pump."

I'm like, "Why can't you bring your pump?"

He's like, "I gave it to you."

It's, like, sounds about right.

Donnie, voice-over: Oh, boy.

I don't even know where to start talking about day two.

Donnie: Come on legs, wake up.

You ain't done a mile yet.

Eric, voice-over: I was concerned at that time because my dad was really dragging ass.

Eric: Go back.

Come on, man.

If you struggling, there's no point in you pulling right now, you know what I'm saying?

Donnie: All right.

Eric: Don't get mad about it.

I'm not mad.

Eric, voice-over: I feel like-- I mean, I'm not, but I feel like I'm at the age where I can at least disagree with my father, and he'll think about it.

Eric: This is our stop right up here.

Donnie: Eric won't let me get in front of him.

I have to stay behind him.

It won't be like that all day.

All right.

You ready?

Rolling.

Eric: Left.

I thought we go straight.

Oh, it's saying left.

Yeah.

I thought this was the road.

Oh, up here?

Yeah.

OK. [Air hisses] -Oh!

-Oh!

That glass right there.

Sounded like a truck braking.

Do you want me to do it?

I'm gonna need some help for sure.

Eric, voice-over: And at that point I remembered--I'm, like, he asked me to bring tubes and tires and tools, and I told him I did, but I forgot.

What do you got in your bag?

Uh...No.

You got the tubes.

You don't have any tubes?

Uh...I didn't check.

No, this is all empty.

You don't-- Man, we're in-- we're--that's not good.

Is there a bike-- Do you have any CO2s?

I have nothing.

Donnie, voice-over: I had filled the tires up with a CO2.

He was unhappy with how that felt, and he took a regular pump and started pumping it up.

Eric, voice-over: PSI's not supposed to be past-- I think it said 75 PSI, but I've definitely been filling it up to 100.

Donnie: Because that tire, that's really tight.

You got the cap for it?

[Pop, air hisses] What's that?

That's not good.

-That tire's gone.

-Tire's gone?

Yeah.

That was way too tight.

That was way too tight.

OK.

I heard you.

My son...

I kept telling him that these tires don't take-- I think he was trying to put 95 PSI in them.

No, you blew out the sidewall.

I'm saying I know it's 100, though.

I don't think it's-- for that size tire?

That's why I'm trying to look.

PSI.

Ooh!

70.

Donnie: 70?

Ooh!

-Yeah, way off.

-Yeah.

Donnie, voice-over: OK, so now we're fixing our second flat.

We got a little concern because now we're running out of inner tubes and CO2 All right, Superman.

Well, thanks for fixing my tire, sir.

Donnie: You notice you didn't get-- you're getting it now.

You notice you didn't get any "I told you so"?

That counts as that.

I know it does.

I'm doing it now.

I'm about to say it counts if you say, "I didn't say it."

It counts if you say, "I didn't," you know?

I know it, but I'm saying it now versus 15 miles ago.

That guy drinking a beer in the restaurant last night.

Oh, man.

Eric: Looked good, didn't it?

Oh, man, that hurt.

I tell you what, I didn't get my tequila.

I'm gonna go-- when I get home, I'm gonna buy me... a bottle of tequila.

I'm gonna get a bag of limes, and I'm gonna get... at home in my chair.

I can't get the song "Laffy Taffy" out of my head.

There's this white cognac that I like, too.

So for the last 10 miles, I've been singing "Laffy Taffy" in my head, and it's really annoying.

I don't know what I want to do when I get home.

I just want to be home, though.

[Belches] Excuse me.

[Static] [Indistinct chatter] I thought back about how my grandfather died, my wife's father died, my father, some of his sisters, and heart disease is very, very prevalent in our family.

Nikki: The first to pass was his oldest sister.

She fell dead in the church, had a heart attack, died immediately.

Donnie: My father died with a torn aorta.

Nikki: Two years later, Fannie passed away.

