York

List of rides > UK > York 

The York World Naked Bike Ride is a protest against oil dependency and car culture. It is equally a celebration of the bike and the human body.

Please donate to the WNBR UK Fund

The UK World Naked Bike Ride fund meets the cost of insuring rides
across the UK, and provides local organisers with money for
poster/flyer printing, advertising, ride equipment etc.
Please give generously.

Next ride

Date: FRIDAY 18 JUNE 2010 (To be confirmed!).
Time: Assemble from 5 pm, depart about 6 pm
Location: Assemble in Museum Gardens (just past Ousebride heading towards the Minster)

Route and schedule

The 2010 Ride will probably start and finish in Museum Gardens which requires a short period of travelling by foot, pushing the bike. The total route distance is expected to be about 6 miles of easy cycling.

As always, everyone is encouraged to go "as bare as they dare" and please affix/paint signs on your bike and/or body to indicate the reason why you are riding. Click here for practical Advice for Riders.

THE ROUTE
The 2009 route took the form of a figure of 8 and included for the first time the suburb of Clifton as the historic walled centre of the city.

Advantages of the York route: The York route is mostly flat with minimal car traffic. It starts close to the rail and bus stations, and there are Park & Ride and cycle-hire facilities a short cycle distance from the start. The route passes various landmarks of York including the Minster, historic bridges and city gates, pedestrianised medieval streets, the City Walls, Clifford's Tower and the banks of the River Ouse. It crosses the Millennium cycle bridge, follows a section of National Cycle Route 65 and ends up in the beautiful riverside Museum Gardens.

Bike hire

Bikes can be hired from several places in York, but there are two very convenient hire options which previous riders recommend are:

Bob Trotter Cycles 13-15 Lord Mayors Walk, York, YO31 7HB, T: 01904 622868
City centre cycle hire store just outside the city walls, a short stroll from York Minster. Adult bike half-day hire for £13. Tandems also available.

Budgie Bikes – for info, contact: York YHA 0870 770 6102 / York Europcar 01904 656161 / Budgie Transport 0152 438 9410
Situated conveniently on platform one at York railway station (book through Europcar York). Budgie supports the YHA network with hire bikes, and their prices are as little as £1.50 per hour (4 hour minimum) or £9.50 per day. No pre-booking required. They have plenty of bikes. Bikes collected and returned via the station's Left Luggage facility (open until 8.30pm on Friday night).

Meetings and events

Ride planning takes place online at the WNBR York Yahoo! group, and at York planning meetings.

Friday 10 July 2009 - YORK RIDE DEBRIEF AND SOCIAL EVENING - 7.30 pm at the BLACK SWAN PUB, PEASHOLME GREEN, YORK YO1 7PR Come and meet members of the York WNBR Collective, tell us what you liked/disliked about this year's ride and help envision new horizons for the 2010 ride. One thing we will probably be deciding at this meeting will the date and time of next year’s ride – well at least tenatively. We are liaising as much as possible with the Manchester and Sheffield rides to ensure there isn’t a clash. [Regrettably this event is not a clothing-optional one. Although you may be “debriefed” and naked underneath your clothing, you will be expected to retain a modicum of fabric, at least externally <;-)]

FILM & DISCUSSION EVENINGS.

Films available:

The World Naked Bike Ride - “All over the ride people are stripping off and getting on their bikes” (The story of the 2005 London ride, narrated by Jon Snow)

Indecent Exposure to Cars - “I see painted naked people on bicycles” (Directed by Conrad Schmidt, Ragtag productions 2007)

York World Naked Bike 2008 - see Souvenir DVD below.

No film evenings are currently planned, but if you'd like to host a screening of any of the above films, please get in touch with Tony at: york [at] worldnakedbikeride [dot] org or ring 0798 116 1591.

York Critical Mass
Meet on the first Friday of every month, 5.30 pm at the west end of the Minster. Check outYork Indymedia and the Facebook group "People who ride bikes in York".

York Green Festival
August 2009 - Details to follow or you can have a look at their Facebook group

Publicity

We have some downloadable flyers to advertise this year's ride. There are four flyers to a double-sided A4 sheet. Please download both front and reverse sides and print off your own copies. Feel free to distribute them amongst your friends, fellow cyclists, at your college, community group, workplace etc. With a little ingenuity you can even attach them to bikes.

