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VIDEO: Thousands of cyclists - and even more spectators - turn out for World Naked Bike Rides

London, Brighton & Southampton rides aimed to highlight vulnerability of cyclists

Thousands of cyclists - and even more spectators - turned out for World Naked Bike Ride this weekend in London, Brighton and Southampton.

Main roads were closed due to the number of people turning out to gawp, and in London, in a rather unsavoury thought for those who use them usually - many of the riders borrowed Boris Bikes for the event.

In London riders set off from Marble Arch, Regent’s Park, King’s Cross, Clapham Junction and West Norwood yesterday before converging on Hyde Park Corner.

London organisers estimated that as many as 1600 riders turned out for the ride, seen here in this video:

CAUTION: VIDEO CONTAINS NUDITY (funnily enough - although it's edited to be fairly tame...)

 

In Southampton on Friday there were more than 150 naked riders, who left from Southampton Common, taking off along a six-mile route through Portswood and into the city centre, before returning to Southampton Common.

We'll report back when the Brighton ride currently underway has finished, but organisers anticipated a thousand cyclists would gather at Preston Park from noon and take part in a nine mile 'sightseeing' day out.

According to the founding organisers of World Naked Bike Ride, the reason for staging the events is "to celebrate cycling and the human body. The ride demonstrates the vulnerability of cyclists on the road and is a protest against oil dependency."

The organisation's website claimed that as many as 152 locations in the Northern Hemisphere held naked rides yesterday.

 

 

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9 comments

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Bikeylikey | 10 years ago
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I think it's brilliant, a right laugh. Also getting on the nerves of conservatives and motorists, also making a point about oil dependency if you want to get serious. Ok, also a bit of a perv fest maybe, but who cares? Pervs are people too. Why, some of my best friends....

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CanAmSteve | 10 years ago
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The horror, the horror. All the way from Marble Arch to Hyde Park Corner?

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nowasps | 10 years ago
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I thought the idea was to highlight/demonstrate how vulnerable cyclists are by revealing our fragile bodies to the motoring public.

It all looks a bit too much like a cycling traffic jam to me.

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northstar | 10 years ago
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So much ignorance it seems.

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Tom Amos | 10 years ago
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Took this one in the Mall on Saturday (in case anyone's interested)

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dtb200 | 10 years ago
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I'm not sure how this advances the cycling cause but each to their own??

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ttekkv replied to dtb200 | 10 years ago
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It doesn't. It strengthens the perception that cyclists are weirdos and hippies. Similar to how Critical Mass strengthens the perception that cyclists are annoying and self-righteous.

Not saying that either of those things aren't at least partly true, though  19

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farrell replied to dtb200 | 10 years ago
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dtb200 wrote:

I'm not sure how this advances the cycling cause but each to their own??

Go on then, what is the "cycling cause", I'd love to know.

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netclectic | 10 years ago
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Why aren't these people being arrested and thrown in jail like the naked rambler?

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