Celebrate your riding achievements with a stylish print for your wall. Turn your GPS art into a real work of art!
Normally when someone mentions Strava GPS art, they’re referring to the practice of riding a route so that the resulting GPS track either spells out a word, or depicts an image of something. Mine usually resemble dead cats, weird cartoon ghosts or slightly squished bananas, for some strange reason. But it’s amazing how much trouble some people go to.
Here’s some examples of GPS art on a Pinterest board I started curating.
But, wait a minute – we’re not talking about this kind of Strava art here, though there is a connection.
SISU is about real life physical prints that you can frame and hang on your wall. Prints based on your very own Strava data.
Sisu uses the Strava API to connect to your Strava data, and has rapidly developed to include RunKeeper too. The site has been well designed to lead you towards that single action of connecting your Strava account. All roads lead to the Connect button.
In its early incarnation, I was a little disappointed to discover that having connected your account, you’re simply told that someone will be in touch to discuss the requirements of your print. I was expecting an interface full of options and filters for me to play around with! I had visions of assembling various versions of my virtual print, and playing design god in terms of which rides to include and how to display them – layout/font/type/colours/titles.
It’s early days, and I’m told that they’re working on these kinds of ideas.
I certainly applaud their business pragmatism in terms of getting it out there (how many people sit on great ideas and never get to launch?). They’ve executed the lean startup idea very well, with a well formed minimum viable product. The website looks great and functions beautifully. Simple and effective.
And rapidly developing too, by the looks of it.
But what will the print look like?
You can download a sample pack showing some examples designs to whet your appetite, but here’s a screengrab from the site.
It’s fun to think about how you might configure your own version. Which rides would you select? What sort of a theme would you go for? Here’s some ideas
- All your club rides of the year.
- Your training rides leading up to your first big sportive.
- Every sportive event and/or race you’ve entered in the year.
- A commemoration of that two month tour, day by day.
More than just art
If you’re in the habit of planning and reviewing your rides using GPS technology and one of the many tracking sites available these days, you’ll appreciate that for some, there’s an association between each GPS trace and its ability to evoke powerful memories of the actual ride. For others, they’re just funky squiggles that look cool!
Why “Sisu”?
I Googled it. It’s a Finnish concept meaning endurance, resilience, tenacity, determination, perseverance. All the qualities you possessed in order to create all that ride data.
Visit www.madewithsisu.com
Update:
During January 2015, you can get 25% discount (£30 instead of £40). Visit Sisu now.
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