PEDAL STROKES OF GENIUS

The world's best Strava artists create jaw-dropping line drawings on an epic scale. Pat Kinsella joins one such master on a work-in-progress to find out how the magic takes shape

- Pat Kinsella

Where are we at, Nic?” I ask the guy riding next to me, whose head is nodding like a dashboard dog.

While staying alert to the London traffic around him, he is continually glancing down at his bar-mounted screen. We’re by Westminster Bridge, I know that much – I was a bike courier in the Big Smoke for a while – but I’m not enquiring about our geographical whereabouts. I want to know where we are in the picture we’re drawing while we’re pedalling.

“Right in the palm of the hand,” comes the reply as we grind to a halt, prompting a quizzical glance from a commuter beside us. The lights change, and we’re off before I have a chance to explain – not that I’d know where to begin. I’m cycling with Nicolas Georgiou, a pedal-powered creator of some renown – at least in the admittedly niche world of Strava art. Still, Georgiou has a following of thousands across his social media accounts, plus a coveted ‘Verified Athlete’ tick on Strava. He has received accolades from around the globe for his work, which involves creating images on a map, and then cycling them into (virtual) existence. He’s essentially a conceptual artist, using the streets of London as his canvas and his Specialized Roval Rapide wheels in lieu of a brush.

It’s July, and today we are riding Georgiou’s latest creation: a huge hand, cloaked in a cycling glove, making the peace sign. I understand our objective, but it’s hard to picture the details from ground level, and I’ve lost all sense of where we are in the artwork. The early evening rush hour has begun, and we’ve been stop-start cycling since 7am. I’m starting to wonder what I’ve got myself into. “Don’t worry,” Georgiou reassures me. “When you download the file, it will all feel worthwhile.” We begin to cross Waterloo Bridge, but he turns us around halfway across the river and we return to the north bank – to finish off the thumb, apparently.

The graveyard slot