Sharon: Then the only one left was Donnie and his sister Lottie, and last year, Lottie had a number of health issues.

Donnie: Losing my sister just recently a couple weeks ago has been tough.

I'm the last person out of my immediate family, out of that household.

Curtis: We got Anna Laura's right here, Auntie Maddie's here, and Lottie on the other side.

Donnie, voice-over: My sister, who just recently passed, had all the complications.

She had heart problems, she was on dialysis.

Her body was just shutting down.

Pastor: At this point, it is our commit her body back to the ground from whence it has come.

Donnie: Right there.

Dad 19 years ago.

so they're both in there.

Dad's in first.

Mom's in behind him.

Oh, man.

I appreciate you today, Horace.

It's a tough day, man.

Horce: Yeah.

Donnie, voice-over: We had a candid conversation about her health and what she needs to do to continue to be here, and it was not heard, and she passed a couple weeks ago.

[Static] [Kids laughing] Nikki: So the way we ate before surgery is slightly horrific.

Donnie: High-fat foods, smoking, bacon, eggs, pork, cheese, Bob Evans sausage, whole milk.

I drank milk like I drank water.

Ha ha ha!

Nikki: My father Donnie, my brother Eric, and I loved the liverwurst.

Donnie Jr.: At least every Friday or every other Friday, we had to order in to Rosati's.

Frencher: And there wasn't a vegetable that didn't contain meat.

You'd be like, "Oh, do you eat meat and vegetables?"

I was like, I didn't realize that they came separately.

Nikki: I ate chitlins-- I remember sitting on his lap, and he would put a little bit of hot sauce-- that were maybe freshly slaughtered early that morning.

Donnie: My favorite time is breakfast, and that comes from my father.

Before they would go to the fields, they would eat a very good breakfast.

[Indistinct chatter] Briggs-Malonson: We love our Black traditions, but we also have to understand where it comes from.

There's the pre-slavery set of foods such as black-eyed peas and greens and sweet potatoes that we actually brought over from the continent of Africa, but a lot of our foods and a lot of our food habits have to do as part of slavery.

In order to not only oppress but also to keep the energy of the slaves up as they're doing all this manual labor was to make sure that they were consuming a high-calorie diet, so you can take a small piece of meat, but if you put breading and coating and frying it, that's gonna raise the calorie intake, right, so you can have more energy to try to burn that off, and it's actually led to a lot of significant health problems today.

We're no longer enslaved physically, but now we have to make sure we're not enslaved mentally, as well.

Donnie: That was a tough section.

Eric: Yeah, it was.

Big hill.

Long, slow hills.

Man: What's going on?

Donnie: We're biking from St. Louis to Chicago, -and-- -That's a good trip.

It is a good trip.

This is about halfway mark for us.

-We left-- -St. Louis.

There you go.

There you go.

We left Springfield this morning.

How old are you if you don't mind me asking.

69.

[Whistles] See?

There it is.

Yeah, yeah.

You got to keep moving.

-Oh, man.

-Yeah.

A bad storm south of us, eh?

Yep.

She said one of the worst storms she's came through.

-What?!

-Yeah.

What kind of storm was that?

That's what the lady just told me.

One of the worst storms?

Yeah, and it was an older lady.

Oh, so it's got to be true.

Eric, voice-over: We are almost in Bloomington.

We don't have any more breaks at this point, and it's now just-- I don't feel like riding.

It's time to get home.

I got a flat.

Donnie: You kidding me?

Yep.

Oh, man.

Donnie: No, it's flat.

Eric: Yeah.

All right.

Let's just do it right here.

Eric, voice-over: I told my dad.

He was just like, "Another flat?"

I'm like, "Yeah, man.

I'm not doing it on purpose.

I'm not looking for the glass."

This happens, Eric.

Donnie, voice-over: He's not doing anything wrong in riding.

He needs to understand tire pressure so that he doesn't blow up tires.

