American cyclist creates world’s largest GPS drawing in memory of her dog

In memory of her dog Slinky, Kristy Bellmer (USA) cycled around Europe to create the world’s largest GPS drawing by bicycle.

She covered 4,707 km (2,925 mi), triple the previous record set last year by another American, David Schweikert.

Kristy commenced the two-month journey on Slinky’s birthday, 1 May. 

Beginning and ending in Amsterdam, her route ran through Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany and Czechia.

“I used a lot of creativity to figure out how to connect those places in a manner that would look like a dog,” Kristy revealed.

Kristy and Slinky

“I wanted to start in Amsterdam because it is cycling heaven! I also wanted to go to Paris and Brussels, and I had friends I wanted to visit in Switzerland and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

“I ended up making the butt bigger to get to my friend in Garmisch, and the foot longer for my friends in Switzerland, and I made the tail longer so I’d go into Czechia too – I thought that was cool.”

Kristy mostly camped during her record-breaking ride.

She was subjected to “terrible” rain throughout, with some parts of Europe experiencing their rainiest spring on record.

In addition to flooding her tent twice, the rain damaged Kristy’s bike (nicknamed “Bikecephalus” in homage to Alexander the Great’s horse) and greatly reduced her visibility while riding.

The hilly terrain also posed a challenge, with the mountains between Czechia and Germany being an “unexpected surprise” for Kristy.

She said: “The hills went on and on until around Frankfurt. I had thought I was done with hills once I was out of the Alps! I wasn’t prepared mentally.”

This isn’t the first long-distance bike ride that Kristy has undertaken.

After quitting her job as an engineer in late 2022, she decided to take some time to fulfil a few lifelong goals, first cycling the Pacific Coast Highway, then across the USA, and then from the west coast of Portugal to the east coast of Spain.

Kristy wasn’t able to train much in preparation for her record attempt due to an injury, so she is delighted to have now successfully broken the record by such a large margin.

She said: “It’s a dream come true! I remember reading the book when I was a kid.

“I’d met several people who had set Guinness World Records titles before and I knew this one was very achievable.”

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