Black Rock City
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Date: Wednesday 29 August 2007
Time: 11am
Location: The Man
History
The World Naked Bike Ride is a really comfortable fit for Burning Man. Our inaugural ride was in 2004 with approximately 100 participants. The course took us throughout Black Rock City, and eventually out to the Greeter Gate to welcome people who were just arriving on the playa.
A bunch of naked bicyclists riding through a major urban area is pretty provocative, but at Burning Man it’s really no big deal. So to encourage increased participation in 2005 and to set us apart from other Burning Man events, we added a pub-crawl to the ride. Various camps volunteered to bartend for us when we stopped by, which bumped up participation our second year to approximately 200 riders.
The 2006 ride had around 250 riders. Five camps hosted us for cocktail stops and water breaks along the route: Our Lady of Schlong, La Dolce Vita, Hot WheelZ, Comfort & Joy, and Vamp Camp. The guys at Comfort & Joy decided that if they were going to serve drinks to a bunch of naked people, they wanted to be naked, too. Their bartenders and waiters wore Chippendale-style collars, bowties, and cuffs, and their DJ wore a hat, but other than that they were all totally naked. Way to go, guys… Comfort & Joy rocks! Our final host camp was Vamp Camp, which had a huge misting tent set up to cool us off. Awesome.
After leaving Vamp Camp, we rode over to The Deep End – a huge dance camp where we had finished the 2005 ride the year before – for the after-ride party. Before we reached The Deep End, we encountered a camp with a huge slip-and-slide set up, so we took over the place for half an hour of naked slipping and sliding.
While nudity doesn’t shock anybody on the playa, the advantage to doing the ride at Burning Man is that you don’t have to haul clothing around with you. The Burning Man WNBR is probably the only WNBR venue that allows you to get naked before you head out to the starting point. Most people wear some combination of hats, sunglasses, shoes and sunscreen, but that’s about it. During our three rides thus far, 100% of our riders have been 100% naked, so we’re complying with the dress code! After a couple hours of dancing at The Deep End, everyone eventually rode back to their campsites where they’d left their clothes four hours prior. It was a great day!
The cool thing about coordinating this is the feedback I get. A lot of people tell me that the ride was their first experience with public nudity. People also tell me that the ride is by far the longest amount of time they've ever spent naked, which is usually accompanied by a HUGE smile. A lot of people do the ride with friends, which makes it more silly fun than scary. After a couple of cocktails along the route, the ice gets shattered and a sense of camaraderie envelops the riders. It's a really wonderful human experience. A woman told me during the 2005 ride that her friends would flip if they knew she was riding her bike naked. “They all think I’m so conservative,” she told me between peels of laughter.
Another guy did the 2006 ride with some friends – actually I think he was talked into it. I ran into him the following day and he told me “That wasn’t just the highlight of my trip to the playa this year, it was the highlight of all of my years at Burning Man.” He told me he’d never been naked in public before, but now he gets it. The ride, he said, had literally changed his life. I’ve spoken with him a couple times since we left the playa, and he’s already looking forward to next year’s ride. That’s the kind of feedback that really makes it all worthwhile.
So, 2007’s ride is currently being planned. It will be the same time as last year’s ride: 11AM on Wednesday of Burning Man (8/29/07). The ride will be listed in the playa calendar at the Burning Manwebsite, and fliers will be posted at Playa Info. Consult your "What-Where-When" once you get to the playa or stop by my camp and ask for Dale. I’ll post my camp info here once we get a name locked down. If all else fails, just show up at the Man at 11am on Wednesday 29 August 2007. Once you get to the big crowd of naked people, you're there.
Please let me know (daleeast (at) gmail (dot) com) if you need any further information, or if your camp would be interested in hosting a stop on the 2007 ride. We'll provide the drinks, ice and supplies if you provide the bartenders. Nudity is not required, but it will score you extra points with the riders! Remember, it’s not officially Burning Man until three hundred naked people drop by for a cocktail.
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