Last night, hundreds of free-spirited pedalers (including me!) crammed into an old industrial building on the Burnside Bridge for an epic party. It was the Pedalpalooza Kick-off Dance Party and World Naked Bike Ride all rolled into one.
Even the infamous martini bike lane guy showed up.
You know you’re in Portland when you’re at a Naked Dance Party and you look down at the dance floor and see bicycle boulevard markings.
After everyone was painted and the clock approached midnight, the mass migration to nakedness began. An estimated 500 cyclists spilled out of the party; bikes, boobs and butts bottlenecked through the one narrow exit like Wildebeest crossing a river.
We then rolled off into the balmy air and full moonlight.
Jasun Wurster and his crew of volunteers transformed the space into a memorable and racous celebration of Portland’s bicycle culture and a much bigger and badder event than last year.
The body painting was big hit. Check out what this Zoobomber did to his belly. But Sprockette Sara(h) had best slogan of the night painted on her back, “If you were biking you’d be naked by now.” The hoots, bells, and flashing lights added to the craziness. I laughed when someone yelled, “Take your car off!” to a passing motorist. People were literally undressing and joining us as we rode by. The funniest thing I saw all night was a guy who got out of his car, dropped his pants and just stood there, clapping and raising his arms in salute as we passed.
As always, the reactions from downtown club-goers was priceless. Cell phone cameras illuminated the streets, some people were too shy to even look at us, some people jumped up and down and ran through the mass high-fiving us, “I LOVE PORTLAND!” yelled another guy popping out of a car sunroof.
A special thanks to Carl Larson and the other intrepid naked people that corked traffic for this ride. It takes someone special to stand in front of bright car headlights fully naked.
On a less-fun note, I saw one car/bike argument happening and I just hope nothing came of it. Also, I witnessed four ugly crashes. Not sure if these people were just too drunk, or if they were having trouble keeping their eyes on the road ;-).
The ride was long and strong. We kept the energy going and rolled by some places at least three times. We took over roads all the way from MLK on the Eastside to Northwest 23rd, and everything in between.
Once we returned to the party, the dance floor heated up and we rock-and-rolled in riotous unison to the Twisted Sister’s classic, “We’re not gonna’ take it anymore!!!”
Thanks to Jasun, Brad, Carl, Ben, Elicia, and all the other volunteers who made this unforgettable night possible.
[Check out the rest of my photos in the Naked Ride Gallery.]
Thanks for reading.
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I could have not done it with out the Disjecta, Lucky Lab on 19th and Quimby, Widmer, Portland Brewing Company … but most of all … Portland’s Bicycle Community.
Please post here what we could have done better this year … so that come next year we can address those issues.
Oh-yea … if you want to help clean up after the party that would really help. Meet at Disjecta this Monday, 6/12 at 5:00PM. It should go really quick and I could really use the help.
Thanks Again for coming out last night,
jasun
that zoobomber is bumb. this is one year anniversary bomb coming up.
great thanks to everyone last night. i am doing fine, but if anyone knows where my black bag with lots of pockets and used to say “Heald College” but now says “Heal_ _o_leg_”
i miss it.
Phil, I’m glad to hear from you!
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The ride was the best one ever, that’s how CM should be, tons of people, fun and self-organizing.
Unfortunately, there was an arrest of a biker after a car tried to run over him. About ten of us went to the front of the jail after the party for solidarity, but we left around 4:30.
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Aparently, the ride split in some different segments. I didn’t ride through Hawthorne Br., but over Morrison. Also, we went all the way to NW 21st and NW 23rd aves, and then bombed down Burnside.
My guess would be over 300 bikers – it looked like much more than two times the amount of bikers at MMR.
Haven’t checked the pictures yet, I’m excited about them!
Ok, so I wanted to comment on the ride as a lady…
In some ways, I had a lot of fun. I felt energized and silly. I wanted it to be empowering and liberating, a way for me to feel awesome about my body. I am frequently insecure about my body, especially as a naturally chubby lady surrounded by naturally skinny folks in the bike scene. Well, it made me feel really jazzed about the bike community. I didn’t see a single person on the ride do or say anything even remotely inapporpriate. However, the same does not hold true for the observers.
