It has taken a year, but Guinness have finally approved my world 24hr World Record from Jan 2025, and also my 12 Hour World Record from Nov 2024. I have to do another submission for the 12hr record that I broke again in Jan 2025.
I now have two Guinness 24hr Unicycle World Records, set almost 20 years apart on a 36″ Ungeared unicycle! The approval came exactly 21yrs to the day that I set my 2005 record (6 Feb).
Kiwi unicyclist Norm Joe, 57, originally from Stratford, Taranaki, is attempting a world record by riding a unicycle around the globe, and will start his New Zealand leg this weekend.
Beginning at Stirling Point in Bluff, Mr Joe will ride to Cape Reinga before heading to Alaska and travelling across North America, Europe and Asia, eventually returning to Australia. The journey will span approximately 30,000 km and is expected to take up to two years.
Remarkably, Mr Joe only learned to ride a unicycle in 2021 during the Covid lockdowns. Now a Sydney-based draughtsman and surveyor, he regularly commutes on one wheel, covering more than 5,000 km each year.
“I told my boss I’d run out of places to ride in Sydney,” he joked, after resigning from his job to pursue the challenge.
Mr Joe is raising funds for WaterAid, supporting communities around the world to gain access to clean water and sanitation.
Blog
https://findpenguins.com/2vcepzhhuzzwx/trip/unicycle-circumnavigation
Tracking
https://unicyclecircumnavigationoftheglobe.maprogress.com/
Here’s a nice article from Joel MacManus covering my 24 Hour record attempt:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/sports/02-01-2026/one-wheel-drive-the-ken-looi-story-2
Not sure I’d call unicycling a career, so much as an expensive hobby! Hopefully there’s a few years left in these legs.
If at first you don’t succeed, talk your family into letting you do it again!
Back in November, I broke the 12hr record but had to abandon the 24hr record after 315km because of high winds. With Wellington famous for this, and an unseasonably cold and windy start to summer, we were tracking the weather on multiple apps, trying to get a 24hr window with a wind speed below 20km/hr. On the 18th Jan, we finally had a day where it looked like it would work.
We attempted the record at Newlands Intermediate again. The track is 390.76m, so I would have to ride 1162 laps to beat Sam Wakeling’s record of 453.8km.
It turned out to be a beautiful calm day. Arthur and Lynn Klap were on the field setting up, my wife Anna came down with tents and gazebos, my mum turned up to help with the kids.
Bruce from Barefootsports laid the timing mats and equipment which goes beep every time I ride over them. Boy, am I going to be sick of this sound at the end! Two timing mats and two timing chips went down to be doubly sure.
The plan was to cruise at 24-25km/hr for as long as possible, before an expected drop in speed as I became tired. In training, I’m a bit slower than I was in November, despite trying to keep my fitness up. Without the wind though, I was confident I could pull it off.
I started the GPS computer, turned on Strava on my phone.
Beep! I get started just after 8.23am, and I would be riding for the next 24hrs!
It felt more comfortable than my previous attempt immediately. Without wind, all effort goes into propelling yourself forward, instead of making micro-adjustments to stay upright.
After just 2hrs I was consistently lapping sub 60s laps, keeping my speed above 24km/hr. This was a comfortable speed and I was smiling.
The field was getting busy. Old school friends, locals, dog walkers, passers by, support contingent all came to see what was going on. We had 3-4 families set up a campsite to keep our kids and me company. My in-laws Peter and Margaret came in their house bus which would double up as shelter and hot food stop later.
60km in 2hrs30min…hardly felt like I’ve been riding!
80km in 3hrs22min…still feeling good
In fact, I felt so good, I didn’t dismount for 150km (6 1/2hrs)! I briefly thought about unofficially breaking the longest continuous ride record (without feet touching the ground), except I couldn’t remember what it was! It turns out Sam Wakeling rode 169.90km before he dismounted. Anyhow, it was more important to keep the body in good condition than try for a secondary record. I had successfully taken a bottle of chocolate milk on-the-fly from Richard, who was adept at passing food and water after November’s record attempt.
It was getting warm and I felt if I didn’t have a break it would affect me later. It felt hotter than 20 degrees with sun reflecting off the concrete, and the breeze also picked up (20km/hr), and would stay that way from 1-5pm. Those were the hardest laps, as I don’t do well in heat. While the average wind peaked at 20km/hr, the odd 30+km/hr gust almost took me out and required correction.
I really need a butt massage! Thankfully my obliging wife was there to squeeze the cheeks at each stop. Things were getting sore, but the glutes were the first to feel it.
I decided I needed to stop every 90min. There is only so much food you can take on board while riding, and it actually slows you down without giving you a break to stretch muscles. On the other hand, I knew if I stopped for too long the muscles would seize up.
By 5pm I was starting to tire. It’s amazing how filthy you get from riding in circles. I was caked in sweat, sunscreen, snot, chocolate milk, powerade, and vomit. My stomach wasn’t emptying, and I felt better after bringing some of it back up. I blame the heat and probably not enough hydration early on.
