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London’s Pedalling Picasso brings holiday cheer to Strava

Season's greetings spelled out over 125 kilometres

December 20, 2020
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It’s been a big year for “Strava art.” There was the Belgian that drew a 277km perfect pint of Duvel beer. Then a Toronto cyclist turned the city into the most Canadian creature: a giant Moose.

Now, London’s Pedalling Picasso has joined the fray. Anthony Hoyte battled road works and parks closures to cover the U.K.’s capital with his annual dose of holiday cheer. Hoyte’s ride spelled out “Merry Christmas,” and covered 126.51km!

It may not be the traditional meaning of suffering for your art, but the picture did take just shy of 12 hours to create, 9-hours moving time. The impressive, and cheery ride isn’t Hoyte’s first. He earned his Pedalling Picasso moniker back in 2016, when he drew a giant snowman on the social training platform.

RELATED: Toronto cyclist rides 101km to make the most Canadian Strava art

This year, Hoyte’s got company, too. Dutch cyclists Joris Meijer joined the party with a festive appearance from Santa Claus drawn on the streets of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in The Netherlands.

With Dutch and British artists already weighing in, we want to see what Canadians can create! Why not add some uniquely Canadian holiday cheer to your Festive500 mileage. A buffalo? How about an orca? Or someone could bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada, at least online?

If you need some inspiration, check out Hoyte’s very detailed reindeer below. And there’s more of his art at is Pedalling Picasso website.

RELATED: Belgian rider draws 277km beer on Strava, beer company responds in the best way possible