It has been 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall – a landmark moment in European history that coincided with the rise of pro-democracy movements across the former Eastern Bloc.
To mark the occasion, Gary Cordery spent two weeks of planning and three days of riding to recreate the iconic ‘Bruderkuss’ graffiti that depicts Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev and East German leader Erich Honecker kissing.
The kiss took place on 7 October 1989 as East Germany celebrated its 40th anniversary, with Gorbachev the guest of honour at the celebrations – but if Honecker and his allies thought his presence would bolster the regime, they were wrong, with the Wall falling barely a month later.
Starting in the New Tempelhof region of Berlin, Cordery took three days to complete the art. Day one was occupied by the drawing of Gorbachev (left), day two sketching out Honecker (right) and day three make any tweaks.
The ride was never going to perfectly fit into Berlin’s road system which meant Cordery had to get inventive with something he calls the ‘pause’ technique.
It took 6 hours 35 minutes to ride the 100 kilometres needed to create the Gorbachev and Honecker photo on Strava.
“To create a straight line, I would start my Wahoo Roam as a new activity and immediately pause it. Once I reached the finishing point on the map I would unpause it and save the ride, this would create a straight line,” Cordery said.
‘”So to make a curve I would do numerous straight lines. When designing this I just had to make sure all the start/end points were on roads and in parks and open spaces that I could reach.”
