Naked Bike Ride through the streets of Vancouver. Yes, that’s right – but it was more than being naked. Cycling naked though…interesting but everyone looked pretty comfortable.
What was the event?
Event: Vancouver Naked Bike Ride
Where: Vancouver Streets starting at Sunset Beach
When: 27th July 2019
And the story begins…
Purpose. The main point of this blog is to critically understand the purpose of why does this event exist. A few hundred people cycling about Vancouver is not just the headline here – it is so much more. It has got a deeper understanding and results which are a movement so lets get right into them.
Firstly, as I walked out of my hostel to head down to the meeting point the cycle came right past as they left there meeting points 45 minutes earlier than planned – but that’s ok I got to understand it quite quickly. Encouraged to be creative with the attire – or none of it – it is all about noise and its about baring as you dare…excellent on a Saturday afternoon. Bright body paint was dawned by many. Only two pieces of recommendations came from the organisers that was that shoes were recommendation and helmets were manidatory…so yes you guessed it. Everything else was – flying free through the wind but make sure your wearing a helmet.
So why? Why does that happen – not just in Vancouver but globally. It’s a positive protest against car pollution, oil spills and pollution. The whole meaning behind the event and purpose is to raise awareness to those watching of the damage being done by pollution in our world. I can totally appreciate what they were trying to say and send out but got to admit that really all that the watching public saw was…well you know.
The question is how do you create the buy in from those fully clothed who are standing at the side of Granville Street when the cyclists are going past. Whether they have people walking along or ahead and telling people what they are doing – or even have a float that says what the message is – because I think people would be interested in exactly what the purpose is.
Novelty that can bring a message across, which is so serious in todays climate can, in my opinion, demonstrate exactly what an event is. Globally this event is a thing. It’s the World Naked Bike Ride and for the first time it came to Vancouver. It does have similar and sometimes additional meanings at some global ones. However, as reported on “5 News on your side…KSDK in St Louis” the naked bike ride there was slightly dampened by a man shooting paintballs at the cyclists as they cycled through the park in St Louis. Over 1000 cyclists on the 21st of July were participating when a man decided to start shooting at them in Tower Grove Park. In Mexico City thousands took part for the 13th year protesting against oil dependency in the world. Meanwhile in Cologne, 60 people participated to call for cleaner and safer streets in their city. Of course though due to German laws there was a restriction on how bare the cyclists could get…
Globally this is a movement. With the correct positioning this could really have results to push governments into policies and laws that protect the future of our environment. Go and bare it all!
Operationally – well it was protected by the police who done a great job in ensuring those on the roads cycling were protected and had a free passage to enjoy the streets of Vancouver! Well done to all…
One thing to take away from this event…
That each event – whether its naked or fully clothed has a deeper purpose. To see the purpose can make you appreciate the event more.