"Burn fat, not oil!" screams
The back of one girl, bared to the
Sun. "Nude is not rude."
The venerable World Naked Bike Ride took place in Brighton, UK, today. We had the good fortune to make it there to participate, despite yesterday's, er, setbacks, related to the ferry and timing and whatnot. So now we're nudists!
Entirely not true. The point of the WNBR is to show the vulnerability of cyclists and to draw attention to issues like the way car culture is getting out of hand. It's also for the advancement of some naturalist perspectives, for instance that no one should have to cover his body or be ashamed of it. This was Brighton's fifth year hosting an event.
The local police were totally keyed in, and they escorted the bike parade and happily posed with naked people and everything. Evan and I got a photo with one. :) There were loads of official photographers and unofficial photographers around, though, so probably there are more pictures of us from that event than we realise. Anyway, note that the album for this event is NSFW due to the, er, nudeness of the ride.
So the day started off at The Level, which is a park in the middle of Brighton. There were some speeches about the ideals of the ride, a studio set up for body painting by local artists (Evan and I got painted), and then the pre-ride entertainment was a unicycle strip tease. OMG, it was hilarious. The performer started off in an old-school pinstriped vest and bowler hat ensemble, and eventually he stripped down to frilly red underwear and heart-shaped pasties with tassels. On his unicycle. Which was about 6 feet tall.
Following this, the big mass of naked people (and less-naked people) mounted their bikes and headed in a circle around the park and down to the waterfront. It took us through neighbourhoods where people live as well as through shopping districts. I must say that I enjoyed the looks on people's faces. As the beginning of the group passed by, it was mostly incredulity, but as more and more nudes cycled past it warped to happiness and amusement. Some people refused to acknowledge the spectacle, but in most places people came out of shops and pubs and houses to wave at us (and take photos, haha).
At the waterfront we took a pause, and people gathered around one of the bikes that had been outfitted with giant stereo sound systems for a dance party. One girl in particular looked pretty cool with her Native American headdress. :D
From the waterfront, we headed through more of Brighton, and Evan and I got some paninis and tea at a café at our next park stop (the shop owner was... surprised). Then onward through more of Brighton and down to the naturalist beach for a swim in the ocean and a concert. The performers' speakers were bike-powered for the concert! It was fantastic!
We met a lot of cool people yesterday, ranging from a guy who wanted to tell us all about Turkey to the guy who organises the WNBR in Greece who said he'd be happy to host us when we get there to artists to scientists. I was fairly surprised at the rather diverse makeup of the participants, actually, and it was cool to learn that it's not "just hippies and old people" who do this sort of thing. I'd guess that the average age of the people around was probably 32 or so.
Anyway, we had a lot of fun. I now have a rather silly-looking sunburn on my back from the body paint, but I'll get over it. :) We managed to find a couple girls at the end of the day who'd participated that were willing to host us for our time in Brighton, so that was pretty super. Their roommates are really nice, and we spent the evening cooking and talking about bike trips. We're even invited to a birthday party with them tomorrow. :D Nudity, ftw!