JUNE 8, 2008 - Yesterday, The World Naked Bike Ride held its northern hemisphere segment in about 70 cities, drawing the usual media frenzy which it seeks to create public awareness about automobile pollution and oil dependency. The fourth annual protest isn’t a naturist event, but counts on the participation of many nudists. The slogan is “bare as you dare”, thus participants can be naked, or half-naked, or even fully clothed, although full nudity is encouraged to illustrate how vulnerable bicycle users are in traffic-choked streets. Most do opt to go nude, albeit with sometimes elaborate body paintings. The first WNBR ever was in 2004, in Vancouver, Canada.

Paris, France again saw more than a hundred riders, and once again protesters were forced to wear at least undergarments, lest they be arrested by the scores of “gendarmes” patrolling the streets. According to the city’s ordinance, women were also prohibited from exposing their breasts. Several who defied the ban on public nudity were quickly pounced upon and led away. Ironically, France is considered a pioneer and bastion of naturism.

Ottawa, capital of Canada, saw 75 people ride through the city without incident, despite a searing spring heat wave.

In the popular English Channel resort of Brighton, an estimated 500 people rode nude. The Sussex police allowed full nudity explicitly for the event, although one can’t forget that this is the country which locked-up Stephen Gough, aka The Naked Rambler, for years for claiming his rights to be as he was born wherever he chooses.

Mexico City saw 500 mostly nude men and women cycle through city streets, converging on the Zocalo, site of the biggest nude photo shoot in history last year. The Mexican capital is one of the most polluted cities in the world, largely due to car emissions getting trapped in the valley in which the metropolis sits.

Not all Naked Bike Rides are held the same day, thus several major cities will hold their version in the days to follow.

More articles on WNBR
BBC video of Mexico City 2008 WNBR
El Mundo video of Madrid 2008 WNBR [in Spanish]

MONTPELIER, VERMONT, USA - Jun 8, 2008 - The World Naked Bike Ride, the annual protest against the automobile culture, isn’t reserved to big metropolises, as the media would have you believe. Yesterday’s edition took place in about 70 cities in the northern hemisphere, including Paris, France, as well as quaint Montpelier, capital of Vermont, which has a population of less than 10,000.

Strangely, while it’s not illegal to be nude in public in Vermont, the law prohibits undressing in public, thus forcing the 30 men and women who participated to disrobe inside a downtown building before beginning their ride through downtown streets.
Vermont’s largest city, Burlington (pop. 40,000 approx.), also hosted a version of the event.

More articles on WNBR
WNBR web page for Vermont
2007 WNBR in Burlington, Vermont, video

Sunday June 9, 2007 - Today, in scores of cities across the world, thousands of people protested oil dependency and the dominance of automobiles by cycling in the streets, most of them nude. In Paris, approximately 400 had assembled for the ride, but were ordered by police to get dressed or face the consequences. All complied except for five individuals, who were promptly arrested for sexual exhibition and led away. Thus ended the event in the French capital. Meanwhile, in Montreal, Canada, the world’s second largest French-speaking city, about 30 nude protesters rode along with the support and protection of the local police.
In London, usually the site of the largest naked bike ride, an estimated 1000 participated, according to police and Rob Jordan, one of the ride’s organizers. This was more than the 850 that took part last year. London’s cyclists avoided problems with authorities by hiding their intimate parts, either with paint or pieces of tape. Madrid, on the other hand, saw around 300 take part in their version of the protest, while 96 men and 4 women pedaled thir way through Mexico City.

