Brighton city centre was devoid of clothes this past Sunday as hundreds of people gathered for the annual naked bike ride.
Billed as a ‘celebration of human powered travel’, attendees flocked to Preston Park to get out their bikes and cycle naked around the city in a celebration of human powered travel.
Creating a festival style atmosphere for the event, participants took part in body painting and intermingling as the men and women prepared themselves before setting off on their ride with music booming from mounted speakers at around 2pm.
The cyclists were joined at the occasion by clothed officers representing Sussex Police who monitored the event, stopping traffic and ensuring that there was a limited amount of disruption for both the riders and the public.
The route involved leaving the park before proceeding to the Royal Pavilion, which then led to a scenic cycle route that passed the seafront, Palace Pier, i360, The Lanes, North Laine and Kemp Town before aptly finishing at Black Rock naturist beach where participants gathered for a post ride swim and picnic.
There was great desire to participate this year, with Covid having caused the cancelation of last year’s event in line with the appropriate government guidance.
This year’s event, which usually occurs in June, had to be pushed so that lockdown restrictions would be lifted and make this possible.
The aim of the annual event is to empower those involved by using it to celebrate the power of car free and human powered travel opportunities, also showing the vulnerability of the human body in urban traffic, with the public seeing the very real risks faced by cyclists versus cars.
Attendance was said to exceed expectations, with nervous organisers unsure if after a year lost and a later event, people would still want to participate.
Photo Credit: Christin Hume
