Brighton & Hove history

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Information and ride reports from previous years:

2023

Sunday 11 June 2023

Official start: 12 noon, ride start 2pm

• Route map
• Facebook event
• Historic weather report for Brighton: Mean 20°C, Max 29°C, Min 14°C

This was my first time attending the ride as a non-organiser, and still in recovery from contracting Covid in May. I still had a blast! I counted approximately 500 riders, but there seemed to be far fewer women on the ride this time. A separate count suggested only around 15% female. — Nsayers

2022

Illustration by Dan Lish

Sunday 12 June 2022

Official start: 12 noon, ride start 2pm

• Route map
• Facebook event
• Historic weather report for Brighton: Mean 16°C, Max 21°C, Min 10°C

I was absent from the ride, for the first time since I started organising the event in 2006! — Nsayers

2021

15 August 2021

• Facebook event
• Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 17°C, Max 22°C, Min 13°C

2020

#TheNudeNormal by Nick Sayers

2019

Illustration by Myfanwy Tristram

Sunday 9 June 2019

Meet up 11am (1 hour earlier). Official start: 12 noon, start 1.30pm

• Route map
• Facebook event
• Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 12°C, Max 17°C, Min 7°C

Warm, bright day, with approx 600 (?) riders. Teamed up with Extinction Rebellion. Clowning from Insecurity Guards and Olly. Small after-party at Loud Shirt Brewing Company. Pre-event Naked Cabaret fundraiser at Latest Music Bar. — Nsayers

2018

Illustration by Jasmine Hortop

Sunday 10 June 2018

Official start: 12 noon, start 1.30pm

• Route map
• Facebook event
• Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 18°C, Max 22°C, Min 13°C

Great weather for the ride! Sunny with some cloud, warm breeze. Approximately 700 people took part, of which 120 were women. The ride had a Suffragette theme, being 100 years since some women won the right to vote in 1918. For the first time, there were two saunas at the end of the ride, and the third post-ride party at the Volks Club. A crowd of invited photographer-disrupting clowns failed to arrive, leaving just one to mess with the pervs. Before the ride, there were two fundraisers: a cabaret night at Presuming Ed’s, and a pub quiz at The Old Albion, Hove. — Nsayers, 11 June 2018

2017

Illustration by Jiaqi Wang

Sunday 11 June 2017

Official start: 12 noon, start 1.30pm

• Route map
• Facebook event
• Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 16°C, Max 18°C, Min 14°C

Our 12th ride, two days after the General Election. Good turnout: about 600 at the start, dropping to 500 towards the end. Weather: mostly cloudy with a slight breeze – warm enough but not hot. The sun came out at the end, but so did the wind! We had lots of great sound systems on the ride, including Ben Newland, Petrusco and Technomad Cyclesound. A better effort was made to handle the intrusive photographers issue. A group of women and two clowns (SteetMilk Mime) went on patrol, calling out dodgy cameramen. There was a post-ride party at the Volks Club. — Nsayers, 12 June 2017

Other ride reports:

• My Naked Brighton Bike Ride – Philippa’s Blog for Overtone Productions
• Our Naturist Blog: World Naked Bike Ride Brighton 2017 Part 1

2016

Illustration by Mike Levy

Sunday 12 June 2016

Official start: 12 noon, start 1.30pm

• Route map
• Facebook event

Our 10th anniversary ride! Heavy rain in the morning cleared by the 12 noon start time, and we had a dry ride under a cloudy sky. About 500 people took part. The sea was quite rough at the end, so people don't stick around on the beach for as long as previous years. However, we had a great after-party at the Volks Club. — Nsayers, 14 June 2016

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 16°C, Max 17°C, Min 14°C

2015

Illustration by Mike Levy

Sunday 14 June 2015

Official start: 12 noon, start 1.30pm

• Route map
• Facebook event

Another brilliant ride – our tenth! – despite a slightly overcast start to the day. Sun finally broke through at the end of the ride. Approximately 700-800 people took part (counts varied from 560 to 830). Mike Levy's brilliant poster design and merchandising was great for funds and awareness raising. After the ride, there was some controversy in the press about children having taken part. - Nsayers 02:46, 17 June 2015 (PDT)

