I have no idea how many people showed up to Peninsula Park for the World Naked Bike Ride tonight, but I don’t think people stayed away like organizers had hoped.
The crowd was absolutely massive, and the vibes and spirit folks showed up with were even bigger. It was a perfect summer night to take off all your clothes and ride with a few thousand people.
I didn’t shoot as many photos as usual. Instead, I tried something new and recorded audio interviews with a bunch of people. It was really fun and I had some great conversations with participants, onlookers, and even a bunch of folks who just happened to be at the park celebrating a 21-year-old’s birthday party and were very upset when thousands of naked people descended on their picnic. I’ll share it all as a podcast soon.
One other thing I will mention is that there were a lot of upset drivers out there tonight. This year has been off the charts in terms of people driving through massive group rides. I heard of several people being hit and I personally saw 3-4 drivers gun it through the group. Sigh. That type of thing used to be super rare.
But a handful of angry people are absolutely meaningless to the hundreds of supportive people who came out to cheer on the group, and the thousands of people who rode tonight with smiles on their faces and lots of warm, fuzzy feelings in their hearts.
This was Portland at its finest!
One of the highlights was when the group took over the Blumenauer Bridge, which doesn’t officially open to the public until Sunday morning (today!).
If you are on the ride still, let us know how it’s going! And we’d love to hear your overall impressions of the ride.
Here’s the rest of our gallery:
