Author: dbcgreentx

After 500 attended the Juneteenth Ride, dedicated to the late George Floyd and the Movement for Black Lives, some of us had hope that H-Town could represent in this year’s WNBR season. However, the recent spike in diagnoses and hospitalizations from COVID-19 makes the risk of any group ride too risky a proposition, even with masks and face shields.

At this time, we do not have any information as to whether any participants in the Juneteenth Ride have contracted COVID-19, let alone whether they contracted it during the ride. We also have no solid information on whether any participants in the New Orleans and Portland “Just Ride Naked” days have been infected.

What we do know is:

• The largest medical center in the world is running out of ICU beds.
• Area hospitals are redirecting ambulances to other hospitals that have space for new patients.
• Houston is back in the national and world news for suffering yet another disaster, this time in the form of a novel coronavirus.

On top of that, the Governor’s Office—wisely if belatedly—has ordered the closure of bars statewide. Thus the ride would not have access to the usual stops along the route.

The COVID-19 story changes almost daily. While we can foresee it getting worse for a while, it may take a sudden turn for the better. If the situation improves, there may be an unofficial Bare As You Dare ride this fall.

dbc sez: I’m part envy, part admiration. Some brave New Orleanians did their WNBR thing this past Saturday (13 June) as planned. And they got their photos up on Facebook, nipples and all, while I got slapped with another 30-day ban for posting a link to this site (with a thumbnail of our female-nipple-free cover photo).

Well done, WNBR NOLA! And FU FB!

As reported previously, NOLA’s WNBR contingent decided to ride in small groups instead of a mass gathering. The lack of police escort made many riders more cautious about their choice of wardrobe than they might otherwise have been, in addition to some caution regarding COVID-19 infection. Riding in nothing but shoes, helmet, and face mask was definitely this year’s fashion statement, as it likely will be in Portland OR on 27 June.

H-Town WNBR deeply regrets that there will be no ride here this year. Assuming this pandemic will be over by next summer, the 2021 should be a colossal celebration of having survived it, dedicated to all those who did not.

New column in the table: Confirmation as to whether the ride is proceeding on the date listed, mindful of the danger of spreading COVID-19. This site does not recommend participating in a city where the risk of infection remains high.

Bookmark this page if you want to keep up with dates continent-wide as they are set or reset, or if the ride is canceled. Data in the Date and Happening 2020? columns is subject to change.

All dates are subject to change. All dates are Saturdays unless otherwise noted.

City	Date	Happening 2020?
Austin TX	6 June (postponed, new date TBD)	Yes
Bellingham WA	6 June	No
Montpelier VT	13 June	Unknown
New Orleans LA	13 June	Yes, but not as a big group
Toronto ON	20 June	Yes but not as a big group
Madison WI	20 June	No
Los Angeles CA	27 June	No
Portland OR	27 June	Yes, but not as a big group
Edmonton AB	18 July	TBD
Montréal QC	18 July	Yes (it happened!)
Saint Louis MO	25 July	No
Vancouver BC	8 August	Yes (postponed from the traditional 2nd Saturday in June)
Philadelphia PA	29 August	No (they were going to but canceled)
Chicago IL	10 October	Yes
Boston MA	postponed, no date set
Houston TX	20 June	No

These cities staged rides in 2019, but either they have canceled or we have not yet found their confirmed dates for 2020:

• Boston MA
• Ciúdad Mexico—canceled
• Cleveland OH
• Columbus OH
• Eugene OR
• Guadalajara JAL, MX
• Las Vegas NV
• Puebla PUE, MX
• San Francisco CA—canceled

UPDATED UPDATE: Wow, just found out about Austin on 6 June.

The announcement that WNBR New Orleans is going ahead with this year’s ride has prompted some changes in the list of North American rides in 2020, published here in March. Only NOLA, Portland OR, and Philadelphia turn up in the research as definitely proceeding on schedule. Other rides in the US, Canada, and Mexico are canceled for this year—e.g. Saint Louis MO—or postponed until a date to be determined.

WNBR fans may have seen on Facebook or elsewhere that PDX alt-weekly Willamette Week reported that the big ride there was canceled. That appears not to be the case: Portland organizers have simply rebranded it as Ride Naked Day: They’re asking participants to ride naked wherever they may go on the 27th, rather than in the herd of 10,000 typical for the Rose City.

The facilitators of WNBR in H-Town are not have decided not to have the ride as planned in June. We have not yet ruled out a ride in August if conditions allow it.

Furthermore, the consensus of the H-Town group is not to endorse participation in the NOLA ride, despite the precautions the NOLA crew are recommending:

• not congregating in a park before the ride
• assembling at home or in a safe meeting place insteade
• riding in small groups of people with whom you have shared space during the pandemic
• maintaining adequate physical distance between cyclists
• wearing masks during the ride
• reporting rides and routes to the facilitators at least a week before the ride

We would not also recommend traveling to a distant city just to participate in a naked ride. That goes against WNBR’s message of minimizing use of fossil fuels. If you happen to be in Portland or Philadelphia at the time of the ride, that’s different. Keep in mind, however, that the quarantines and lockdowns are as much about keeping you from unknowingly spreading COVID-19 as about keeping you from getting it. Even if you don’t have symptoms, act as if you are carrying the virus because you might be.

H-Town WNBR organizer dbc participated last month in a five-minute documentary project for the Quarantine International Film Festival. The mini-documentary, entitled Happy Naked People, won the Best Documentary award for London-based filmmakers Cianna Canning and Samantha Keon. They were also nominated for Best Director.

