Pedals not Petrol : The World Naked Bike Ride

This last weekend just gone I attended the World Naked Bike Ride in both London and Brighton. I don't think I've ever spent that much time naked outdoors in my life before. (Photo below was of some people I met in the bodypainting area)



The London ride started with a call from Will Golden about the location of the secret body painting area over the opposite side of Hyde Park to where the ride would be starting. En-route I was stopped by the archetypal (and those of you have been will know what I mean) middle-aged-non-participant-photography-enthusiast asking me where the start was. I was a little rude and later apologised. The London ride really went off without a hitch and I met some lovely people. We ended bizarrely in a side street by Tower Bridge with much dancing and cheering.



This is the first time the roads weren't blocked off for us by the police so there were a lot of very suprised bus passengers that day.



Brighton was a worry for me. I'd not tried to get a bike down there on the train before, but in the end all was well. Everyone was lovely. Brighton people a little less suprised by this sort of thing than Londoners.



On an odd note there were three breaks built in to the route. One by the beach on some grass (makes sense), another on a roundabout in the town centre (not so normal... if you've never seen a queue of naked painted girls waiting patiently for ice-cream then you haven't lived) and finally a party on the beach.



The bands were all from the Pleasant Revolution on a pedal powered sound system. Lots of dancing, lots of sun, and a lot of wobbly bits. Anyway the rest of my photos are here (some are a little NSFW)

All told a great time... but not the training weekend I had in mind for the London to Brighton ride next weekend...