Well that was a thrill. Last night, thousands of naked, semi-naked and body paint-slathered Portlanders gathered under the Hawthorne Bridge for the city’s seventh annual World Naked Bike Ride.
One volunteer estimated the crowd at 13,000 but that sounds way too high to me—it felt to me like there were about as many people at the start point as there were last year, putting the number of riders at more like 5,000. Either way, the ride is very likely the world’s largest naked bike ride and took 30 to 40 minutes to pass the cheering throngs gathered along the nine mile route that snaked through Old Town, Broadway and Southeast bar scenes on 28th, Belmont and Hawthorne.
Like last year, the Portland Police escorted the ride, blocking intersections for the entire route. That, plus the sheer mass of cheering people, kept altercations to a minimum and (from my perspective at least) the ride seemed very safe.
One person was hit by a car on Hawthorne, but reports from the scene say the injury wasn’t very bad. An ambulance was at the crash very quickly.
The only questionable part, in my mind, was the Pervo Gauntlet at the beginning of the ride, where a handful guys set up their zoom lenses along the first part of the route. But the percentage of pervos among cheering fans (some of whom stripped in solidarity while exiting bars or cars) was a tiny fraction. Some participants have already uploaded photos of the ride, which you can check out on Flickr.
Anyway, I rounded up some other Portlanders’ thoughts from the Twitters this morning. Here’s what people are saying about the ride:
Below the cut: not everyone likes the naked bike ride! Check out an anonymous protest sign found on a North Portland telephone pole bearing the phrase, “Naked bike riding shows how much you need to reprent and turn to the Lord Jesus.” I’ll get right on that. After I shake this hangover.
@ Local Minister – make sure you put your ordination papers back in the Cracker Jack box where you found it.
Naked road rash – OUCH!!!! If there was a significant chance I’d fall, I’d not only wear clothes, but probably motorcycle leathers…
I totally don’t believe 13,000 either, but here is the science: http://www.vanvoice.com/blogentry/21105-da…
Also, I think there were a hell of a lot of pervy dudes with cameras. It totally creeped me out.
Truth to Power! With all the ruined societies out there, I never before made the naked biking connection. But I’ve never actually been to Somalia, so we can’t rule this out.
Now if only the proud message approver had remembered to leave his name–kinda effs up the “proud” bit. Whoopsie!
Here’s a link to a video from a bike cam on the Portland Naked bike ride on Saturday night . . .
http://vimeo.com/12729995
The Pervo Guantlet is why I didn’t go! The opening dance party was the best part, because there were no cameras inside! As soon as you get outside, your junk shows up on Flickr. So, again, boo to canceling the dance party.
Without an official and accurate head count, we
can’t prove Portland’s naked bike ride is the largest in the world nor can event organizers make optimum planning decisions for the ride.
The need for an reliable and accurate head count is what prompted my
efforts to get a tally for this year’s ride. That talley resulted in
an estimate of about 13,000 participants. The estimate was not made
without reservations and accuracy concerns remain (see the link to the nerdy and wordy breakdown of how the estimate was derived). However, it is my
hope that the snags in this year’s approach can be worked out so that
next year’s ride can have a formal, accurate and reliable count that
allows Portland to officially claim the title as having the world’s
largest naked bike ride.
For details on how the estimate was derived, please refer to:
http://www.vanvoice.com/blogentry/21105-da…
Finding a way to get a highly accurate count of the thousands of WNBR
participants is proving to slippery.
Agreed. We need an accurate bush count.
“I am proud to approve this message.” Just not proud enough to actually put my name behind this message…
Looked like a big pole party….. Were there any sword fights???
there were at least two accidents. One on SE 16th and the other SE 22nd and Hawthorne. Why is there no coverage of these accidents?
Some crazy bitch tried to kick my ass and destroy my camera for taking photos on a PUBLIC STREET, but failed! Haha…silly hypocritical exhibitionists….
Some bitch tried to kick my ass and destroy my camera for taking pictures on a PUBLIC F&*KING STREET,but failed! I’m fine and so is my camera (but you should have been arrested for assault).You strip off all your clothes in public and expect us NOT to look and take photos? Really?…WTF? Haha,silly hypocritical exhibitionists…