You can hear dbc’s voice in interview segments, alongside WNBR organizers from Edmonton, London, and Los Angeles. All the organizers stressed both the environmental angle of World Naked Bike Ride and the challenges that riding a bike presents in many cities (not to mention riding a bike naked).

The theme of the festival was “Bare/Bear,” to be interpreted however the participants desired. Canning and Keon went for Bare and decided to feature bare-bummed bicyclists. The rules prohibited frontal nudity, presenting a cinematographic and editing challenge.

Links:

• The entire film on YouTube
• The Quarantine International Film Festival channel on YouTube
• The QIFF Facebook page
• Trailers on Vimeo: main and environmental emphasis

Two facilitators of Facebook pages related to WNBR Houston have recently received temporary bans from posting, commenting, and various other activities on that platform. The reason given has to do with violating community standards for nudity and sexual activity. For the record, none of the photos we have posted contain actual genitalia or nipples not involved in breastfeeding, and there is certainly no sexual activity depicted. We were in the process of removing any photos that might cross the line when the ban-hammer came down.

Other users of our acquaintance have noted that the Nipple Police algorithm has been far more active than we have ever seen. It doesn’t mention anything about individuals actually reporting offending photos or pages; however, for the first time in WNBR Houston’s nine-year presence on FB, our content has attracted some unwelcome attention from said Nipple Police.

Sometimes the messages do not even point out which photos are problematic; sometimes they do. However, even after deleting the photos, we get messages accusing us of violating standards.

We also don’t know at this time whether other WNBR pages and groups are feeling the heat. If such information becomes available, we will pass it along here.

Henceforth, anything WNBR-related that has even the potential of offending the PhotoBot will be posted here. Once our privileges are restored, we can still announce rides and other events. Mostly, however, we need to get this whole show off Facebook, except for posting links to this site, and move the content here.

The March rides in the Southern Hemisphere have mostly happened, already, several of them last week. Rio de Janeiro rides tonight, 14 March. Here are some handy Facebook links, in no particular order, for you to explore.

• Byron Bay, Australia
• Nimbin, Australia
• Sydney, Australia
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Golden Bay, New Zealand
• Cape Town, South Africa

Location to be determined, likely somewhere Downtown.

See the International Solidarity Critical Mass Facebook event for more details.

*****

Extinction Rebellion (XR) is an international climate action network that takes innovative protest to new levels.

If there is an active XR chapter in Houston, we at WNBR haven’t found it yet.

If there isn’t one, you’re welcome to help form it.

If you’re mad as hell that our elected so-called leaders have been dragging their feet on climate change for decades, you may already be an XR activist.

*****

With the world on fire, what are you willing to do to express your disgust? How far are you willing to go?

You don’t have to glue yourself to the glass doors of an energy company’s skyscraper, as other XR activists have done…but you can. Just be sure to have solvent handy.

You don’t have to ride World Naked Bike Ride–style, “Bare As You Dare”—but if you’re willing to risk arrest, go for it.

What XR absolutely WON’T do is commit violence against people, animals, or individual property. Self-defense is OK; first-strike is NOT OK.

*****

This non-partisan event is not a parade, and we will not be seeking a permit or police escort.

This is not some feel-good rally in an isolated park, with politicians preaching about recycling.

This is not specifically an anti-Trump rally. Trump is merely a symptom of a much larger problem.

This ride takes aim policy-makers from BOTH corporate political parties and their corporate sponsors in fossil fuels, finance, & the media.

This ride takes aim at anyone who favors incremental policy changes, or who insists that capitalism will save us.

We are not asking for immediate action; we are DEMANDING it. The time for asking nicely is over.

We have updated the list of North American WNBR’s for 2019, adding Las Vegas at the end. See the Las Vegas WNBR Wiki page for details, which as of this writing do not include a date; however, a recent post in the World Naked Bike Ride Facebook group hints that it will be 28 September.

This year’s ride will be Las Vegas’s fourth. Last year’s ride took place in September as well; it ran in the traditional month of June the two years preceding. Here’s an item in the Las Vegas Weekly from 2016.

The organizers last year were the lovely people at Bike Smut (kinda NSFW). They have used services such as Eventbrite and Eventful to register riders in advance. The ride will likely start where it has in previous years, at the Erotic Heritage Museum (possibly NSFW), 3275 South Industrial Road/Sammy Davis Jr. Drive.

(Un)dress code and route info, to be specific. Here’s the date/time/location information for the Moon Day ride.

A. When to Cover Up

As we may have mentioned elsewhere, refreshment stops will be limited. When we do invade pubs along the route, please have some textiles handy to cover your whut-whuts.

During the early part of the ride, it would also be wise to keep your nethers covered. We’ll be riding past some buildings with a law enforcement presence.

Once we reach the MKT trail by UH Downtown, carte blanche. But please be TABC-legal at bar stops, INCLUDING SHIRTS if the bar staff says we need them.

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B. The Route(s)

The actual route we follow will depend on the number & capability of riders present. There will be some classic H-Town WNBR features, including visits to fountains, ghost bikes, & three (3) bars.

The default route will total 13 miles, only a small portion of which is physically challenging. We will face fewer obstacles than we did in the 2018 Victory Lap. Generally, we’ll be passing through these areas:
-> EaDo
-> Warehouse District
-> MKT along White Oak Bayou
-> White Oak & Heights Boulevards
-> West End
-> Buffalo Bayou Trail
-> Downtown via the Lamar Street bike lane

Let’s have a great ride!