At the 12hr mark, I had gone past the 252.04km record I broke in November, hitting 660 laps (257.90km). A new 12hr world record, but not my focus this time! I hadn’t surpassed the old mark by much, but felt relaxed and in fairly good condition.
Greg turned up with the amazing Hirepool light towers he promised. I was expecting two, he turned up with three! We’re going to have a night time stadium! No need for unicycle lights. It would be dark at 9pm, so I was looking forward to riding in cooler night air.
When the lights came on, I realised how impossible it had been to attempt a record without them. Going fast means you must be able to see, especially on a unicycle where micro-adjustments are needed to stay upright. They weren’t just bright, but gave consistent lighting around the track, instead of coming in and out of darkness with my DIY lawnmower-battery lights. The only near mishap came when a couple of baby hedgehogs crept across the track, partially hidden by shade from the grass.
Despite feeling really positive, my speed suddenly dropped, stretching my lap times out to 80s seconds. I wasn’t sleepy. Perhaps the diurnal trough was kicking in.
After being told to ‘Pick up the speed!’ by Bruce, I immediately stepped it up for an hour or two, then slowed again. At this point I realised it was muscle stiffness- if you’re not loose you can’t spin on the downhill or carve your way around a turn. My speed would pick up each time I stopped for a stretch, so I took speed as an indicator of when I needed a rest break.
At 320km, I was about 50min ahead of Sam Wakeling’s record time, as he hit this mark in 16hrs 20min. I felt comfortable with this buffer, but Bruce was concerned- my speed had been dropping significantly.
I pushed hard through the night, taking breaks when I had to, speeding up again, then slowing as the muscles became stiff. I was doing the numbers and getting worried. The speed had dropped to 17km/hr, with a lot more effort than when I was riding 24km/hr.
My rest breaks became shorter and more tense- pee, butt massage, hot noodles/pizza, chocolate milk/powerade. I needed Shane and Bruce to help remount.
Hopefully the cortisol would kick in soon….and it did. At 5am, I felt a surge in energy. It was starting to get light and my speed picked up.
The last 3hrs were tense. I had about 45km to go, and I was riding about 16-17km/hr. That leaves little margin for error or rest breaks.
2hrs to go…still cutting it fine. Anna and Bruce were telling me not to ease off….
1hr to go, I had 14km left and I was going at 16-17km/hr. It should be enough. Legs stiffening, speed slowing…maybe time for a quick stop and stretch.
Arthur Klap was giving me a lap countdown- only 33 laps to go! Seems like a lot!
30min…looking on target
ARgh! I had a sudden drop in speed with 5km to go. Quick stop, stretch, and back riding but still going slow.
In fact, I wasn’t totally convinced I had the record until the final lap, which went by in agonising fashion! Beep! I did it! 1162 laps!
Still 5min to push it further. Perhaps time for 3 more (very slow) laps.
I crossed the timing mat at 1165 laps with 30secs to go, but went to do another lap for the IUF partial-lap calculation. Not that it mattered- my legs were gone, I ended up coming off midway. After remounting, it was probably the slowest riding lap, so adds little to my total distance.
Done!
Total laps 1165 x 0.39076m = 455.2354km. I beat Sam’s 2007 world record by a skinny 1.4km
The track was not completely flat. Strava says there was 15km of climbing, although likely an overestimate. Still, it felt like a 2-3% climb each lap, so perhaps I’ll measure it later to see if it qualifies as an Everesting attempt!
My Feb 2005 world record mark was 378.7km, so after 20yrs I went a further 76.55km. Imagine what I’ll do when I’m in my 60s!
I had an amazing crowd at the finish, but babbled somewhat incoherently.
What I meant to say is, I couldn’t have done it without all your support and encouragement!
Thank you so very much!
Pictures and video to follow, but plenty of footage on the Facebook event feed
If you feel encouraged or inspired by this, please consider supporting my charity fundraiser for medical research, via the Malaghan Institute
It’s amazing how people are keen to help when you try to do something a little crazy. During my first 12/24hr record attempt in November, I had friends from school whom I hadn’t seen in years, others who travelled from far away; people who know me as well as those who don’t, all pitching in.
One of those is Greg, an old school buddy (actually I was in his sister’s class at Newlands Intermediate), who turned up and supported me through the night.
Anyway, the point of this is that Greg is a manager at Hirepool, one of those awesome businesses that support local events. They were a major sponsor of Unicon 15, the unicycle world championships, when we hosted it in Wellington 15yrs ago.
In November, it was incredibly difficult to mount and ride in the wind, particularly after dark. Even with a 1400 Lumen light, it was not the ideal riding situation.
For the upcoming attempt, Greg talked his company into lending out these awesome lightowers. It will be like a stadium, with 9m high floodlights lighting up the track.
Behold!
Back in November, I attempted the 12 and 24 Hour Unicycle World Records. It was a super windy day but I succeeded in breaking the 12hr record with a distance of 252.04km. Unfortunately, I had to stop riding after 16hrs, completing 315km, due to the conditions.
We are doing this again on the 11th-12th Jan 2025, but will postpone either to the next day, or the following weekend if the weather doesn’t look favorable.
