The World Naked Bike Ride
My last blog entry was about cycling to Wreck Beach to take in a naked Butoh dance performance. So it seems fitting that today I stumbled across an event I'd heard of but then kind of forgot about: The World Naked Bike Ride, Vancouver edition. If you've heard of Critical Mass, where a large group of cyclists takes to the streets chanting "we're not blocking traffic, we are traffic!" then you're part way to imagining this event. Just imagine several hundred cyclists riding naked through the streets of downtown Vancouver, some decorated with body paint, fairy wings or just painted on slogans. You can't miss the ride if it comes anywhere near you with the chanting of slogans, the ringing of bike bells and the tooting of car horns from appreciative motorists.
I came upon them at Robson and Denman streets in Vancouver and followed along for a bit before getting the nerve up to doff my clothes into my backpack and join the ride au-naturel like it was intended. From there we headed through the downtown core, over Granville Street bridge, taking up all three Southbound lanes down Fourth Avenue and back over Burrard Street Bridge where we encountered our first police car. But you can't arrest 200 naked people and they seemed more interested in keeping traffic moving and trying to keep us, unsuccessfully, to one lane of the bridge. The wind on the bridge and a light drizzle were not really conducive to cycling naked but the turnout was great nonetheless.
You may be asking "why?" Well, the best answer is "why not", when else will you get the opportunity to bike naked around the city? (well, next year of course). But more seriously it's a fun and humorous way to promote cycling as an environmentally friendly mode of transportation. The Critical Mass rides make this point monthly in Vancouver but adding nakedness gets a little more attention. And while some of the drivers at the Critical Mass events get a little testy at having to wait a few minutes for a couple hundred bikes to pass, the naked version of the event seemed to leave everyone in good spirits and laughing.
The World Naked Bike Ride (also known as Manifestación Ciclonudista in the Spanish speaking world) happens annually or more often in many cities around the globe. You can find more information at www.worldnakedbikeride.org.
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Posted by Doug Dosdall on June 11th, 2005 in Articles.
