Cyclist creates Pudsey with 50-mile ride

Rebecca Laurel's latest Strava collection resembles Children in Need mascot Pudsey Bear

A cyclist has completed a themed bike ride by following a route to map out the shape of Pudsey Bear in aid of Children in Need.

Rebecca Laurel cycled around Leicester for about five hours on Saturday, covering 50 miles (80km) to form the shape of the BBC charity mascot on Strava, an app that records physical activity.

"It's quite slow when you're zigzagging through the city centre," the 25-year-old said.

She has so far raised more than £370 with her creation, made in response to a challenge put out to her by BBC Radio Leicester when speaking about her previous design, which was a skeleton-shaped ride near Halloween.

"I just pick themed rides based on the season," Ms Laurel said.

"Christmas, Halloween, Easter. I did a crown-shaped ride for the coronation."

Ms Laurel has been cycling for more than 12 years

Ms Laurel said she first got into cycling after the London 2012 Olympics when she and her brother joined a cycling club.

However, planning her rides to resemble animals and other themed objects was something that came during lockdown.

"I was planning a route just to see how long it was," she said.

"And I got about two thirds of the way through and thought, 'oh, this looks a bit like a llama'.

"So I plotted the rest of the route to make it look like a llama.

"And then I thought, if I add some antlers and a red nose, I can make a reindeer.

"Then it kind of went from there and it was quite popular on social media.

"So I thought, 'yeah, I'll do some more of these'."

Her latest creation took "a couple of hours to plan" and took inspiration from her previous designs.

Ms Laurel said her next themed ride would be about 90 miles (145km) and would take the shape of a snowman.