Yesterday (July 29), you were probably focused on staying cool and avoiding direct sunlight as the heatwave really arrived in the city. Perhaps you even put some Olympics on the box as the wind from your fan blasted you into a cooled-down-but-still-flustered sort of a state.
One Matt Christie did not fancy the sound of this, though; despite his clear love of the games. Instead, he took it upon himself to create some rather beautiful Strava artwork through recreating the Olympic rings by way of biking. This is what the cycle of a genius looks like.
Credit: @mattchristiephoto
Taking out to the streets on a scorching day in the capital, he clocked in at 134.65km (83.67 miles) and was cycling out the shape of the famous rings for a sizzling nine hours and nine minutes. An immediate reaction to this feat should probably be closing this article, opening Strava, and smashing that kudos button down as fast as you can – and if you haven’t got the app, download it, HIT THE BUTTON, and then feel free to delete it.
According to his final post on Strava, Christie’s ride took around 2,000 turns (500 of which he claims to have gotten wrong, though the shape is looking pretty great from where we’re stood).
Speaking on the BBC Olympics Event page yesterday, Christie said: “It was hard work, turning every 100 yards for 85 miles! That’s about 2000 turns and my route-planner app made zero sense, taking me through fields, uncyclable woods, alleys with steps and the wrong way down one-way streets. I thought I’d be home by 12:30pm… it actually took me until after 7pm. But look, I made a picture!”
It came on the same day that Team GB took home their first gold medals of the Olympic games, which came thanks to the talented eventing team of Laura Collet and Tom McEwan, and then the men’s mountain biking event, with Tom Pidcock taking home the gold.
Matt Christie follows in the footsteps of two French cyclists – Guillaume Koudlanksy de Lustrac and Vincent Brémond – who rode around France in February ahead of the Olympics to draw the rings on Strava.
KUDOS.