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 15°C, Max 18°C, Min 12°C

2014

Design: Nick Sayers

Sunday 8 June 2014

Official start: 12 noon, start 1.30pm

Route map

Perfect hot and sunny weather for the ride. Approximately 700 people took part. People stayed on the naturist beach for some time, given the warmth and lack of wind. The Brighton Sand Sculpture Festival hosted our after-party. - Nsayers 04:12, 9 June 2014 (PDT)

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 16°C, Max 22°C, Min 9°C

Ride reports and blogs:

• Brighton World Naked Bike Ride – Highs and Lows by Juliette Cule at Belle Jar

2013

Sunday 9 June 2013

Design: Nick Sayers

Official start: 12 noon, start 1.30pm

Route map

After a week of hot, sunny weather, Sunday morning was overcast and cooler. This may have put people off coming in greater numbers, but there were still 600 people on the ride. There had also been suggestions in the press that the Chief Superintendent would ask people to cover up their "most intimate parts", but this was not enforced by police on the day. All in all a great ride! – Nsayers 15:43, 10 June 2013 (PDT)

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 13°C, Max 16°C, Min 10°C

2012

Sunday 10 June 2012

Design: Grizelda

Official start: 12 noon, start 1.30pm

Route map

Following a forecast of poor weather, 300-350 people turned up at Preston Park (venue changed due to Nautical Training Corps event at The Level). The weather was reasonably dry until the ride set off. A "naked Olympic triathlon run" was held before the ride set off. About 20 people, mostly men took part. A man from YBN won. The rain increased as the ride progressed, and got steadily colder. About 20 people went for an impromptu skinny-dip at Black Rock naturist beach, completing the triathlon. A small group of people then retired to Yellowave beach cafe for hot drinks. – Nsayers 14:51, 18 June 2012 (PDT)

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 10°C, Max 15°C, Min 5°C

Saturday 14 April

Springtime Skinny Dip at the Prince Regent, 7pm – 9pm

Originally planned as a Southern Hemisphere solidarity fundraiser in March at St Luke's Pool, the Prince Regent management very kindly let us hire the bigger sports complex for a pool party in April. About 100 people took part, and raised £300 toward ride costs. – Nsayers 14:51, 18 June 2012 (PDT)

2011

Design: Nick Sayers

Sunday 12 June 2011

Official start: 12 noon (assembly/start - early due to bad weather: 1/1.15pm)

Route map (shortened due to bad weather)

Despite very cold, wet and windy weather, about 300 people turned up and rode a shortened version of the route. The ride finished at the Blind Tiger club, where we did a lap of honour around Kemptown before going inside the club for drinks, warmth and dry! – Nsayers 11:45, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 9°C, Max 14°C, Min 5°C

2010

Design: Nick Sayers

Sunday 13 June 2010

Official start: 12 noon (assembly 1pm, ride start 1.30pm, finish approx 4pm)

Route map

About 800-900 people rode (counts varied - the police and Argus estimated over 1,000!), on a lovely hot day. With great stewarding and police escort, the ride went very smoothly, and we had great music before, during (bike-mounted musicians and sound systems) and at the end of the ride with a pedal-powered mini naked beach concert. Please check out the full list of credits. – Nsayers 10:12, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

• Curious Cat podcast – Interviews with participants by Vaska

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 14°C, Max 16°C, Min 11°C

Saturday 13 March 2010

A cabaret fundraiser was held at the West Hill Hall, in solidarity with southern hemisphere rides.

