How to avoid the mobility problems during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona? Riding your bike, of course

February 28th, 2017

Photo by Mari Carmen Díaz

This week, the City Hall of Barcelona is working very hard to avoid the mobility and access problems to the giant congress of mobile technology. We, riding our bicycle, haven’t noticed it.

Barcelona is the headquarter of the Mobile World Congress since 2006 and, since this year, the mobility and the access to the city have been the greatest. Speaking of public transport, the underground and the bus lines are completely packed. Speaking of taxis, we find a frenetic movement. But, speaking of bicycles, a luxury.

In counterpoint to the frenetic rhythm which seems that Barcelona is experiencing Barcelona as the headquarter of the newest technologies, we are there, and we are enjoying the city through the streets without stress nor masses. A nice image that we want to share with everybody who hasn’t yet planned a rest, such as we have, during this week.

Our tip for this week:  relax yourselves with a great stroll by bike through our parallel world in Barcelona.

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.