This is the facebook event page for updates before and during the attempt:
https://www.facebook.com/events/905905154864141/?active_tab=discussion
Many thanks to all my supporters, friends and family, most of whom are back again to help me achieve this!
It’s New Year’s eve and I have been meaning to compile this album all year.
I started this blog 20 years ago, with a vague idea of having some fun and adventures on one wheel. I never imagined it would take me around the world, let alone groups of unicyclists alongside. I never expected to compete in multiple world championships, nor host one in my hometown. Break world records and unicycle the length of New Zealand? Not in my wildest dreams.
In 2004, I met Jason Williams, who was tour leader working for Intrepid Travel, on our 500km Vietnam to Cambodia Oxfam charity challenge. It was a life changing experience. Being the only unicyclist among a group of 30 bicyclists, I was swamped by curious locals whenever I stopped. Kids lined the streets waving as we rode past. It made me take this unicycling thing more seriously.
The next year, I took part in Andy Cotter’s Alps Unicycle Tour through the Swiss Alps, which inspired me to run my own unitour. Jason had set up a cycle tour business, Grasshopper Adventures, so we were ready to organise an Asia tour. In 2006, we took a group of riders to Laos, becoming the first AU unicycle tour. Unfortunately I had to leave half way through after breaking my leg, but it didn’t stop us! We have taken groups of unicyclists through New Zealand (2007), Vietnam (2008), India (2009), Mongolia (2010), Yunnan/China (2011), Uzbekistan (2013), Nepal (2015), New Zealand again (2017), and Cambodia (2019). Our next tour will be to Thailand in 2025.
Here is a selection of photos from around the world. I hope this brings back memories for those who participated, and inspires more unicycle adventures!
I’ll add more photos as I tidy up my collection, but have left out the competition stuff for a separate album.
I was interviewed on the TVNZ Breakfast show about my 12 Hour Guinness World Record:
Some coverage of my 12hr and 24hr World Record attempt:
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360489606/doctor-day-now-world-record-holder-unicycle
Print version:
The big day arrived. I was all set to break the 12 Hour and 24 Hour unicycle distance records. We had been watching the weather closely, and decided in the end to proceed. The forecast was for cloud, with light showers and ‘fresh Southerlies’. It turns out that ‘fresh’ means South/SE Winds at 30km/hr. Not ideal, but we thought it was doable.
We had a great support crew, with Arthur and Lynne Klap setting up, my mum turning up to help with the kids, and Anna taking the gazebos and supplies down to the Newlands Intermediate field.
Bruce from Barefootsports set up the timing mats and timing chips on the unicycle. He placed two mats and two chips to be doubly sure.
It was cold and breezy, but it wasn’t until I started riding that I realised just how windy it was. I had, in practice, ridden in 20+km/hr NW winds, which was ok. The SE wind was a different beast altogether, as it hit the least sheltered parts of the course. A unicycle is about as aerodynamic as a flying brick wall, but the problem is neither headwind nor tailwind, but the side wind. The SE kept pushing me off course, with 50km/hr gusts.
My game plan was to spin gently at 24-26km/hr for the first 4-6hrs, while using as little energy as possible. This would build a ‘safety buffer’ over the old record. My legs felt great, much better than during my 12 hour practice ride. What transpired was quite different. The first few hours were spent wrestling my unicycle at 22-24km/hr, while expending far more energy than I wanted to.
I considered abandoning and rescheduling at that point, but we had organised support crew, tents, portaloo and the timing to be there on the day. I’ll just ride on….
Here are the lap times for the 12hrs (slightly undercounts as multiplied by 390m instead of 390.76m):
https://events.barefootsport.co.nz/event/701/results/296321
Normally, on distance unicycle, little balance is required. All the effort is in propelling you forward while tucked into the aerobars. With the SE wind gusts, I had to take my hands off the aerobars, flail around like a beginner unicyclist, then re-accelerate once I regain control. I was blown off multiple times on the bottom corner of the circuit.
I held it together until 12hrs, when I crossed the line to beat the Guinness mark of 250km by a very skinny 2km margin. Yay! One world record down!
I still had my safety buffer- 12hrs remaining to do 202km. That vanished pretty quick. My average speed kept dropping. I stopped for dinner and to put on lights, but the night laps proved even more challenging. In practice, my lights were adequate. Not so if you are trying to keep in a straight line.
The forecast had been for the wind to die down to 20km/hr by 7pm. That extended to midnight, then 2am, and finally it wasn’t until late the next morning the wind finally slowed.
When I saw my average speed drop below 18.9km/hr (Sam’s average speed), I knew it wasn’t practical to push for the record. I had done 315km, and had over 7hrs left to ride past my old mark of 378.7km. After a half hour break, I got back on and did a painfully slow lap before calling it a day. It was blowing like crazy. We’ll do battle again next time!
Thank you to my wonderful support crew, all the people who came out to spectate (some of whom turned into support crew!), Newlands Intermediate School, Cuttriss Surveyors, Bruce from Barefootsports, and all my friends who helped or encouraged me. Most of all, thanks to my family for putting up with all this!