Physicist Rigged His Pet Hamster's Wheel to Strava. It Runs Far Every Night
Ranked #5 on Hacker News with 55 points and 7 comments.
Meet Mollie, the 10-month-old hamster who’s been logging serious mileage.
I use Strava for the obvious stuff, like runs , HIIT classes, and the occasional commute that goes full workout when I’m desperate to get my steps in. I’m not a pet owner, but I can understand a dog walk making it on there, too. The dog may be involved, but at least you’re still the one doing the walking.
But workouts uploaded from a hamster wheel? That feels like new territory.
Thijs de Buck, an MRI physicist based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, recently posted on Reddit that he built a speed and distance tracker for his hamster’s wheel, with the data automatically uploaded to Mollie’s own Strava account . Mollie, his 10-month-old hamster, is now committed to logging nightly runs with distance, pace, and time.
One recent activity showed 6.06 miles in 4 hours and 37 minutes. The next night, Mollie logged 5.55 miles in 3 hours and 56 minutes.
At first, de Buck just wanted to know how much distance Mollie was covering after dark.