The podcast is back!
As I thought about how to cover the Naked Bike Ride this year, a podcast seemed like a fun way to do it. I’ve photographed and written about this magical event for many years, so I wanted to try something different. I also figured that a lot of people are getting less comfortable with having their naked bodies plastered all over the Internet these days, so doing a huge photo gallery and/or even a video, just didn’t feel right.
Then I got even more intrigued when I started thinking about how I could make a subtle statement by taking what is obviously a very visually entertaining event and completely hiding that aspect of it.
Here are just a few quotes from the episode:
“It provides dramatic social ritual that totally satisfies the latent desires of all of us.”
“Everybody’s body is different and everybody’s body is floppy in some different way.”
“I’m a thick motherfucker. I’m out here letting it hang out and everyone else should too.“
“You’d think there’d be one kind of naked, but everybody puts their own flare on it.”
“It’s incredible. Portland’s incredible. I love this city for stuff exactly like this.”
“This is how we were all born. We all got the same parts, just different different dimensions.“
“I’m from Alabama and it’s like kind of an oppressive place. So just being somewhere where you can be naked is great.“
“Skateboards are the ultimate naked transportation solution.“
“As a minor, trying to have fun here and celebrate a birthday party, I’m traumatized!“
Wearing only a hi-viz vest with “MEDIA” written in big black letters and a belt with my gear around my waist, I waded through the “sea of skin” (which is how one person referred to it) to try and capture the spirit of the ride from different perspectives.
After talking to folks in the park (including a group of people who were not happy with having their birthday party taken over by a bunch of naked people), I hopped on my bike and interviewed participants as we pedaled across Portland in the nude, several thousand strong.
As you listen, consider that this just might be the world’s first-ever podcast recorded by a naked person riding a bike. If that’s TMI, you won’t like this episode, because — disclaimer — this episode includes several mentions of body parts and profanity that might offend some listeners.
Enjoy the episode! (I’ll have a transcript ready soon.)
And thanks to everyone who was open to chatting with a dorky naked guy.
Browse more episodes of our podcast here.
That was a hoot! Wonderful interviews, pretty courageous of you, entertaining to listen to, and I understand the event a little better now.
Creepy, but to each their own. Seems like something else is at play in this ride. I’ve heard disturbing stories from female participants from how they were treated.
Frank,
There’s nothing else “at play”. Stop trying to put something you personally don’t like in a bad light please. And yes, on a ride with 8,000 – 10,000 naked and/or scantily clad people, there have always been some issues. That’s pretty unavoidable, but organizers have made huge changes to minimize some of the worst stuff — which used to happen when the route went through downtown during Fleet Week when hundreds of people in bars would fill the streets and slap everyone’s asses. That doesn’t happen anymore because it doesn’t go downtown and the routes are chosen more carefully so as to avoid any bottlenecks/slow-downs/congestion.
Those were some good interviews and I was encouraged by the number of people mentioning the protest aspects of the ride. Despite some naysayers in the comments in the other article most of the people are there for the right reasons. In my experience 60-70% of the people are there to protest and encourage body positivity but also have fun.
I don’t always cover myself in slogans but still show up to show people that there are a lot of cyclists here that are frequently invisible to drivers. This year was a bit more chaotic and it sucks for people that do need to be somewhere but protests do ocasionally inconvenience people.