As we rode through old town, I heard a myriad of gross comments directed at me. I am a large chested lady (obviously, that’s no secret) and I heard “damn, those are some big titties!””that’s a nice set!” “those are some ugly boobs!” and many similair comments. In an unfortunate turn of events, my dress that was held onto my rack with a bungee got caught in my gears and I became unable to pedal. I pulled over in front of a bar and shouted for someone to come help me (mostly because I didn’t want to be standing in the street, fixing my bike naked). So some guy pulls over to help me (btw, whoever you were, THANKS!). As we are trying to fix it, I look up and frat dude is about 2 feet away from me with a camera phone pointed straight at my breasts. I screamed at him to stop and he did (I think), although in hindsight I wish I’d ripped it out of his hands and stomped on it. While I’m fine with people taking group photos of the naked ride, that’s obviously gonna happen, when someone gets right up in your face like that, it’s a total violation.
After I got my bike fixed, I continued for the entirety of the ride and tried to stick with my friends. But I found myself close to tears for quite a bit of it. I know I shouldn’t feel bad when assholes comment on my body- I should feel sorry for them- but instead, I internalize it and feel disgusting. I think if the route had not included old town it wouldn’t have been nearly as bad (I didn’t really hear any gross comments as we rode down NW 23rd, for example). But as it were, I felt completely objectified.
Also, there were a number of times I saw women run out of the bars and slap passing naked boys on the ass. I don’t know how you men felt about that, but it struck me as pretty questionable behavior. If a man had done that to any of the women on the ride, he probably would’ve gotten a U-lock to the jaw.
So, yeah, we live in a rad city, with lots of excellent folks that know how to respect each other. The naked riders (and then naked dancers) proved this to me last night. But there are also still tons of assholes that are willing to ruin your good time and turn you into nothing but a big pair of tits.
Ken counted told me he counted ~320 in the group that crossed the Morrison bridge. Considering we were split into 2, maybe three groups, and the Morrison bridge was actually the second circuit, I would estimate 400 riders minimum, and very likley over 500.
When riding through downtown we were often spanning multiple blocks at once. For instance, while I was in the middle of the front group of the first run when I turned right from Burnside to 2nd St, there were already large number of cyclists crossing Burnside on 3rd St. So, we were easily 5 blocks long (2 blocks on 3rd, either side of Burnside, 1 block on Couch, 1 block on 2nd, 1 block on Burnside/bridge. And that was just the front group.
In my experience, this was an epic ride exceeded only by the Critical Mass during Bike Summer in 2002!
this was one of the most amazing things i’ve ever done– the sense of community and empowerment was truly awesome. there’s nothing quite like confronting the classic public nudity nightmare and going from nervous to psyched almost instantly. now i can’t wait for the next and feel stupid for wearing clothes every time i walk outside… nude is the only way to bike!
in this town of hipster fashion there was something really refreshing about everyone voluntarily shucking their garb. great reminder that underneath we all have the same simple & wonderful things going on (and amazing differences too…) the bystanders who quickly became participants were a great testament to the value of this ride.
does anyone have more pictures or know where any of the video footage can be found? i was on both rides & want to show my mom what we’ve been up to in portland 🙂
Kiddies avert your, oops! too late! ;-D
Great story, and great photos!
I’m still not gonna take MY clothees off though. ;-D
I don’t think I can’t wait another year . . . how about having another nekked, but more informal ride lets say in August? Somebody pick a date/time and we’ll see how many show up and blast away? Maybe around the Willamette between Hawthorne and Steel Bridge?
Oh, yeah, I’d like to have a copy of the video whoever was the guy with the Sony DVX2100! 🙂
i was one of the people pouring out the doug fir a little after midnight and i saw the ride go by. not wanting to miss out on it like i did last year, i rode along (fully clothed) for a few blocks. about 5 minutes into it i lost the shirt and bra. another 10 or 15 minutes later i lost the pants (literally; i lost them somewhere downtown… if anyone found a pair of black leggings, let me know!) and as surely as i felt the breeze on my bare ass i felt the thrill of being part of one of the most memorable bike rides of the year.
i was thrilled at the reactions from the car drivers and the club-goers. i was a little worried that maybe i’d feel uncomfortable but, if anything, i think it was everyone in their clothes who felt a little strange.
i was sad i wasn’t able to go the dance party afterwards, but after realizing i lost my pants i figured it was probably time to go home anyway.
i’m looking forward to next year!
Heck yeah! That was one of my favorite moments, riding by the throngs at doug fir, only to see one (maybe more?) of the crowd run out, strip down, and jump on a bike!
Last year was my first WWNR, and didn’t believe it could be surpassed like this in numbers, length, and spontaneity.
This is what critical mass is supposed to be!
best ride EEEEVER
Let’s review:
Critical Mass – 30 – 40 cyclists, lots of cops, motorists angry at delay of less than a minute.
WNBR – 300 – 400 cyclists, no cops, motorists cheerful at delay of many minutes.
Conclusion – it’s not the bikes they dislike. It’s the clothes.
YAY!! I am sooo happy to live in a place where people are so open-minded!!! 🙂 This was the first time ever for me, and definitely not the last!! Even today nursing my busted knees and palms, I am SMILING!!! Thank you so much to the folks who made this possible!! What an exhilarating experience!!! PORTLAND ROCKS!!! 🙂
Awesome ride, super fun, lots of great people. Here’s some pre-ride photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60961560@N00/
The statutes on nudi-tay from the Oregon statutes online are below. Obviously, going about one’s business normally w/out clothing is not illegal, but sometimes police don’t understand that as Rev Phil found last year during the “Pub(lic Drunk Poet) Crawl”… among other times, I’m guessing.
163.465 Public indecency. (1) A person commits the crime of public indecency if while in, or in view of, a public place the person performs:
(a) An act of sexual intercourse;
(b) An act of deviate sexual intercourse; or
(c) An act of exposing the genitals of the person with the intent of arousing the sexual desire of the person or another person.
(2)(a) Public indecency is a Class A misdemeanor.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, public indecency is a Class C felony if the person has a prior conviction for public indecency or a crime described in ORS 163.355 to 163.445 or for a crime in another jurisdiction that, if committed in this state, would constitute public indecency or a crime described in ORS 163.355 to 163.445. [1971 c.743 §120; 1999 c.962 §1; 2005 c.434 §1]
163.467 Private indecency. (1) A person commits the crime of private indecency if the person exposes the genitals of the person with the intent of arousing the sexual desire of the person or another person and:
(a) The person is in a place where another person has a reasonable expectation of privacy;
(b) The person is in view of the other person;
(c) The exposure reasonably would be expected to alarm or annoy the other person; and
(d) The person knows that the other person did not consent to the exposure.
(2) Private indecency is a Class A misdemeanor.
(3) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to a person who commits the act described in subsection (1) of this section if the person cohabits with and is involved in a sexually intimate relationship with the other person.
(4) For purposes of this section, “place where another person has a reasonable expectation of privacy” includes, but is not limited to, residences, yards of residences, working areas and offices. [1999 c.869 §2]
RE: This is what critical mass is supposed to be!
AND
Let’s review:
Critical Mass – 30 – 40 cyclists, lots of cops, motorists angry at delay of less than a minute.
WNBR – 300 – 400 cyclists, no cops, motorists cheerful at delay of many minutes.
Conclusion – it’s not the bikes they dislike. It’s the clothes.
———–
Excellent Points!
From what I gather THIS particular Naked Ride kept the Lefty politics, & Anarchist troublemaking, out of it, and stayed focused on cycling advocacy, and on sharing the joy of bicycling.
The more CM rides that actually do THAT the better in my view.
I could even be persuaded to go on such a CM ride someday. ;-D
Fully Clothed, of course. ;-D
If anyone found a Kryptonite New York Chain lock on the Burnside Bridge or in Disjecta, please let me know. I think I set it down while I was rummaging for my pants and left it somewhere. I’d really appreciate getting it back– so much so that I’d be thrilled to take the finder out for a couple of beers. If you know about it’s whereabouts , please contact me at: spcsauce@mac.com
Despite losing a pretty expensive bike lock, I’ve got to admit that this year’s WNBR was just about the most fun thing I’ve ever done on my bike. Thanks to everybody that made it so great!
Thanks Organic B, for reminding me about that ride 2 years ago… crazy how naked time flies.
So then, if anyone saw the incident where I was arrested during the ride please get in touch with me.
thanks much for yalls support! and to the jail support crew that tried to stay up all night.
I also lost my lock, but I think it my have fallen off my bike when the bike went under the SUV. sigh…
I found a video of the naked bike ride.
http://www.pdxk.com/news/B8012352-FC61-4743-BE28-8B51D88FF9A9.html
There is also a video about zoobomb at the site.
http://www.pdxk.com/news/news.html
And I made a long blog post about the event.
http://teknotus.livejournal.com/84586.html