We now have some national WNBR leaflets available and need to get as many of these distributed as possible. We are looking for a place where we could leave leaflets for people to collect (with a person or business in York perhaps). Preferably the leaflets could be collected in the evening between 4-8pm. Any volunteers? If you know of a business that might spring for this, please ask them and then ring 0798 116 1591 or write to york [at] worldnakedbikeride [dot] org.

Poster

For the 2009 ride, some A4 posters have been printed. If more are needed, a PDF file can be downloaded from

• Full colour A4 Poster for York (UK design)

for printing locally.

Ride reports

2009

"Bike Pride" was truly in evidence in York on June 12th. We had 100 riders counted on Parliament Street, and the feeling on the ride was great! The new extension offered an interesting peek at Clifton for the out of town folk, and a relaxing start to the ride. The folks in York were typically surprised, bemused, delighted, shocked, nonchalant, and impressed. And once again we took some of the key attractions of the historic city, Lendal Bridge, the Minster, Clifford's Tower, plus the more recent Millennium Cycle Bridge.

World Naked Bike Pride? High Petergate, York 2009. Photo © Toniminou

The York Press was present as was a crew from Yorkshire TV's Calendar programme. Apparently, before we finished the ride, the people of Yorkshire knew all about it via their evening televisions.

After an excellent pro-cycling send-off speech - and blast on the air horn - from Green city councillor Dave Taylor, we all set off via Marygate, emerging onto Bootham where we became the main outbound traffic. We had lots of elaborately decorated bikes and beautifully painted and decorated bodies riding them! The police were happy to assist us at junctions and were in a good mood about the whole thing.

A number of riders had the words "Less Gas More Ass" on their backs in memory of Jonathan Brooke who sadly passed away in 2008 and to whom this ride was dedicated. He had participated in all three previous York rides. He loved the ride, and his relaxed, friendly, and enthusiastic nature was a delight to fellow riders.

We were fortunate to have the company on this ride of the UK's oldest rider: Margaret or 'Gran' who rode the entire route in good spirits at the spritely age of 87. While she found the London ride in 2005 too cold to ride in the nude, she managed the rides in London 2006 and York 2009 with the clothes she was born with.

What a great ride! I look forward to 2010!

(Report by Jesse and Tony)

2008

There were 90 riders (89 people and one dog in a trailer), and the atmosphere was excellent. We were warmly received throughout York, and initial responses suggest that the new route variation was popular.

At the assembly point there was some hectic last minute body-painting and interviews with the media then we all relocated to the Esplanade for the official ride opening. Local campaigner Randall Ghent from the World Carfree Network opened the proceedings with a rousing send-off speech and three toots on an air-horn. The ribbon was cut and off we rode to the tune of “Bare Necessities”.

WNBR York 2008: Riders crossing the Millennium Bridge. Photo © Johnathan Carey

Proceeding over Lendal Bridge towards the Minster there were some fine shots to be had of naked cyclists against the sunlit backdrop of the cathedral’s west front. We rode down historic Petergate, Colliergate, across to Fossgate and up over the little cobbled bridge than spans the river Foss. Along George Street we gave a passing nod to the last resting place of highwayman Dick Turpin, then it was through Fishergate Bar and down to join the banks of the Ouse. Many had turned out to watch and applaud us as we went over Millennium Bridge and headed northwards once more to rejoin the city walls at Skeldergate. We meandered through some quiet streets and found ourselves on historic Micklegate – and more cobbles! Ousebridge was full of traffic as usual though at least half of it this time consisted of our naked selves. On Coney Street there were throngs of people cheering us on the home run. Finally a bevy of photographers - with very little help from the police – kindly blocked the traffic for us as we crossed to finish our ride in Museum Gardens.

There was lots of noise and happy faces on that day, bikes of all descriptions and some really artistic body-painting. Nearly everyone had a message either on their body or attached to their bike. One way or another we certainly demonstrated that biking it is better.