[Grunts] That's not in.

Close it.

Close it.

Oh!

Oh, it's cold.

Yeah.

I learned that.

Ha ha!

Eric, voice-over: The positive about riding with him on a trip like this is you have an onboard--I say it like a joke--mechanic, but you do.

Donnie: You paranoid now?

Eric: Hell, yeah.

Ha ha ha!

If we put the Gatorbacks on there, you're not gonna get a flat.

Jeez.

Day two.

Eric, voice-over: I think about at least 20 times my dad said, "We have to find a bike shop."

"As soon as we get back to the hotel, we'll look it up."

He's like, "No, but we have to find a bike shop."

Will Dick's Sporting Goods work?

Maybe not.

We would want to call in first.

There's a Walmart Supercenter and Vitesse Cycle Shop.

We can roll-- if we're gonna go, we're gonna go right now.

Yeah.

Donnie: How you doing?

Woman: Hey, good.

How y'all doing?

Eric: Blessed.

Woman: Awesome.

Aren't we all blessed?

Yes, we are.

Yes, we are.

Donnie: We're looking for some inner tubes.

Man: What size are you needing?

How long are the stems on what you have?

Man: How long do you need them to be?

-Uh, 62.

-62?

I got 4 60s.

How many?

Uh, let me get 4.

Eric, voice-over: He's very particular on what brand and what size stem.

He's like, "What size is your stem?"

I'm like, "I don't even know what a stem is.

I don't know what you're talking about."

Where are you guys coming from, did you say, St. Louis?

Donnie: St. Louis.

Yeah.

Man: Where are you going?

Donnie and Eric: Chicago.

Man: Wow.

We can have up to 6 flats, and we should be good.

Eric: and we ain't going to need to use any of them.

Man: No.

Eric: I'm calling it right now.

You guys Won't use any of these.

Sir, thank you very much.

-I appreciate your help.

-Ride safe.

All right.

Thank you.

[Static] [Indistinct chatter] Donnie Jr.: When we were kids, we weren't thinking about health.

Mom and Dad's biggest thing back then was eat all your food.

It was never about the type of food you're eating.

It's just like make sure you're taking advantage of the food that we're providing you.

Eric, look at Daddy.

Look.

Mason: If we're not eating things that come out of the ground more than the stuff that walks on it, flies over it, slithers in it, or swims in it, if you're eating things and you open that label and you look at that label and there are words you can't pronounce, you probably shouldn't be eating that.

To having now huge television sets, and there is a 60-inch burger staring you in the face, and all you got to do is get on your phone and call many of these delivery services that will bring it to your house, and you got to remember, those are all outlets to sell you something, but it's also an outlet to get you to buy these products that are gonna accelerate your death.

Donnie: Yeah, those are soft.

Eric: So we need to fill them up?

We need to get... -The pump?

-Yeah.

You need air.

CO2 is only gonna last for, like, 24 hours.

You should be able to make it to the stop.

Eric: The make is not what I'm about right now.

Eric, I'm going to let you dictate this, man.

I want to--I know you're gonna fuss at me when I say this, but I would like to knock it back a notch today.

So you're telling yourself that?

See, I told you he was gonna fuss tonight.

No, I'm just saying because when we go faster, it's when you're in front.

It's like you're trying to get after it.

Get that to my 95 PSI like I like.

Ha ha.

I'm gonna do a little bit more.

Donnie: Joliet, Here we come Eric: Tire's flat.

It might just be-- Yeah, it's-- Another flat tire.

Donnie: Let me see how flat it is.

Oh, yeah.

That's--that's a flat.

It's a flat?

Yeah.

Let's change it.

You think it's the tire or the tube?

It's got to be the tire, man.

You know, both tires going flat like this?

Well, the first one doesn't count.

Oh, I'm gonna show you how do it.

[Hissing] Eric, voice-over: CO2 is unique when filling a tire because it will only keep your tire full for so long, and those small cartridges, they're good enough to fill one bike tire.

