Tuesday, June 14, 2011

World Naked Bike Ride - Toronto

I've often seen pictures of WNBR and have wanted to participate for quite a while. For those that are not familiar with it, perhaps this quote from the WNBR website best sums it up:
It's time to put a stop to the indecent exposure of people and the planet to cars and the pollution they create.
WNBR takes place simultaneously in 70 cities and 20 countries throughout the world so it is truly an international event. This year I chose Toronto because (a) it was relatively close, (b) they seem to have an active and growing event and (c) the BF and I have been wanting to visit the city anyway.

So the first obsticle was finding two bicycles. Through the magic of the Internet, a local referred me to bicycle rental places close to Coronation Park where the ride was set to start. In the end I winded up just getting bikes from a closeby Toronto Bixi location. The Bixi is one of those city-wide bike sharing programs that first began popping up in European cities several years ago and are now being replicated in the states As a side note, I did cover the seat with a towel.

The ride itself lasted for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The ride route went down some of the busiest streets in the city including multiple parks, the university, city hall and down Church street in the gay village.

The ride itself was even more fun than I expected. I really enjoyed riding towards the front of the group and seeing the reactions of the people as they first noticed us. It's like they had no idea what to think.