June 15, 2006

SATIRE BREATHES ITS LAST

WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE 2006 IN SAN FRANCISCO

June 10, 2006 was the date for the World Naked Bike Ride, which -- as its name suggests -- is an international political event at which protesters take off all their clothes and ride bicycles through various cities around the globe.

The focus of the protest is theoretically to encourage people to give up their "dependence on fossil fuel" -- but in practice the messages (which the organizers tell participants to paint directly on their bodies) are more scattered, ranging from "free speech" to presidential politics.

The first picture alone makes a particular conservative argument better than 1,000 volumes could possibly. WARNING: Naked Bike Riding. Really. For those of you who expect to be titillated, this is average San Franciscans Berkleyites riding bicycles. Nude.

Posted by David Cohen at June 15, 2006 9:42 PM
Comments

Ok, I know you warned......but, brother, that is just plain wrong. [great headline, btw]

Posted by: John Resnick at June 15, 2006 10:11 PM

Eeekk.

Posted by: erp at June 15, 2006 10:29 PM

Just as the natural end of the baseball cap is to shade the wearer's eyes, so the natural end of minimal clothing is to prevent one's private parts from getting snagged on rose bushes and the like.

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Posted by: Lou Gots at June 15, 2006 10:34 PM

Don't look, Ethel!

Posted by: Mike Morley at June 15, 2006 11:29 PM

Well, not "average San Franciscans," no. But I grant the type is not hard to find around here, especially in Berkeley.

Posted by: PapayaSF at June 16, 2006 12:48 AM

PapayaSF:

Not to be too defensive, but I'll take your point a step farther. I believe at least half of the riders were from Berkeley. That said, even Elizabeth Hurley (or any model/babe of your choice) would make any reasonable man wince riding naked on a bicycle. Let's not contemplate how I would make them feel, mutatis mutandis.

Posted by: Fred Jacobsen (San Fran) at June 16, 2006 1:59 AM

There was actually one chick in that photosequence that was smoking hot.

Posted by: Amos at June 16, 2006 2:28 AM

Now I finally understand why we Canadians have no free speech. And don't want any.

Posted by: Peter B at June 16, 2006 6:26 AM

My eyes...the goggles they do nothing!

Posted by: Shelton at June 16, 2006 9:37 AM

Don't worry. Once their allies take over, they'll get to stage a Burqa Bike Ride in its place. (And most of these people will still radiate Ugly in Body and Soul.)

Posted by: Raoul Ortega at June 16, 2006 9:50 AM

With a good saddle and a decent pair of bike shorts, bike riding only begins to approach comfortable. (Got my eye on a nice recumbent, but they're a bit spendy yet.)

Biking nude? They must all be masochists.

Posted by: Roy Jacobsen at June 16, 2006 10:25 AM

Boy you sure wouldn't want to lend your bike to who was gonna do *that with it. Looks unsanitary.

Roy J: I am on my second recumbent, an Optima Lynx. I have put +4000 miles on it since I got it last August. A little less comfortable then my first bike, but boy is it fast. I had put +20,000 miles on the other bike, a RANS Vivo, until it got stolen from my garage last summer.

If you live in a relatively flat place with bike paths or reasonably smooth shoulders, just go out and get a good recumbent--you won't be disappointed. If you live where there are a lot of steep hills, or a lot of gravel to navigate, you'll want to keep an upright bike around.

Posted by: ted welter at June 16, 2006 12:39 PM

Can we give California to Mexico soon please?!!!

Posted by: Dave W at June 16, 2006 8:17 PM
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