What do you think?

-I think that's good.

-OK. All right.

And we are back at it.

Fourth flat.

Still 150, 160 miles to go.

Eric: Heh.

Is it bad I don't want my bike to touch the ground no more?

Donnie: Ha ha ha!

Maybe there was something still in that tire, you know?

A piece of glass or something?

Yeah.

Would it be in the tire or in the tube?

Well, if it's inside the tire, then it's gonna eventually puncture the tube.

The tube.

So it could still be in there now?

Yeah.

Donnie: You're f... Eric: Huh?

You're flat.

-Am I?

-Yep.

So we take this tire off, and we're-- Gonna put that same tire like that on the front.

Get a little further off the highway, man.

These cars are coming pretty quick.

-Eric.

-Huh?

Look at that.

What?

-That's a piece of glass.

-Wow.

Wow.

That was a piece of glass.

Man, You're finding everything.

Ha!

Clearly.

And see, hindsight, this is what I should have did with the tire.

Now feel that thickness.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

All right.

What do you need me to do?

-Uh... -Stay out of your way?

-Yeah.

-OK. Eric, voice-over: Day 3.

Barely even in 10 miles.

either those tires are trash, or I don't know how to ride a bike.

We're gonna get going so we can save the rest of this trip.

I got a flat.

What?!

What's going on?

What are we missing?

That's not possible.

[Sighs] I don't know what's going on, Eric.

We've done everything we can do.

We got a tube, so let's-- we got the pump, so let's... [Sighs] What did I do with the tube?

I don't--I don't know.

I'm losing it, Eric.

I had the tube in my hand.

You losing it?

And you pumped it up before, so is got be in the tire?

No.

Don't put that in yet.

I don't want to go through this again.

What--can you flip the tire inside out or something?

I know that's the new tir-- is it the rim?

That's what I was looking.

It's got to be the rim or something.

I'm so tired of this.

Donnie, voice-over: We can't find out what's going on.

We put a new tire on.

We checked the rim.

We checked inside of the tire.

I don't know what else to do.

You want to put those Gatorskins on?

I just want to get something that doesn't go flat.

Let's get a new tube.

We should still keep one of these, though.

No, let's keep a new one.

Why keep that old ...?

Yes, sir.

Eric, voice-over: Thankfully, my dad was like, "Hey, you know, we're gonna do this.

"Put the new tire on.

We're gonna get--you know, this tire is a lot thicker."

He's like, "Check out how this this tire is."

I'm like, "Bruh, I don't care.

Like, I can't tell the difference."

Oh, man, I don't want to get on this bike no more.

We were like 2 1/2 hours into the ride, so we had 91 miles to go.

[Static] Nikki: My grandmother was making--I think it was neck bones, and I said, "Grandma, well I don't eat red meat or pork anymore," and she's like, "But you can have some neck bones."

The notion of the two of those not being able to cohabitate, she couldn't conceive that, and it was an offense.

You show how you care by the food that you make.

Sharon: When we changed our lifestyle, our extended families looked at us side eye.

In their mind, "You don't have to do all that.

We feel sorry for you, Sharon," but I was OK because I wanted something bigger than food.

I wanted him.

I just want to stay in the shade.

That was a little stretch.

If the rest of it's like that, I'm in trouble.

Donnie, voice-over: Don't feel good, tired.

The wind is getting the best of me.

We're riding kind of into a headwind that's about 12 miles an hour.

Tough riding.

Eric, voice-over: At this point, we've kind of thrown out the timing.

Before, we were like, "We need to make it here by this time and go this fast."

That all went out the window.

Even though he's a little bit tired, we have been riding better together.

Donnie, voice-over: I couldn't do this ride by myself.

It's back to being a team.

You know, I'm bringing the mechanical part to it that's keeping us going, and he's bringing his physical strength.

Have you looked at the route at all?

