The world’s greatest unicycle racer chases the sport’s most elusive recordThe Spinoff Daily, Tuesday February 11
Ahiahi mārie, welcome to The Spinoff Daily. Today on The Spinoff: The visa changes to lure rich investors to Aotearoa, explained. Plus: the new season of MAFS brings back some ancient gender norms, while Bryn and Ku’s Singles Club attempts to find love in a hopeless place.
“On a single-speed unicycle, one pedal stroke equals one wheel rotation. You can only go as fast as your legs can turn. Larger wheels and shorter cranks help, but only so much. At its heart, unicycling is a sport of cadence. It asks the question: how fast can you spin? Looi’s answer is: as fast as anyone on Earth. As a teenager, Looi was a competitive mountain biker with big dreams. He was great at spinning in low gears but lacked the raw leg strength to compete at the top level. In unicycling, that was no longer a weakness. It was his biggest strength. It’s the sport he was built for. In person, Looi is polite with a sunny disposition. He’s a little reserved and slightly self-deprecating. He has a technical mind; he loves talking about unicycle specifications and race tactics. He’s a sincere enthusiast, but not in an eccentric way. In fact, he’s disarmingly normal. He’s married with three kids and lives in a cookie-cutter suburban home. His day job is as a GP. He’s just a guy who is really serious about unicycling.”
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 Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is a brand new documentary series for The Spinoff following award-winning comedians and friends Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester as they go on a cross-country quest to find love and better understand the dating scene in modern day Aotearoa. In episode one, the pair reflect on the reality of being single in our country’s biggest city, before fleeing Tāmaki Makaurau for a change of scene in Ōtautahi. Down south, a meet and mingle games night and a singles cocktail party force them out of their comfort zones, and reveal that even the most confident among us still feel daunted by walking into a room full of strangers. Will fortune favour the brave? Made with the support of NZ On Air.
Join us at Bryn & Ku's Singles Club PartyOn the day before Valentine’s, join Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester for a viewing party to celebrate the launch of their new series, Bryn & Ku's Singles Club, on The Spinoff. Bryn & Ku will be live on stage at Q Theatre on February 13, with Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman, to talk about discovering new ways of living and loving and maybe even finding The One. Open to anyone who has ever been single.
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The world’s greatest unicycle racer chases the sport’s most elusive record
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