Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride is billed by organizers as part protest (oil dependence, no), part celebration (clothing optional, yes). Combined, the event amounts to a swarming, rousing free-for-all on wheels — thousands of them. Saturday’s ride, the first of two this summer, lived up to its goals — and reputation.
Cyclists, several thousand of them, met up at Wilshire Park in Northeast Portland and snaked through several Eastside neighborhoods before ending up at Sewallcrest Park in Southeast Portland.
Karl Wright made several loops around the perimeter of Wilshire Park before the start of the ride. Carrying a single anti-Trump sign, Wright, 53, wore nothing but a cotton cap and a backpack. He’s been protesting naked around the city for the past couple years with his wife, Rose Wright, before she had two strokes in February. The couple have been married 30 years.
“Now I protest for the both of us,” Wright said.
For those of you for whom once was not enough, a second, similar ride will take place Saturday, Aug. 8, according to World Naked Bike Ride Portland’s Instagram page. Details for that ride have not been announced.
Both rides are part of a national protest movement that has no leader or organization.
Officially a protest against oil dependence and for cyclist safety and body positivity, the World Naked Bike Ride encourages people to paint individual protest statements on their bare backs.
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