Anthony Hoyte from Cheltenham, U.K. isn’t just an avid cyclist – he’s also quite the creative artist. What is his medium? Well, he prefers to use his bike and a cycling app.
Anthony loves spending hours on his bike, cycling around his town and in the countryside. One day an idea dawned on him, wouldn’t it be fun to create ‘drawings’ with his bicycle route on his cycling GPS tracking app called Strava? Ever since he gave it a go – he’s been hooked! And he’s been pedaling up some pretty impressive drawings…or…routes. Route drawings?
Anthony isn’t a professional cyclist, although, he certainly bikes like one. He calls himself a “recreational” cyclist, however, he spends quite a bit of time on two wheels. As far as his Strava art goes, it takes quite a bit of time to plan out what he’s trying to create, and the perfect route he’ll need to take in order to make it come together.
Anthony isn’t the first to create art out of GPS tracking and exercise apps.
“I’d seen others doing it, notably Stephen Lund in Canada, and thought, “I’m going to try that!” he said.
In Christmas of 2018, Anthony shared with his Twitter base his creation of Santa Claus. It only took him 4 hours and 41 miles to create. The details for this rendition of Saint Nick is actually quite impressive when you look closely. And that’s because Anthony sort of has an eye for these types of things.
The recreational cyclist is actually trained as a designer, and although that’s not his current career, it sure helps when it comes to making his Strava art. He takes his time to study Google maps and other online tools to look for bends and curves in the roads or the shape they naturally create.
”[It’s] a bit like spotting pictures in clouds,” he says. “If something jumps out at me—like perhaps a road that looks like a nose—then I’ll try and find eyes and so on. If nothing jumps out, I’ll try somewhere else, but I’ll keep coming back to places to see what I see.
Only when necessary, Anthony will bike through a park, campus, or parking lot in order to get a perfect line or shape.
In 2017, Anthony’s holiday ‘bike drawing’ of choice was a snowman – complete with a carrot nose, top hat, tie, and stick arms. Once again, quite the impressive feat.
We’d say, however, that his 2019 Strava art really takes the cake. It’s an intricate reindeer creation with two large antlers.
Even the eyes, ears, and nose are ‘drawn’ perfectly with his cycling route. This crazy creation took him 9 hours and nearly 80 miles of cycling to complete. What an amazing and festive ride!
Anthony doesn’t just stick to making Strava art for the holidays. In fact, far from it. He’s created masterpieces of people and animals that are worth giving him a round of applause.
People have become one of Anthony’s specialties with his Strava art.
Animals are another genre like that he likes to create when cycling around the U.K.
Anthony began making his cycling creations back in 2016 and has acquired quite the gallery. Since his town of Cheltenham is quite small, he likes to explore and cycle around other nearby towns and cities to help execute his craft. He has dreams of making his artwork international but feels like the grid-system of many U.S. cities could prevent a challenge.
Follow his Twitter account for his latest creations.
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@Yorkshire2019
Got the #Yorkshire2019 route sorted:https://t.co/HXQ7RLNxuv pic.twitter.com/utYBSKbIFO— Anthony Hoyte (@anthoyte) October 12, 2016
