Strava art on ice: Finnish rider draws a perfect bear on a frozen sea

If you thought Strava art was tricky enough to refine on land, how about doing it on sea?

Well, a Finnish cyclist has managed to create a remarkable drawing from a ride on a frozen portion of the Baltic sea.

As we take a look back at some of the Strava art highlights from March, this one certainly takes top spot, by some distance.

The rider's name is Pekka Tahkola, and the bear he has created with his 10.6km ride on the ice is the logo for Otso Cycles, whose Waheela gravel bike he was using for the ride.

The ride took place on the white surface of the Kempeleenlahti Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Bothnia that separates Finland from Sweden. The 106km ride took an hour and 12 minutes at an average of 8.8kph, a maximum speed of 28kph and, unsurprisingly, an elevation gain of zero metres.

As for the art, it is remarkably precise, given the complete absence of roads or even landmarks.

"Planning GPS art on the sea might be easy but riding isn't," Tahkola explained in the caption accompanying his ride.

"You've got 360° freedom all the time so it's freaking easy to steer off the line and you've got pretty much no places nor points visible to ride towards. That said, it's of course hella fun."

• Read more: Best Strava art of February

Other March highlights

Tahkola's effort was the most eye-catching piece of Strava art we caught sight of in March, but there were a few other notable works.

Easter bunnies

Easter came early this year, and that meant we saw a fair few bunny-shaped GPS artworks.

This from a group of 14 in Chicago, USA, represents a pretty realistic rabbit thanks to a ride of more than four hours and nearly 100km.

This next one might not be quite as precise or as refined, but it gains extra points for being done by a pro rider during one of the busiest periods of the season. British rider Abi Smith, who races for WorldTour team dsm-firmenich-PostNL, produced this on the Wednesday after Gent-Wevelgem, the 170km Flemish Classic.

• Read more: Best Strava art of 2023

St Patrick's Day

March also took in St Patrick's Day, which celebrates the patron saint of Ireland, usually by way of an excessive consumption of Guinness and a proliferation of Irish iconography.

In the case of Strava art, that meant a fair few Shamrocks, like this lovely 50km example from New York. The artist here has kept to the traditional three-leaf clover rather than being tempted by the lucky charm of the rare four-leaf version.

It's also worth pointing out that the rider in question, Karl Chen, also has another masterpiece, arguably even greater, produced in March. This bear, produced over eight hours, was drawn in exactly the same part of New York.

An 800km heart

Valentine's Day was last month, but that didn't stop this hopeless Czech romantic from heading out to draw a giant heart for his loved one.

"A heart for my Sweetie" was the caption from Václav Květon, who spent more than four days, presumably in the absence of said sweetie, crafting this.

The total distance was 884.28km, with an elevation gain of more than 10km, and the ride took nearly 51 hours and nearly half of the total time of the trip. The average speed was 17.4kph but that can be explained by the even more remarkable fact that this ride was done on a mountain bike - perhaps he really did want to spend as much time away from home as possible.

• Read more: Father and daughter ride 2,162km to create largest Strava art ever

© Natural Earth Data © Mapbox © OpenStreetMap © Strava

The giant love heart covers a big chunk of Czechia

Shrek

Rounding up, we're not quite sure of the rhyme or reason but we couldn't leave out this 100km drawing of Shrek from Christchurch, New Zealand. Not when it comes with this great title.

For more of the latest from the world of cycling, visit our general news page.

Strava

Strava is an online app that allows users to track their activities and share them with others. It connects over 100 million athletes across a global online community.