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  • "
    Jo_ wrote:
    I've always been slightly confused as to why showing the human body in its natural state is considered to be "offensive" to people. Furthermore, I'm unsure why simply offending someone is sometimes illegal and sometimes not. I get offended by all kinds of things (for example religious people telling me I'm going to hell) but that's no reason to make it illegal. Looks like a naked walk is illegal but a naked bike ride isn't. How about a naked car journey? Or does it all boil down to numbers - riding naked around the city on your own: illegal. Riding naked around the city with 200 other naked people: good family entertainment.
    The law on "indecent exposure" was changed in about 2003 after the police forces of the land got fed-up with re-arresting the naked rambler who kept walking between Lands End and John O'Groats in the buff. Nowadays, it's only against the law if their was an INTENTION to offend. So, naked cycling is OK but deliberate flashing is not!"
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Naked Bike Ride to take place in York on June 12

10:43am Thursday 4th June 2009 in News Photograph of the Author By Richard Catton , richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

A participant waits for the start of last year's Naked Bike Ride in York. A participant waits for the start of last year's Naked Bike Ride in York.

THE fourth Naked Bike Ride through the streets of York will take place next week with the promise of a “carnival atmosphere”.

The city will join Brighton, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Sheffield and Southampton in hosting one of the rides, where people are encouraged to turn up with their bike and little else.

The increasingly-popular annual event is, according to organisers, “a powerful symbol of cyclists’ vulnerability on the road as well as being a cheeky reminder that you don’t need a big carbon footprint to get around”.

Among the demands of the York eco-riders are an end to oil dependency, a ban on car advertising and the glamorisation of driving, and safer cycling for all, particularly on York’s narrow streets.

Hugh Dower, 57, has taken part in the three previous naked bike rides and will be hoping for warm weather when he sets off once again next Friday, wearing “nothing but his sandals”.

“This is to highlight the fact that cyclists are road users too, and we have a greater moral right to use the road than car users because they are causing all sorts of problems for the environment,” he said.

Looking forward to the ride, he said: “The reaction from people who see us is smiles and cheers. It’s a great feeling. Luckily, we have had the weather for it and hopefully that will be the case next week.”

The ride takes place at 6pm on Friday, June 12, departing from Museum Gardens at 6pm.

Those taking part will head from Museum Gardens to Bootham and on to Clifton Green before cycling along the River Ouse, back in to the city centre and on to the Millennium Cycle Bridge.

It will finish back at Museum Gardens.

Naked bike ride 2009 route map

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