Cyclist Takes Nine Hours To Create Reindeer Picture On Strava Map

In what could be the most wholesome news of the year, one man has decided to combine his love of cycling with his love of Christmas - by spending nine hours creating the shape of a reindeer on his Strava app.

Anthony Hoyle from Cheltenham has taken to the streets of north London where he used the GPS tracker to create the masterpiece - yes, that's what I'm calling it.

He trekked more than 80 miles around the city, starting off his creation in Hammersmith and making his way around before finsiing his route along Euston Road in central London.

In the past, 51-year-old Anthony has also created a Santa, a snowman and a Yorkshire terrier around Leeds - because obviously, Leeds is in Yorkshire - see, told you it was wholesome.

Twitter/Anthony Hoyle

Speaking about his latest piece, he told ITV: "I'm pretty happy with it. Until you get back and upload it, you're not quite sure whether it's going to work or not.

"I live in the countryside and it's very different to coming into London. Particularly around Neasden and Wembley, it's not the most pleasant cycling.

"That's about my maximum distance - I wouldn't want to go too much above that. It's a long day in the saddle."

Twitter/Anthony Hoyle

He revealed that he comes up with the ideas for his artwork by just looking at maps.

He explained: "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.

"With these ones it's a bit more tricky because I'm trying to do something festive so it's harder, but it's the same process really."

But people are getting so used to his incredible images, that he feels that he has to do one every year.

Twitter/Anthony Hoyle

He added: "In a sense I've made a rod for my own back in that it's become a tradition and everyone was saying: 'So what's it going to be this year?'"

Although we can't tell - he did admit that due to a GPS glitch, he made a bit of a mistake - try and guess where it is if you want, I bet you can't.

Anthony added: "I made a couple of mistakes but they're so small that nobody's going to notice really.

"I'm happy. It looks how I wanted it to look."

Keep them coming, Anthony.

Topics: uk news

Amelia Ward

Amelia is a journalist at LADbible. After studying journalism at Liverpool John Moores and Salford Uni (don't ask), she went into PR and then the world of music. After a few years working on festivals and events, she went back to her roots. In her spare time, Amelia likes music, Liverpool FC, and spending good, quality time with her cat, Paul. You can contact Amelia at [email protected].

@amelialadbible