Huh?

Have you looked at the route at all?

No.

I'm wondering if we could just get on this path right here.

Let's do it.

But I don't know where it lead--I mean, I'm thinking we're going through the city and coming back to the-- I mean, we can look on the map real quick, but I don't-- I--I don't care.

Donnie, voice-over: I'm laughing at myself because I remember Eric asked me early on, do I think I'm gonna make this trip?

Said, "100%."

Um, right now, it's not 100%.

I'm not gonna quit, but it's not 100%.

Day 3, we built up so much, so looking at the schedule and the route, knowing that day 3 was another century, we felt that that was gonna be probably the most difficult day.

Eric: See if there's shade on the other side of the building.

We started in St. Louis, and we're going back to Chicago in 4 days.

Listen.

I'll trade you my bike for your truck.

We started it in Bloomington, and we'll be in Joliet tonight.

Nice.

You'll get there a lot faster than we will.

I'm not lying when I tell people I'll trade with them right now.

I would so happily get in a truck or a car of a random person.

Eric, voice-over: Whenever we cycle, most people are genuinely interested, and they always send well wishes.

The opposite of that, though, all of these small towns that I ride through, I feel uncomfortable in.

I haven't--No.

One person definitely yelled, "Get off the road, nigga," with the e-r, though, so he didn't say that.

What that immediately makes me think about is that people who are white that cycle never think about this.

As a Black person, every small town I go into, the first thing I think about is I know people are looking at me like "Why are you here?"

The thing that bothered me the most about the ride today was the horizon disappeared, and I know that we were still going past that point.

Donnie, voice-over: The ride today was, I'm gonna say, my toughest ride to date, and I've been riding 5 years.

If you look at the averages, someone will say, "Man, the only road, 11, 12 miles an hour," but that was 11, 12 miles an hour and a 12-mile-an-hour headwind.

Eric: Today's ride was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Part of it's because me and my dad are riding better together.

We are listening to each other, and we really got to the point where the wind was so harsh that it was much easier for us ride together than ride apart.

That kicked my butt.

100.2 miles.

You want to shake my hand?

Ha ha ha!

Day 3 is over.

Yeah.

Day 3.

Never again.

[Barge horn blowing] Eric: All right, Mr.

Seals.

We're just doing 70, right?

-70 what?

-Pounds.

Oh, I'm about to say we are not doing 70 miles.

I had 68, and I am doing 68 today.

It's day 4.

I can't express how excited I am to be at the end of it.

I couldn't imagine getting to day 4 when we planned this and making the routes.

Well, sir, you must be growing because 4 days ago you were in St. Louis, then you were in Springfield, then you were in Bloomington.

-Now you're in Joliet.

-Don't say Bloomington.

That's a bad word.

And tomorrow, you're gonna be at home.

I'mma be at home tonight.

OK. Ha ha!

Whoo!

Day 4.

I couldn't have made yesterday without you, son.

Well, I appreciate that.

Clearly I couldn't have because--ha-- Mr. Fix-it over here.

I had a bad time yesterday.

You have your ups and downs while you ride.

-I do.

-But the funny thing is if you go down, that's not the end of it.

Like, it's, like, you're regenerating.

Well, believe it or not, I think Mike's century that he sent us on prepared us for a lot of stuff.

Doing those centuries were imperative.

We will pass at least 100 barbecues in Chicago.

Oh, yeah.

Might make me miss that pork a little bit.

Ha ha ha!

All right.

We're gonna go after this car because they're gonna be coming sooner than later.

So after this car right here, OK?

All right.

Got to go.

Got to go.

Got to go.

Got to go.

Frencher: There is no perfect time to start focusing on your health, and there's never too late a time to start.

It's only difficult because there's no money in healthy people.

Healthy people, if their blood pressures are normal, they don't need blood pressure medicines.

If they don't have blockages in their arteries that cause strokes and heart attacks, they don't need to see cardiologists to have stents put in them.

