17 March 2009

Canberra's first world naked bike ride day a success.

| johnboy
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[First filed: March 16, 2009 @ 10:06]

My trudging over arboretum hillsides yesterday saw me miss the Canberra leg of “World Naked Bike Ride”.

For those who’ve come in late the manifesto of the ride was:

    Celebrate bodies and bikes while making a stance against oil usage, consumerism and the negative body image portrayed by the mass media.

    We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians plus all the negative effects of oil, cars, war, consumerism and non-renewable energy.

Apparently it went well aside from some unusual tan lines this morning. Huge thanks to Asher Floyd for making his photography of the event available to us.

WNBR organiser Pip had this to say:

    Well we had about 25-30 riders so I was happy with that turn out. I mean hopefully we’ll have more next year but at least it wasn’t just 5 of us. That’d be weird…

    Apart from the ridiculous sunburn patterns I’m now sporting, the day went really well. I had a couple of chats with the cops, one of which I was wearing nothing but undies and body paint. Very surreal having a serious conversation with only painted on flowers on your boobs!

    Everyone really enjoyed themselves and we had lots of possitive feedback, the majority of it was positive anyways.

    Next year however, I think we need to work out a way to state our cause a bit better while on the ride. The public really had no idea what we were about so I think we need to address that better next year.

Slideshow below (reasonably SFW):

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I tend to agree with some of the comments made above. An event can hardly be stated a success when;

1) No more than 30 people turned up to support it
2) No one (ie. the public) knew what the event was highlighting CT reported it as being ‘body image’
3) It was poorly advertised outside of Facebook.

In fact, in reading the Facebook page – the whole event seemed more pre-occupied with getting naked with a bunch of strangers or friends rather than advocating for body-image acceptance.

An event such as this has the potential to actually be well attended -perhaps the organisers could look beyond Facebook for advertising next year to encourage greater participation amongst the community and highlight the actually objective of the event, rather than just promote it as a nudy run amongst friends on bikes.

astrojax said :

And since when is a pair of skates, a bike?

If I had of known that I would have gone along. It would have been brutal in hockey skates though.

Loony bloody lefties!

They weren’t naked!

Piss poor. Call me a crazy anarchist but it isn’t real unless you break at least 3 laws.

And since when is a pair of skates, a bike?

…and surely it would be ‘da fuzz’?

ah, this was all so wrong on so many fronts… ; )

Beserk Keyboard Warrior said :

I remember back in the day when you could send your 4 year old to the local shops to buy you a pack of smokes, when women nor aboriginals were allowed to vote, AND when ‘naked’ meant that you had no clothes on. Ahhhh the memories.

Women have had the vote since 1903.

Trunking symbols5:13 pm 16 Mar 09

The fuzz?

Reading the reports in the interstate papers the fuzz didn’t have any problems at all in Melbourne where guys were allowed to ride completely naked – they took their jocks and g-strings off after the cops said it was OK. This contrasted with Sydney where the cops took a very hard line and forced all the guys to wear shorts over their jocks and g-strings – strange indeed for a city which has the Mardi Gras. Perhaps it’s a hangover from World Youth Day.

jakez said :

They weren’t naked!

Piss poor. Call me a crazy anarchist but it isn’t real unless you break at least 3 laws.

And since when is a pair of skates, a bike?

They weren’t naked!

Piss poor. Call me a crazy anarchist but it isn’t real unless you break at least 3 laws.

Gorgeous!! If I had a body like that I’d go that nekkid!

Pip has a cracking body

Wow what a turn out. Naked ambition I suppose

Beserk Keyboard Warrior11:22 am 16 Mar 09

‘Sir have you got a licence for that penis?’

As to why the ‘naked’ bikeride isn’t actually naked, I think the ACT is one of the places that has laws about people ‘exposing their person in public’, with a legal interpretation that ‘your penis is your person’.

So, people in g-strings and the like.

I think that is exactly what has happened sepi.
This event has been around for a while now (8 years I believe)
I think that it wouldn’t make as much sense if it was just about one issue.

I mean if it was just about a celebration of our bodies and body image issues – then why the bicycles?
and if it was just about oil dependence and sustainable transport, then why the nakedness?

For marketing purposes it is better to have one clear message, rather than a whole lot of waffly ones, no matter how worthy.

They once you have garnered attention for your event, you can then build on it with the extra messages.

pippymoo said :

Can’t it be about all of these things at once?
I mean it’s not like you can separate these things in your everyday life anyway so why not at least try to tackle all of these interconnected ideas together?

I agree.
I thinkn that they are all very important issues it can bring awareness to all of them.

Beserk Keyboard Warrior10:26 am 16 Mar 09

I remember back in the day when you could send your 4 year old to the local shops to buy you a pack of smokes, when women nor aboriginals were allowed to vote, AND when ‘naked’ meant that you had no clothes on. Ahhhh the memories.

Can’t it be about all of these things at once?
I mean it’s not like you can separate these things in your everyday life anyway so why not at least try to tackle all of these interconnected ideas together?

Pommy bastard10:21 am 16 Mar 09

sepi said :

I think the Naked Bike Riders need to decide on their cause before they can state it more clearly – is it about petrol, or health, or body image?

I would agree with your there, if they are not clear one may just think it’s about exhibitionism.

All good causes, but I think they should go with the body image one – the other points can be made without getting nekkid.

Again I agree. Nothing more reassuring than noting there’s always someone worse off that yourself.

I was a bit disapointed in myself for not going to this. I think, after seeing the pics (which makes it seem less scary), I will definitly go next year!

Good work guys!!

I can’t see the slideshows anymore – is it just me?

I think the Naked Bike Riders need to decide on their cause before they can state it more clearly – is it about petrol, or health, or body image?

All good causes, but I think they should go with the body image one – the other points can be made without getting nekkid.

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