World Naked Bike Ride - History

History

Prior to the World Naked Bike ride in 2004 there were many organizations organizing naked bike rides. In Germany naked bike rides were regularly organized by FKK organizations (Freie Körper Kultur). In Seattle naked bike rides were organized by the Fremont riders. In Spain rides were organized by the Ciclonudista. In Canada naked rides were regularly organized by Artists Against War.

In 2003 Conrad Schmidt conceived the World Naked Bike Ride after organising the Naked Bike Rides of the group Artists for Peace/Artists Against War (AFP/AAW) which took place in the early part of the same year, as well as other high-profile political and media events leading to the creation of the Work Less Party of British Columbia.

WNBR rapidly started to come to life through collaborations with activist groups and individuals around the world. The first WNBR event in 2004 was a collaboration between the WNBR group (riding on 12 June) and Manifestación Ciclonudista in Spain (riding on 19 June), establishing a precedent as a solstitial Saturday observance. Since that time rides have also taken place in February and March (mainly in the Southern Hemisphere). A smaller number of rides have taken place at other times of the year.

Prior to the first World Naked Bike Ride event in June 2004, two independent organizations — AFP/AAW and Manifestación Ciclonudista — had been organising very similar political events with virtually identical messages of protesting oil dependency. Despite having similar political messages neither of these groups knew of the existence of the other until collaboration began many months before the first WNBR event.

Initially the message of the WNBR was protesting against oil dependency and celebrating the power and individuality of the human body. In 2006, there was a shift towards simplifying the message and focusing on cycling advocacy. While the ride does include and appeal to participants from social nudity circles, the ride is not focused on promoting social nudity directly as much as cycling.

The 2004 WNBR saw events in 28 cities, in ten countries on four continents. By 2010, WNBR had expanded to stage rides in 74 cities, in 17 countries, from the United States to United Kingdom and Hungary to Paraguay.