‘Audiences ask to feel my calves!’ The endurance extremists pounding treadmills and pumping pedals at the fringe

How do you keep audiences gripped while cycling 27km per show? From the Australian recreating a Tour de France win to a ‘toxically positive’ spin queen, we meet the acts bringing Olympian fitness to Edinburgh Blood and sweat drip to the floor.

Tears are on their way.

In a small room in Edinburgh, Megan Tomei is cleat-clipped into a stationary bike, yelling above the music as she leads a high-intensity spin class gone wrong.

“We take the thing you’re running from,” Tomei shouts, pink lights bouncing off her gleaming shoulders, “and turn it into fuel!” This is SpinQueen™, one of a handful of shows at this year’s fringe demanding epic endurance from their performers through the use of jazzed-up gym equipment.

Employing various bikes and a treadmill to authentically illustrate the struggle for success, the pain of failure, and the escape from reality, a profoundly fit group of actors are pushing themselves to their physical limits.

Across the city, Connor Delves’s calves are worth watching.

The workout from his cycling-obsessed play, Cadel: Lungs on Legs , is so powerful that people have come up to him after, wanting to touch them.

“To make sure they’re real,” says Delves, who cycles a whopping 27km per show.

Does he mind this attention? He shrugs.

“If they’re OK with getting their hands sweaty, go for it.” Continue reading...