2009

Design: Nick Sayers

Sunday 14 June 2009

Official start: 12 noon (assembly 1pm, ride start 1.30pm, finish approx 4pm)

Over 700 people took part in the fourth big Brighton Naked Bike Ride. The weather was perfect – hot, but not too hot. There seemed to be a really good diversity of gender, race, age and ability (there was even a wheelchair user at the start!), and more groups joining the ride as a big day out (eg: Climate Camp). There were about seven sound systems (Duncan, Petrusco, Ismael, Alex, Jacob, Tom, pannier sound system guy), some quirky bikes (including a penny farthing) and a lot of colourful flags. Holding the ride on a Sunday, after all the other UK events, proved strategically successful. Logistically, it was a big step up from previous rides – we laid on a more provisions for almost twice the number of people. All good as a learning experience for next year though... – Nsayers 03:20, 19 June 2009 (PDT)

The ride took place during Bike Week (14-21 June 2009) and Brighton's Year of Walking & Cycling. It also celebrated Brighton's status as a Cycle Demonstration Town.

Ride reports and blogs:

• John's Labour blog: 'Naked Bike Ride', 15 Jun 2009
• Mike Bliss: 'world naked bike ride 2009', 15 Jun 2009
• This Is Brighton! TV: 'The World Naked Bike Ride', 1 Jul 2009

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 17°C, Max 20°C, Min 14°C

14 March 2009

13 people (nine men, three women and one toddler girl) took part in a mini Naked Bike Ride along the Madeira Drive seafront road as part of a photo shoot to publicise the Brighton Naked Bike Ride on 14 June 2009, and in solidarity with the southern hemisphere.

• Event report at The Bliss Pages (Mike Bliss): "southern hemisphere naked bike ride"

2008

Design: Nick Sayers

7 June 2008

Official start: 11am (body painting from 10am)

400 riders – twice last year's figure – took part on a nice sunny day. Included in the ride were two inline skaters, two sound systems, a rickshaw, a mini penny farthing and one very fit naked jogger!

Blogs and reports:

• Pedal Spanner, 4 Jan 2009: "2008 Retrospective" (participant)
• BlogTendances: 17 Jun 2008: "World naked Bike Rider @ Brighton" (spectator)
• Mike Bliss, 9 Jun 2008: "world naked bike ride 2008" (participant)
• Timboblog, 8 Jun 2008: "Naked people! Bucketloads of naked!" (spectator)
• Word Up, 8 Jun 2008: "Testes on The Level and a Glimpse of Silk" (spectator)
• Jo Beaufoix, 7 Jun 2008: "I promise there will be no nudity in my next post" (spectator)
• My Brighton & Hove, 7 Jun 2008: "Caught on Camera: World Naked Bike Ride 2008"

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 15°C, Max 20°C, Min 10°C

2007

Design: Nick Sayers

9 June 2007

Official start: 10am (body painting from 9am)

After an initial impasse with Sussex Police in which they threatened to arrest participants and charge organisers for policing costs, an agreement was reached whereby the ride could go ahead naked as planned. Around 200 cyclists (including a tall unicyclist, an inline skater, two sound systems and three tandems) took part on a cloudy but hot day.

• Ride report by Joyce Edmond-Smith for Brighton & Hove Clarion Cycling Club
• 'Naked Bike Riders' report by Hugo for Here Or There
• Ride report by Mike Bliss

A clothing-optional post-ride party was held on Thursday 5 July 2007, 7pm-11pm, upstairs at the Sanctuary Café.

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 18°C, Max 22°C, Min 14°C

2006

Design: Nick Sayers

10 June 2006

Official start: 10am (body painting from 9am)

160-200 cyclists (and one skateboarder) took part in Brighton & Hove's first ride, on a blazing hot day! Chief Superintendent Jeremy Paine ruled against the exposure of "rude bits" (ie: genitals), but Sussex Police were friendly and helpful in facilitating the ride.

• Ride report by Mike Bliss
• Ride report by Roger Armstrong of SexTingles: [1], [2], [3]
• Spectator report by RICHADA (includes photos)

Historic weather report for Shoreham: Mean 22°C, Max 25°C, Min 18°C

2005

11 June 2005

Nick Sayers took part in the London ride, and was so inspired he decided the event must come to Brighton & Hove, its spiritual home!

2004

12 June 2004

Not far from Brighton, two riders took part in a naked bike ride in the Ashdown Forest.