Five of the best: Strava art

Hirst, Banksy, Emin. These are just some of the artists who will soon become redundant as a new wave of art takes over; Strava art.

Of course we exaggerate, but Strava art, and the quite extraordinary lengths people go to to create it, is becoming increasingly popular.

If you're not fully aware of what it is, it's essentially riding a route tracked by a GPS device that will show up as a word or a quirky picture on the map when you upload the ride to Strava.

The planning and time that goes into it seems like an unenviable task, but then again, what artist doesn't suffer for their craft?

Here we take a look at our five favourite attempts at Strava art.

1. The New Forest bicycle

David Taylor from Salisbury created this 341km mega bike on September 20 around the New Forest and surrounding areas. It took him 13 hours to complete...chapeau David.

2. The New Forest pony

Another Taylor original now with this remarkable Strava pony created back in August 2013. (opens in new tab) This one took nearly eight hours riding time to complete, with David covering over 231km in the meantime.

3. Millar time

In honour of David Millar's win on stage 12 of the 2012 Tour de France, (opens in new tab) Strava rider Chris Phipps decided to go out and pay homage to the British pro with this ride around San Francisco. While it didn't involve the same colossal distances as the first two examples in our top five, only covering 31.5km, we think still think this is a superb effort.

4. The Strava proposal

Marriage proposal in the sky? That's been done to death. Marriage proposal plotted on a map by a GPS device from your bike? Now there's an idea. And that's exactly what American cyclist Murphy Mack did for his girlfriend Emily back in January 2014 (opens in new tab), riding 29km to create this route of romance. She even said yes in the comments section.

5. The San Francisco turkey

Like impressionism in Paris during the 19th century, San Francisco seems to be the epicenter of the Strava art movement, with another of our top five drawn on the streets of the west coast city. This intricate Thanksgiving turkey was created by four riders (opens in new tab) just three days before the US festival took place last year. The fowl picture covered over 85km and took just over four hours to complete. We think the hat is a lovely touch.

Seen a piece of Strava art you think is better? Let us know.