We went to the ride (to be supportive but we had to bike to a gig early the next morning in the next town over so we couldn't stay). Also we were immediately too creeped out to ride anyway. Even blocks away, the toughest thing about getting there was oddly car traffic. The roads were full of cars,motorbikes, Minivans full of gawking, laughing people. I love laughter but when it's getting the wrong idea then it's tragedy and when it's praying on the denizens of the ride, it's just wrong. lots of workman types with ratty bikes in the back of the trucks. My guess is that they weren't going on the ride in response to the polar ice caps up north melting into the sea. We saw every cool bike in town and all the usual characters.Tons of people knew us and we made free balloons for lots of kids. I was pleased they weren't getting that draconian lesson that bodies are somehow dirty or wrong. It is a positive step away from ignorance, it was also a boon for the town's pervs. I saw a clothed guy in the park unashamedly standing inches from a group of pert 20 somethings making them feel gross, I wanted to kick him square in the back but we were on a mission(that we failed) . We couldn't find our friends so we decided the story to get was not the ride but the gawkers. WAY more entertaining. Back in my day (aught 98) the naked ride was April fools day and then later it was a strong protest. The ride left at 5pm into rush hour traffic , no cops, no stopping and typically ended with half the people in jail. It was a sacrifice. Now it's more of a "getta load of me ride", That's cool, bitchin bike bods abound everywhere (they deserve praise). But this event generated so much car traffic and onlookers getting the wrong message that it's a moot point in the environmental struggle. It's less "save the world" and more "burning man". Committed cyclists numbers are down in Ptown. Lots of folks drove to the ride. We decided to take pics of people who just went as tourists. Some were funny, some scary, some from other countries and who knows what they thought. We had fun and hung out with lots of friends. This night, getting over exposed was not our thing (not for the gawkers), glad we got to gawk at the gawkers though.
This lady made me laugh the hardest. As we rolled away this lady who had a huge camera set up pleaded with us to disrobe. ""Where are you going??" she almost made me feel bad. I said "I'm so sorry Hon, I would love to be your object of ridicule but Ya see my partner and I have the explosive dihariahs and it's not making for good bike company" her friends exploded..with laughter at her. Look at all that traffic.
Olive was really happy to get a pic of this guy. He was taking pics of every nude gal that went by. He saw he was getting photographed and all of a sudden looked like the cat that ate the goldfish (or posted porn of the goldfish)
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