Week Six Winner - Paul Thompson - MIVA Weekly Challenges

The winner of our sixth weekly challenge “Strava Art” was chosen a little differently. Up until now we’ve been picking our winner at random from all the successful entries. Where art is concerned a little more judgement is called for

Steve Nelson, president of Echelon Cycling Club in Santa Barbara, California kindly agreed to be our impartial outsider. We removed the names from the entries and emailed them over.

Steve writes:-

I am so impressed by the creativity, ambition, and commitment of your entries. As I remarked earlier, I’ve always wondered about doing Strava art but never mustered what it takes to conceive, plan and execute even the simplest project, much less the amazing pieces your friends have created.

So here, in Goleta, California, right next to Santa Barbara, known as the American Riviera, where our infection rate might be high right now, but the riding is (almost) always great and year-round, I am honored to select from these stellar entries into what I believe is your first Strava Art Competition and chose a winner. It should be known that I have never attempted such a feat, though I’ve always dreamed of doing something profound that the world, or at least our tiny slice of it, might see and marvel. Mostly, though, I just ride my bike in useless circles, or sometimes just in a single line out, and then back.

In choosing my favorites I understand that it is only the final product that is to be judged, as art, without taking into consideration the degree of difficulty or the mileage or the elevation gain. I’ll admit that, when looking at the art, which is overlaid upon a map, as a cyclist, it is challenging to disregard all that, but I have tried. It goes without saying that these are all excellent endeavors, each with its own charms and delights, but chose I must and here it is.

Honorable Mention: Go Fish!. Elegant, clean lines. It is lovely.

Third Place: AN ORCA. It fits the landscape so beautifully and thematically on the money for the location. I know I’m not supposed to say but clearly this is an ambitious attempt which it almost pulls off.

Second Place: I’m sorry, but this is a tie: caw caw it’s a crow and AN ALIEN. Both are less ambitious attempts that are more successful because of their simpler design. the crow is marred by its un-crowlike neck (we have a lot of crows around here), though I love the lake/eye.  The Alien is fanciful, fun, and simple.

The Winner: Fly birdie fly. the elegance of the design is matched by the near perfection of its execution. It is beautifully gestural and highly influenced by local indigenous art. This is a concept that is perfectly suited to the medium. I know that I’m not supposed to be thinking about the cycling part of it, but I cannot help but be impressed by how little mileage went into this.

Thank you for the opportunity to make a judgement on your work; it was really fun and I enjoyed all the pieces very much. Is all this indicative of a Covid-19 related slowdown or is this just what you do up there on Vancouver Island? I have been there, briefly, but I didn’t get a chance to have a ride.

Any one of you will be welcome to ride with Echelon Santa Barbara should you find yourself here. We do have some decent climbing here, but as we are on the coast there are also flat routes. (I like to climb!)  Lorrie knows about the joys of riding through our Wine Country. Looking forward to it!

Stay safe, sane & solvent, and don’t let any USA people in until we do better!

————steve

Paul Thompson was the artist wielding the bicycle/brush responsible for “Fly birdie fly”. Paul wins a $50 gift card for Cold Front Gelato, enjoy!

This week’s challenge is to ride to the top of three different climbs and take a selfie.