After filming their adventure through London, a cyclist and his cat became an internet hit. The fluffy feline rode in the front basket.
Travis Nelson (45), a San Francisco software engineer, lost his job last year. He began taking his Norwegian forest cat, Sigrid (4 years old) on bicycle rides through London.
They now visit the sites around three times per week.
Mr Nelson shares videos of his trips on Instagram. He and Sigrid have over 43,000 combined followers.
The couple has also shared photos of their trips through London’s Hampstead Heath. Hyde Park. Oxford Street. Camden Market. Covent Garden.
He told Ham&High: ‘Everyone is always quite surprised and happy to see Sigrid on the bike and it’s just a non-stop trail of people waving, smiling and shouting “Hey, there’s a cat”.
Travis Nelson, 45 from San Francisco was laid off as a Software Engineer last year. Instead, he started to ride his Norwegian forest cat Sigrid on his bike rides.
“It may sound strange, but it is as if your spreading joy.
He said, “Sigrid loves it a lot.” It seems that she loves going outdoors. She will stand by the door, whine and leave.
Sigrid wears glasses sometimes on her rides. One clip from @skintension shows Travis, a fellow rider, referring to Travis’ equipment on his bike.
Fixed gear, track crank and 80mil wheels. A tri-spoke and cat. Goggles. Awesome.’
Sigrid, a deaf lead trained woman, is secured to the basket by a harness.
Fans can spot them out on public streets by identifying their bike with Sigrid and Travis.
Travis lives in Belsize Park with his wife and can devote up to 4 hours per day to putting together footage to post on social media or manage his Facebook page.
Sigrid usually gets out of his basket once he reaches a parks to let him chase squirrels and pigeons.
Nelson, who lives at Belsize Park with his wife and deaf cat Sigrid, said that trips have been a great way to build a routine after he was laid off from work.
Sigrid, however, is really the boss – whenever the fluffy feline wishes to get out of the basket she will let out a few meows.
A user posted a comment on one of the videos: “I could look at this for hours.” This is what I would call the greatest thing about Instagram.
Another said: ‘It’s so special the amount of joy she must bring to people in little ways each day…
‘I feel like it’s an emotion that is hard to capture, so it’s an absolute delight to see it through the videos you share of her interacting with the world.
Another user wrote: “I would love to visit London to meet you and your friends.”