World Naked Bike Ride – San Francisco, 2013

Taking a break from the naked bike ride near the Palace of Fine Arts

This weekend, a few Mountainbeer-ers decided to attend the World Naked Bike Ride in San Francisco on March 9th. It’s a protest that first started 4 years ago, directed towards saving the planet and stopping big oil, which is all well and good, but mostly I wanted to get down to my skivvies and go for a bike ride.

The ride was supposed to start at noon, but the invite also mentioned that body painting would start at 11am, and who doesn’t want to get in on some body paint! When we got there at 11, all we saw were two mostly naked dudes and about 15 photographers. After waiting around for something to happen, we took matters into our own hands and finally decided to bust out our craft supplies and start painting each other at around 11:45. I guess this is what the other participants were waiting for as well. Suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by naked cyclists and a mob of photographers. The mob of photographers then attracted every tourist within a mile radius who, in turn, snapped endless amounts of pictures. I guess that’s good exposure for the protest aspect, but considering there was easily a 3 to 1 ratio of cameras to bicycles, it was a bit annoying to be so incredibly outnumbered by the looky-loo’s who wanted a free show.

How many cameras can you spot?

How many cameras can you find in this picture?

This is just a very small sample of the photographers

But that’s enough ranting. Overall, it was a ton of fun, it was a gorgeous day, people were in high spirits, and I would gladly attend again. World Naked Bike Ride volunteers host several rides throughout the year all over the world, and the big ride is in June which I’m assuming will be even better with more cyclists.

Enjoy a few more pics from throughout the day!