Related Stories:

• More articles on WNBR

The Great Naked Debate is a new series that brings some of the top seven nudist bloggers together, offering you a different perpective in one place on a number of key naturist issues. For this second installment, the panel was asked: Would you ride nude in the World Naked Bike Ride? [You can click on blog names to visit participating sites.]
Nudist Travel Guide [Newest panel member]	On February 11, 2007, over 800 Bare Necessities nude cruise participants on a Holland America cruise raised over $15,000 “On Deck for the Cure” benefit walk for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer research foundation. Great cause, great success. I wish I had been there. The same goes for World Naked Bike Ride. WNBR supports many great causes and I’d like to ride in it, but the event is not the right fit for me. My wife is worried about privacy and the scariness of being nude in front of a non-nudist public. We do everything together, so her vote wins. We like the private, safe environment that AANR-affiliated nudist destinations provide and are on the lookout for a good charity event at a nudist resort nearby.
Naturist Journal	It depends on how well organized the group is. If the group has an understanding with local law enforcement then yes I would participate. If on the other hand there is more risk of arrest involved then I’d have to know what the legal issues are going to be, as well as what kind of planning has been done for such cases. I’m all for helping out to further a cause!
Gymnophiliac	Sure, why not? I think it’d be fun to ride nude through a city in a safe and (presumably) legal manner. Though the event isn’t designed to promote the acceptance of nudity, it still does that by its very nature. Tying nudity to political speech helps bolster the first amendment argument in favor of public nudity (in the US, at least), and it puts nonsexual nudity in front of a lot of people who might not otherwise have been exposed to the idea.
Tom Mulhall	I would not bicycle in the World Naked bike ride, but that is due to a permanent knee injury. However, I would walk the course nude as long as the group has an understanding with the local police where there would be no threats of arrest. I feel that the more people see nudity in a non sexual environment, the more they will accept it.
Diary of a Nudist	I would participate in the World Naked Bike Ride if it began to reach the scale of a Spencer Tunick photo shoot with hundreds or thousands of participants. I’m not so sure that I would feel comfortable riding naked with only a dozen or so people through city streets, because the attention focused on the event would be from the police, the media and the voyeurs. From what I understand, London has the largest ride and more are expected this year, so it is a growing event. As for Tunick, my wife and I are signed up online should he ever come to central Ohio for a shoot.
Nudist Day	No. While we support the cause and it does promote body acceptance a bit, we personally wouldn’t feel comfortable having our picture taken and exhibited in the non-nudist media.
USA Nudist	Promoting acceptance of nudity in public in appropriate places is important. I support that effort, but would not personally participate in the World Naked Bike Ride. Unfortunately, the premise that the World Naked Bike Ride promotes the acceptance of nudity is false. The WNBR is a demonstration protesting the negative aspects of petroleum fueled vehicles and dangers of these vehicles to bike riders and pedestrians, and not to promote acceptance of appropriate nudity. It uses the nudity for shock value to gain publicity much the same as are done in the PETA campaigns. Both are treated by the media as a freak show. This negative perception overshadows the public’s acceptance of their messages and associates nudism with the same negative feelings. There are many other ways to promote nudism with less controversial methods.

Since 2004, the World Naked Bike Ride has reunited cyclists across the globe to protest the world’s oil dependency and the dangers automobiles pose to them. The movement claims it uses nudity to emphasize their vulnerability as cyclists, and that 70 cities from 20 countries are participating.

This year’s protests for cities in the northern hemisphere will take place mostly on June 9th, while the southern hemisphere cities already held their events this past March 10th. Anyone can participate and nudity isn’t obligatory, many protesters opting to paint their bodies instead, and even if you don’t have a bicycle you can still take part. Furthermore, in some locations riding nude could get you arrested, prompting the WNBR organizers to recommend wearing strategically placed camouflage, such as a sock (!), to avoid breaking local laws. One of the reasons some protesters might not want to be nude is the likelihood they will be photographed or filmed, either by the media or individuals.
The Vancouver, Canada, based organization had only 13 cyclists ride in its original protest, and only 2 people cycled in Brazil’s first version in 2004. In contrast, hundreds are expected to join in this year’s edition in some of the larger cities.
For a list of participating cities, visit their website [see link below].

Related Sites:

• More articles on WNBR
• WNBR web site