We don't need anything special.

This you got to change first, so if you change your mind, you'll change the direction of your behind.

Eric: 45 in.

Another, what, 18 to go then?

I guess I'm trying to pick it up now because once we get on the lake... Yeah.

We won't be able to do it.

We won't be able to do it.

Yeah.

Donnie, voice-over: 30, 40 miles into the ride, Eric is saying we need to ride 13 if we're gonna get there on time.

Man: Running all the way, dude Running all the way, dude Oh Donnie, voice-over: The lakefront, I'm not a big fan of, not a fear, but I knew what I was gonna encounter.

Heads up, man!

Hey!

Donnie, voice-over: Just the smell of the holiday, the grills going, people out celebrating.

Oh, man.

I was at home.

All of a sudden, we're riding 16, 18.

What the heck is going on?

Why are we riding so fast?

[Indistinct chatter] Hey.

Donnie!

Donnie!

[Cheering] [Cheering continues] Sharon: Hey!

Nikki: Seals the deal!

Man: Seals the deal!

-Seals the deal!

-Seals the deal!

[Cheering] It's too much!

It's too much!

[Cheering] Nikki, voice-over: I can see the emotion is emanating from every pore in his being.

The race meant more in terms of his ability to set a goal and achieve it.

I don't know what to say.

This is--this is way too much.

Eric: Congratulations, sir.

Oh, man.

Donnie, voice-over: It just took me several minutes to compose myself.

I'm realizing I did this thing.

We finished it.

You did it!

You did it!

Oh, babe!

[Cheering] Sharon, voice-over: That moment of arrival, that he had accomplished 350 miles.

350 miles.

350 miles.

What an accomplishment.

Donnie, voice-over: They were there with signs.

My grandkids were there, friends were there.

It was very, very overwhelming.

I couldn't control myself.

I kind of broke down and got emotional, which is unusual.

Wow.

This is too much.

Sharon: My Eric, my Eric.

My husband is not a kind of person that like a lot of attention.

A person that is very subdued, very quiet.

To be very emotional was very heartfelt.

This was something for the books.

Couldn't have mad it without you, dawg.

Good job, sir.

Donnie, voice-over: And I went from riding my bike around the block winded, legs burning, to riding from St. Louis to Chicago.

Curtis: But him doing the cycling the thing now, it's like the old Donnie that I used to know.

Just goes to show you that's what good exercise and good eating will do for your body.

Nikki: The pivot or the catalyst in someone's life, people feel as though it has to happen at a certain age.

I think he's a living witness that you can turn things around at any time.

He went from an insane amount of pills, and now he's doing 150 to 200 miles a week, so if he can do that at almost 70 years old, what is your excuse?

Donnie, voice-over: A lot of people will talk to me and say, "Donnie, I want to do something, but I can't do what you're doing," and my comment is "You don't have to do "what I'm doing.

"Find something that you enjoy and do it, "and I chose cycling.

"You may choose something else, "but regardless what you choose, find something that you enjoy and do it."

[Phone line ringing] [Ring] What's going on, superstar?

You want to go do it again?

You want to do the ride again?

Yeah.

Man: 7 days in a week Eat a steak, every plate, it's a feast Watch your weight, no mistakes in the least Or else you, too, will dig a grave with your teeth I wish that I could fit in these expensive jeans A waistline that'll rip the seams And pharmaceuticals that sit between Your heart medicine, cough medicine Blood thinners, and antihistamines trap Wish that I could fit in these expensive jeans I don't like this cut It's like the Lord got my order wrong 3:00 a.m., I'm stress eating, laying down on it Now your blood sugar is borderline, Bordelon I seen them rise, I seen them fall I seen the dreams of fiends and scenes of war Inside my mind It ain't nothing serene It's called Blackness The most expensive gene of all [Echoing] OK.

I see.

I see.

All right.

We need to go over the family history.