A cyclist celebrated the festive month in a very interesting way.
He took off to the streets of London by riding a 79-mile route around the capital in the shape of a reindeer.
Anthony Hoyte, 51, cycles long distances to create art by planning intricate routes that form images on maps, he records his rides with the Strava fitness tracker app.
His latest work is his third annual Christmas image, and he thinks this is best.
Mr. Hoyte has produced a dozen pieces of art on his bike, and he has believed that his training as a product designer will help in the creative process of planning the routes.
He said: ‘I’m pretty happy with it. You plan them all out but 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 from coming into London,’ he said. ‘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.’
He added: ‘I just spend a lot of time looking at maps and it’s waiting for things to jump out at you.
‘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, 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.’
He said: ‘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?’
‘But in the end, the reindeer turned out almost exactly as planned.
‘There’s a little glitch in there near Shepherd’s Bush where I lost the GPS signal and it creates a straight line that cuts through a couple of street blocks, but that’s minor,’ he said.
‘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.’
Recommended video
“Man Opens Car Door While In Automatic Car Wash To Fix Wipers, But Brush Returns And Slams Door In Opposite Direction”
[rumble video_id=vcb57 domain_id=u7nb2]