An Auckland man has combined a passion for cycling and an icon of Kiwi pop culture to raise money for charity.
On Sunday morning, Carl Wells cycled 28 kilometers, tracking his ride via GPS to create a portrait of Laser Kiwi.
Laser Kiwi sprang to fame during the 2015-2016 flag referendum, when it was proposed as a design for a new flag.
Wells has been creating designs out of his charity bike rides for three years now. He says he chose Laser Kiwi because he wanted to do something different.
"I've been scheming for months. Every year on my birthday I come up with a different design, and there's always pressure to do something different," he told Newshub.
"The past two years were a kind of self-portrait, like a figure. But this year I wanted to do something exciting, something everyone would recognise, and something strong.
"I didn't want to do a normal Kiwi 'cause I've seen that done before."
The 36-year-old told Newshub the ride took about two hours, despite it being quite a short distance.
"It was just so complicated. Lots of stopping and starting and turning, and going places bikes shouldn't go."
He says he opened up the ride to his friends, and then the public.
"It ended up being around 22 of us. Lots of people I knew of course, but lots of people I didn't as well."
Wells used the ride to raise money for Cool Earth - a non-profit organization that works alongside indigenous people to halt rainforest deforestation.
So far, his ride has raised $523.31.
Newshub.
