World Naked Bike Ride || Los Angeles, CA
This post is a love story to one of our favorite cities and hometown for almost a decade, Los Angeles. There's a lot to be said about LA, most of which millions of novelists, screenwriters, and bloggers have already captured across every medium. One thing that LA is less known for is their nudity and sex culture. Sure, it's a sexy city, with movie stars, mansions, stunning views, drugs, sunshine, and bikinis built into its DNA, but that doesn't necessarily translate to sexual liberation and acceptance. One exception to this, is the nude bike ride across the heart of Los Angeles.
Once a year, every June (as of this writing), is the World Naked Bike Ride LA. The event “promotes a healthy planet, bicycle safety, body acceptance, and much more”. There are two different events on the same day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The first is a longer route across several neighborhoods of Los Angeles and in the height of the sunny heat, the second is shorter and contained in Chinatown and downtown LA in the cooler late afternoon. It's a typical organized event where you'll need to register, come prepared, and meet at a designated starting point.
Nudity is not required to participate, but it's also the point. Nobody likes clothed creepers who only show up to gawk. If you're genuinely curious but uncomfortable being nude in public, you're more than welcome to join in the fun in whatever state of dress you'd like. It is a bike ride along public streets which means you’ll be biking past cars and pedestrians, so many people wore dark sunglasses, hats, or gators to preserve their identity. Others wore capes, long socks, or other fun lightweight costumes to add some frivolity to the day. I'm very happy that we brought lightweight sarongs to lay on our seats, and also as sun protection for my back and shoulders.
The starting point is in DTLA (downtown Los Angeles) where the crowd of bikers gathered. We met up with a few friends and took some pics in front of the banners. The year we biked, it felt like it was maybe 90% male participants; I hope that continues to change over the years as society empowers female nudity. We opted for the earlier ride which started in DTLA, went north along the LA river, west, and then south down Sunset Blvd. (yes, that Sunset Blvd). The trail was around seven miles and took a couple hours for us to complete. I’m not athletic by nature and I almost never bike, but even with my lack of skill I was able to keep up, albeit by the end I was out of breath, red cheeked, and ready for a beer.
The beginning of the ride was really relaxing, mostly in the shade, and at a leisurely pace. We made some new friends along the way as we wound our way around the city. The ride back to DTLA down Sunset was hot and crowded on a busy car-packed street. Although, at the time I was hot and tired, looking back it was a beautiful view of DTLA at a slow meandering pace mostly downhill, and the serotonin rush of being naked in front of hundreds of onlookers on one of the most famous streets in the world was worth it.
