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Home / Travel

London cyclist spends 9 hours drawing giant Xmas message on Strava app

NZ Herald
11 Dec, 2019 10:44 PM3 mins to read

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Santa cycle: London's cyclists are full of Christmas cheer. Photo / Roman Koester

Santa cycle: London's cyclists are full of Christmas cheer. Photo / Roman Koester

If you haven't been motivated to do your Christmas shopping yet, for shame!

One cyclist has so was moved by the festive spirit that he spent nine hours pedalling out a giant Christmas image through the streets of London.

It's a city-sized portrait of Rudolph.

Anthony Hoyte, the athlete-turned-artist has started using the fitness app Strava to draw images with his cycling routes as a way to stand out.

The reindeer might be his biggest undertaking yet.

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Only visible on the cycling app, the image was noticed by the London Evening Standard.

The Rudolph route measures an impressive 128km across London. Photo / Supplied
The Rudolph route measures an impressive 128km across London. Photo / Supplied

"I'm pretty happy with it," the 51-year-old told the paper. "You plan them all out but until you get back and upload it, you're not quite sure whether it's going to work or not."

Tracking his movements with GPS, he has drawn a giant reindeer with antlers that stretch from Edgware to Wood Green. Perhaps the most intricate part of the route is Rudolph's eye, which involved Hoyte cycling round and round the Willesden Junction.

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In a route that covers 128km and climbs 1085 metres, it's a serious undertaking.

Hoyte from rural west England is a heritage consultant, and says he rarely comes into London.

However when he does, it's noticed by the cycling community. This year's Christmas drawing is the third such annual design.

"I just spend a lot of time looking at maps and it's waiting for things to jump out at you," he told the Standard.

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"Normally I look at maps until I see something — 'That looks a bit like a nose' — so I think 'Where can I find eyes near that?' It's like looking at patterns in clouds and seeing pictures."

Hoyte is far from the only "Strava Artist" in London, though perhaps the most festive.

Last month Gary Cordery was commissioned by the cycling app to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall by drawing the image of Leonid Brezhnev and Honecker's fraternal cold war kiss "Bruderkuss." Cordery spent six and a half hours criss-crossing 100km through east and west Berlin.

In April cyclist Carl Wells drew a giant, 3km-tall, kiwi bird with laser-eyes across South Auckland.

On 'yer bike.

Every year, Carl Wells draws a birthday picture using his bike, @Strava, some mates... and Auckland as the canvas

Tthis year's Mystery Art Charity Birthday Bike Ride is legendary. 😂⚡️🥝🇳🇿 https://t.co/cHZM3cZ05a https://t.co/O9Bu2zsYWd pic.twitter.com/lg2M7vvtVO

— Bike Auckland (@BikeAKL) April 7, 2019
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