Pedal-Powered Protest in Petropolis!
https://twitter.com/htownwnbr | https://www.facebook.com/wnbrhouston
NEXT RIDE:
1st Annual SALLY KELLERMAN’S BIRTHDAY RIDE
1 JUNE 2024
9 PM (PREP BEGINS AT 8 PM)
HERMANN PARK, 77030
It’s just a ride.—Bill Hicks, Houston’s revered comic martyr
…except that we happen to be naked.—dbc, co-founder of WNBR Houston
Well, you found us. This is the official, under-perpetual-construction site of Houston’s World Naked Bike Ride. If you’re looking for pictures or videos of naked people—well, sorry to disappoint you, but we don’t have any (yet).
H-Town has had World Naked Bike Rides every year since 2011 (except 2020), always at night when temperatures are more bearable. Most years we have had two rides:
- the Main Ride on the second Saturday in June (traditional date for WNBR in the Northern Hemisphere), and
- the Victory Lap a few weeks later, mostly for those who couldn’t make it to the main ride.
Beginning in 2022, we switched to a single ride in September, when the heat is less intense and the sun sets earlier, allowing the ride to begin and end earlier.
So what are you protesting?
This ride is indeed a protest, but it’s also terrific fun. As Texas icon Molly Ivins would say, if political action isn’t fun, what’s the point? The point of the ride has always been to demonstrate:
- against car culture and dependency on fossil fuels, which are the number-one cause of global climate disruption; and
- for safe, healthy people-powered transportation—and for bodily freedom.
The movement also agitates for policies and infrastructure that protect cyclists on our streets and roads. We mourn the loss of our fellow cyclists killed by motorists, through negligence or malicious intent; we celebrate when people and governments take action to prevent such losses.
This year, in Texas, we are on pace to shatter the record for traffic deaths in a calendar year. Worldwide, the climate crisis continues to worsen, with policy-makers kicking meaningful solutions down the road as we face an irreversible tipping point in 2030. But Houston hasn’t seen a hurricane in four years, and we have plenty of other crises to distract us, so most folks here are behaving as if climate disruption is no longer a thing.
That’s why we need to get people’s attention.
World Naked Bike Rides as we know them today started in 2004, in Vancouver BC and a few other cities, and it has expanded to all six inhabited continents. The inspiration actually came from the Ciclonudista movement that originated in Zaragoza, Spain.
Y u nekkid?
The nudity represents the vulnerability of cyclists on thoroughfares designed for automobiles. Motorists have two-ton metal-composite cages around and lots of high-tech safety features. Cyclists…don’t.
Another interpretation is that, as worldwide temperatures increase, with every year bringing new record global temperatures, it’s getting too damn hot to wear clothes!
If you want to learn more about World Naked Bike Ride in general, please visit worldnakedbikeride.org.
Don’t Be That Person
H-Town WNBR has no tolerance for sexual behavior, overt or covert, during the ride or the prep session. This is a protest, not a practice field for pickup artists. We want everyone involved to feel comfortable as they Dare to Bare.
Do not do any of the following to any participants or onlookers without their expressed consent—and nudity in itself is not consent:
- inappropriate/unwelcome touching of yourself or others (actually, don’t do this even with consent)
- pressuring other participants into removing more clothing
- commenting on other participants’ anatomy, whether positive or negative
- sending online messages expressing sexual interest or featuring certain body parts (you know which ones) exposed
- photographing other participants in a state of undress
- persisting in any inappropriate behavior after being asked or told to stop
We ride (or skate), we protest, we have fun. We respect other participants and spectators. We do not act like we’re vying for a Douche or Douchette of the Year trophy. Even if you’re naked, keep it in your pants!