Planning collective

The York Planning Collective consists of a group of local cyclists working together in a co-operative way to a single end. Some of us are based in York itself, some live in the surrounding towns and villages.

This year the Ride is being coordinated by a York resident, with other members of the Collective helping out with various technical matters or whatever else needs doing. We still need more volunteers to get involved - that could be YOU!

Here's what the Collective does:

• answers people's questions with care and consideration
• keeps track of who is doing what, and how far through things people are
• deals with problems and follow the discussions at the national level
• provides email updates to let people know what's going on
• points out where and when help is needed
• acts as a contact point for general enquiries (email and mobile phone)
• maintains contact information (and keeps it secure)

Additional responsibilities that the coordinator could have if they wanted:

• arrange meetings, compile agendas, provide minutes
• ensure that the collective remains non-hierarchical but organised
• moderate an email list for York ride planning

Media coverage

2009

• The Press (York), 13 Jun 2009: "York Naked Bike Ride"

2008

• The Press (York), 28 May 2008: "York gears up for naked cycle ride"
• The Press (York), 4 Jun 2008: "No place for naked cyclist here" letter from enraged local Councillor.
• The Press (York), 8 Jun 2008: "Naked Ambition of Green Cyclists" ride report.
• The Press (York), 8 Jun 2008: "WNBR York Video coverage from The York Press"
• The Press (York), 6 Jun 2008: "Naked truth about responsible riding".

2007

• Nouse (York), 20 Jun 2007: In the Buff: Bareback Riders by Sam Noble
• Indymedia (York), 9 Jun 2007: World Naked Bike Ride - York
• The Press (York), 9 Jun 2007: Naked cyclists in cheeky protest
• The Press (York), 6 Jun 2007: "York Prepares for Invasion of the Naturists."

2006

• The Yorkshire Post, 30 May 2006: "Cyclists planning new twist on riding bareback" By Julie Hemmings
• The Press (Yorkshire), 29 May 2006: "On Yer Bike...and get your kit off!"

Photos

• Flickr search: "york naked bike ride" ranked by most recent
  It's recommended that you tag photos you upload with york, worldnakedbikeride and WNBR, plus the year (eg: 2008). It may not be possible to avoid finding pictures of WNBR New York (USA), but at least it'll be easier to find WNBR York photos for a given year. Please remember, WNBR York is part of a global movement and not just a quaint local tradition! Please update your tags!

2008

• Flickr photos by Nic Thornhill
• Flickr photos by thenudeone (Rod)

2007

• Georgi Mabee – excellent photo of the ride passing the castle
• Flickr photos by thenudeone (Rod)

2006

• An Extraordinary photo near York Minster at York's first WNBR (2006) by Wikipedia member Matt Crypto
• Flickr photos by Nic Thornhill
• Flickr photos by 'toniminou'

Videos

2008

• Souvenir DVD: 24-minute DVD of the 2008 York ride. Please write to york [at] worldnakedbikeride [dot] org for further details. The DVD costs £10 (includes postage and packing), payable by cash or cheque. Virtually all participants are included in the DVD. Video is a souvenir or memento for participants, their families and friends. It is only offered for sale on this site.

2007

• YouTube: 'York naked bike ride 2007' by Barry – the return leg of the ride over Millennium Bridge and along Terry Avenue

Photography policy

The York Ride broadly follows the spirit of the London Photography and Filming Policy. For exact details of the York policy please email york [at] worldnakedbikeride [dot] org.

Links

Websites

• WNBR UK – official site for UK rides
• WNBR York wiki – official wiki page for the York ride (this page!)
• York WNBR Facebook Group

Nearby rides

• Sheffield - where our close neighbours live, and where we hope to also ride this year.

Discussion group/s

Join the WNBR UK list if you plan to ride and want to receive important updates or share in general UK ride planning.

• WNBR UK – Yahoo! discussion group for all UK rides
• WNBR YORK – Yahoo! discussion group for planning the York ride.

Related links

• Bike Week - The York 2009 ride is NOT a registered ride in this year's annual 'celebration of cycling'!

Location information

• ViaMichelin map of York
• Wikipedia: York
• Wikipedia: Yorkshire