The bicycle, an instrument capable of inspiring works of art with the size of a city

Stephen Lund's work on Strava art

Stephen Lund’s work on Strava art

Cyclists from all over the world draw amazing figures through their GPS for sharing them later. It is called Strava art.

Other times, we have talked about mobile applications such as Strava or Endomondo which, in addition to being good tools for keeping us fit with our bicycle, are new social networks where we can share routes, record times which make us feel pride, among other impressions. But the thing that their inventors maybe never imagined when they programmed them is the fact that the users are taking an artistic advantage of them when they use the routes marked on the streets where they move around.

Such as the expression “mente sana in corpore sano” predicts, there is a very narrow relationship between the wealth of our minds and the training of our bodies.

In this sense, we want to make reference to this (we think that it can be already called like this) “movement” which, taking advantage of the digital applications, has transformed the cities into a big canvas.

Stephen Lund's work on Strava art

Stephen Lund’s work on Strava art

Cyclists of everywhere in the world plan and prepare a route which ends up in images (some of them really complex figures), which will finally be shared with friends and, even, with the rest of the world.

If you are thinking about a new challenge, this is the best way to combine sport, art and new technologies.

¿Why #BarcelonaInspire?

Photography by Joaquin Aranoa

#BarcelonaInspire is one of the most popular hashtags used in the social networks by everyone who experience and visit this incredible city.

If we are planning a trip, taking a look at the social networks could be a great way to find all the happenings which we want to experience. With a simple hashtag we will achieve an infinite number of comments, videos and a lot of photos about the places that we want to visit.

Something similar happens with #RTW (Round The World), this is used for everywhere in the world, or #TTOT (Travel Talk On Twitter). Although if we are interested on the opinions about places for eating, the best is: #FoodTravelChat.

But, what does usually happen in the social networks…? Between the retouches and the happy faces, a lot of times we are far away from the reality which we finally find. If you want to avoid this, #NoFilter is your best hashtag. Here, no matter how good the photography is, there is no trick.

So, now you know, for your next trip to Barcelona, apart from being sure that you have a bicycle to pedal, take a look at the social networks to see why Barcelona inspires so many people.