Last week, Rebel Metropolis took a look at the haters trolling online coverage of Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride. Every year, these self-righteous naysayers infest the interwebs with their condemnation of bikes, nudity, and the people who cherish both. Try as they might, however, this verbally-challenged minority cannot stop thousands of riders from stripping bare and mounting their iron horses for a few hours of nakedly ambitious bike fun.
This year’s WNBR was staged further east than recent years, apparently to mitigate the thousands more people who pack the streets purely as spectators. Personally, I love the spectators, and enjoy exchanging high fives as I pass. Seemingly, almost all onlookers relish this momentary interaction with people riding by, over and over. Many even strip down themselves while cheering us on. Hopefully they’ll join the ride next year.
While I haven’t heard an official head count yet, it felt like 2014’s WNBR was far bigger than before. In prior years, the staging ground where riders met up was a single vacant city block with a second for spill-over that rarely filled up. This year, the staging grounds were two adjoining baseball fields in Normandale park – roughly equivalent to four of Portland’s downtown city blocks – and they were packed!
To be sure, the sea of naked bodies and bikes seemed to stretch to the horizon. At 9pm, the call to ride went out, and the crowd roared. As riders began to head out from the North side of the park, it seemed just getting this many people in the street was going to be more challenging than years past. Literally, it took my group of friends and I over an hour from the start of the ride before we were able to make it out of the park and into the street. From here, the crowd moved for several blocks as tightly packed pedestrians before space opened up and we were able to start pedaling.
While some local media had been pushing a narrative that certain neighbors were less than thrilled about WNBR coming to their neighborhood, the reality couldn’t have been further from the truth. Despite going nowhere near downtown, the route was lined with thousands of cheering residents eager to witness the legend that is the World Naked Bike Ride. Many parents even brought young kids out to view the nude throngs of cyclists. Won’t somebody think of the children?!
The only drawback of the residential route was that several times the ride bottle-necked due to narrow streets sporadically lined with parked cars, and we were again forced to walk slowly instead of riding. Having not announced the route ahead of time for a number of reasons, homeowners likely couldn’t have moved their cars in time anyway. Regardless, it’s hard not to notice what a nuisance automobiles can be even while immobile.
Regardless, this was thoroughly enjoyable event that received a surplus of national and international press coverage. Myself and a friend were interviewed by a reporter from Reuters, though our quotes didn’t make their piece.
While less extensive, check out my own photos from the ride below. A larger gallery of images I shot in 2012 can be found here.
We’ll have to wait another year for the love-fest that is World Naked Bike Ride to return, however Pedalpalooza is just getting started – there’s still hundreds more rides to cherish.
See you in the streets!
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All images copyright Hart Noecker.
That was fun, well I didn’t do the ride, did it last year but this time I danced on top of my van for a few hours until the kickoff
Fantastically wonderful review, thank you for your well thought out commentary!
liberate your bodies and your minds: own your transportation and your sexuality!
http://bikeporntour.blogspot.it/2014/05/call-for-entries-bikesmut-8-comeagain.html
I’ve done 7 rides so far. London and York. It always seems odd to us, how few riders on American WNBRs actually are naked. Is that a sign of a repressed or a repressive society or are photographers just too coy and selective in what they post?
It’s true: “bare as you dare” is an on-going slogan here, and it does a great job at making the event feel inclusive, allowing everybody to bring there own version of beyond-everyday-exposure. It’s a good thing. I, myself, let it all hang out and thousands of others do too.
Agreed. As the photographer and editor, I’m looking for unique costuming/accessorizing/body paint. The nude body is beautiful on it’s own, but the work people put into presenting themselves for WNBR is a sight to behold all its own.
I loved the ride. This post does an excellent job covering the feel of it. One thing that surprised me was the frequent circles of broken glass for much of the route in the middle of the street, as if they’d been thrown there once the route was known. Still, I have a road bike so I lucked out. I’ve also shared with folks how many lined the way, cheering us on. You’re right to share that. The atmosphere was festive, like being at Woodstock. It’s a lot of fun, and some of the creative ideas echoed things I’ve seen in the Providence Bridge Pedal. I am SO looking forward to PNBR 2015 – I hope we luck out yet again with a comfortable temperature. Portlanders know it can be very chilly still this time of year.
Well. Awkward to see someone I know in these pictures. HA