Newly-wed couple to join naked cycling event (From York Press)

Couple to join York Naked Bike Ride

8:52am Saturday 26th May 2012 in News By Jennifer Bell, jennifer.bell@thepress.co.uk

Riders taking part in last year’s York Naked Bike Ride

A COUPLE getting hitched are adding a natural touch to their wedding celebrations by daring to bare all as part of this year’s York Naked Bike Ride.

The event, which coincides with about 60 similar naked bike rides across the country and the world, will see the arresting sight of dozens of daring riders ride past some of the city’s most famous landmarks.

The attention-grabbing act highlights cycling as an environmentally friendly option to gas-guzzling cars, and organisers hope it will prompt people to rethink about their dependence on fast-diminishing oil supplies. Organisers also say, being without their clothes, the riders are emphasising their vulnerability to other forms of transport on the roads.

The event, on Saturday, June 2, will start at 4pm near the Millennium Bridge.

Among those taking part will be Ian Molton, 33, and his fiancée, Lyndsay Barwell, 25.

The couple, from Cheshire, are getting married in York earlier that day and are adding the ride to their wedding celebrations.

Ian, who is currently retrofitting his Mk3 Golf TDi with the ability to use vegetable oil as a fuel, said as an occasional naturist and a keen cyclist he is combining his two passions, whilst raising an important environmental issue.

Lyndsay said: “I’m excited about the ride as I love cycling and it’s something different that you don’t get to do every day.”

The 6.5 mile route will see cyclists pass over the River Ouse, between Fulford and South Bank, and will pass by the Racecourse, York Railway Station, York Minster and Clifford’s Tower before returning to Millennium Bridge.

The bike ride is expected to last an hour and participants being advised to “ride as bare as you dare”.

Hugh Dower, 60, one of the York ride organisers, said: “I do the ride in order to demonstrate that cycling is a much healthier means of locomotion, both for the human body and the environment, than cars.”

Tony Minou, 45, a regular cyclist and veteran Naked Bike Ride participant, said: “For me this event is a demonstration of our pride and a rejection of the shame imposed on us by a car-addicted society.

“I am proud to ride a bike and I am proud to use the power of my own body to fuel its forward motion. It’s the cleanest, most natural form of energy there is.”

All cyclists are welcome to take part in the event. For more details visit worldnakedbikeride.org