6/14/2005: Naked Madrid bike ride
 

http://cellar.org/2005/nakedmadrid.jpg

Continuing in the Cellar interest in bicycling, and covering ?! the trend of naked protest. These folks are in Madrid, riding naked to protest the dependence on cars.

http://cellar.org/2005/nakedmadrid2.jpg

The organizers of World Naked Bike Ride 2005 said protests were expected in a number of countries, including Australia, Canada, the United States, Ireland, Italy, Latvia and Israel.

http://cellar.org/2005/nakedmadrid3.jpg

It had definitely spread to at least London, although all these shots are from Madrid. This gentleman does not appear to be using proper skating safety gear.

http://cellar.org/2005/nakedmadrid4.jpg

Of course, in any naked ride, some people will have a worse view than others.

I say . . . my Mum has a lot o' cheek putting me starkers in this bike seat!

Next time you're in Madrid, try not to touch any bike saddles :greenface

These naked cyclists really get around, don't they? It must be a club.

********************
What a trip.
Some of the press are naked also. Some are not.
Very open country to say the least.
I feel for the toddler, tho...... I don't think he really wants to be there. And secondly, if you look at him closely he has a very nasty rash on his face. Especially under his left eye and over his lips.
Must be downwind contamination of buttrash as a result of an unsanitary bike seat.
With a real vivid imagination, the naked guy behind the kid looks like he's got an autoweapon strapped over his shoulder instead of a vcam........He's stopped also. Guess he couldn't operate the bike, camera, & his weeny all at the same time. Not the gospel, no. Just capnhowdy's observation.
Maybe I should turn off the Pink Floyd. :jig:

"Protesting dependence on cars". heh.

With the outcome of a successful protest being.....what? Getting to smell 2000 bungholes mouldering in the hot sun instead of diesel fumes? Big improvement.

I also find it amusing that they are all wearing helmets. If this is the best idea that comes out of those noggins, I believe I'd save the $20.

They're all wearing shoes, too. Tell me again why that diminishes their point? They want you to PAY ATTENTION to their message, "ride a bike, don't drive a car" and to get that attention, they uncovered enough skin to get it. Do you interpret this "exception" to nakedness as hypocrisy and discard their views accordingly?

Does HM have all your sensors set to obliterate today?

Some people are just starving for attention. Maybe they should be wearing condoms.........

Nah, I'm always that way about environmentalists. I just usually filter it. The point of their message has nothing to do with cars, or you would see that many people on their bikes every day. Their message is, "look how edgy and politically active I am. Now that I've done this, I can live normally until the next left-wing cattle call." Five'll get you ten that at least half of em own SUVs.

Oh, but to answer your point, the joke was that their heads were their least valuable body parts, and if they were going to wear protective gear, they might have covered, say, their sweaty nasty balls.

Unlike most naked protests these folks look decent doing it. I don't really want to see the naked SUV driver protest. Even this nut from the lower right quadrant gets it. Our addiction to automobiles isn't doing us or the planet a great deal of good. I understand that the car is all about freedom and opportunity. I live in the boonies and cycling to work is work. However, bikes don't have nearly the social cost of cars. If we are going to subsidize gas to the tune of 1704 dead enlisted men, maybe widening the odd bike lane isn't that big a deal to make cycling available to folks it makes sense for.

Oh bullshit, they're out there because they can. They already knew it's fun to get naked outdoors and the more the merrier. :lol:

[quote]riding naked to protest the dependence on cars.

I wonder where they put their clothes and how they all got to Madrid? The cynic in me always gets a buzz out of "cyclist" especially the smell the roses, ride in the wilderness types as they always use cars, nay SUV's to get to the wilderness. I would be more impressed if they all sold their cars and relied entirely on bikes. But what the ..... I guess as long as they feel happy. As my mother would have said " Think about all the people in the world who can't afford a bike let alone a car"
Yada, yada, yada...

[quote=LCanal]Of course to make that possible would require a shift in public policy so that cycling wouldn't be suicidal, hence the protest. We had some Spaniards here. I wonder if the car culture around Madrid is really that bad. I had a car swerve at me during my long ride home the other night, ought to start packing. :mad2: Anyway their protest might be more toward not becoming a insular car culture like ares more than actually addressing local problems.

pix from the WNBR 2005 in London:
http://there.is/photos/WNBR2005/

my parents sold their car and now ride everywhere on their bikes. it's a great condversation starter at swanky dinner parties when no-one believes they don't own a car.

Forget the bike lane, we need weather control. I don't want to bicycle one mile in 90 degree heat, let alone the ten it would take to get to/from work. Not even naked. (eww, I'd have to burn the seat afterwards)

Picture an ants nest...make it an ants nest of angry ants. OK, now put wheels on the ants. Get the picture. :biggrin:

Just because they don't live that way everyday doesn't mean their message or actions are invalid. What do you care about? our country? our troops? does each day in your life revolve around your passions? By your logic, unless you are [ed.] constantly active for your passions, then you are a poser as you claim these cyclists to be. Worse if you have no passions and are futilely heckling from sidelines at those courageous enough to act for what they care about.

I'd love to take that bet. For one thing, SUVs are virtually non-existent in Europe compared to the US. Maybe one in 20 vehicles at most. But your point is hypocrisy, I know. On what basis do you judge environmentalists as hypocrites? Because some don't consume their life with it? Again, do you consume your life with your passions?

Their head may be the most valuable but if you have been on a bike recently you'd know their feet would hurt the most moment to moment, since pedals, especially clipless pedals, aren't designed for barefeet comfort.

Damn, jtm. You sure got a lot more out of his post than I did. :eek:

I spun out on turn three......
I forgot the odds already.

This goes along with that whole freak show thing I have against pride parades in general.

The point of the protest is the usefulness of bikes for transportation in a congested city as well as for reducing fossil fuel use. The point of the protest is not waggling your johnson or hooters around.

That's just to ensure the all important Cellar mention... I guess they were successful. :)

Oh No! I feel so used. :mecry:

Yeah, yeah. I got mixed up on my continents as far as the SUV thing, so I'd lose my bet. But those people aren't displaying courage or passion. They're displaying their naughty bits. It's called exhibitionism, and it doesn't "raise awareness" about anything other than perhaps the psychology of herd mentality.

Let's look at the post-game numbers:

Number of people who will stop driving their cars because their consciences were so pricked by the courage and passion of the demonstrators: 0
Number of dollars donated to environmental causes: 0
Number of spotted owls saved: 0
Number of jokes about ass-scented bicycle seats: 15.3 bazillion

Everyone is aware of the existence of bicycles and the fact that they don't pollute. No one learned anything new. People drive their cars because they WANT to drive their cars.

Pooooooooooooooooserrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs.

Saw the recent London Critical Mass naked ride, was quite amusing.
I visited Amsterdam last week, 6 out of 7 people have bikes, private cars are quite rare, public transport is excellent. It works. So, so well it's not funny. I didn't see one overweight person while I was there, traffic flows even in the heart of the city. The air is so much cleaner, it's amazing.

Wouldn't the fact we're talking about it mean it's a success in raising awareness?

jtm - noodle has the IQ of a small, dried potato and is about as open minded as a vice, don't waste your time.

Vices typically require that one be quite open minded, but sometimes narrowly focused.

I think you mean vise.

Jag, don't forget Amsterdam has a population of something like 1.1 million in only 125 square miles.
We're spread out more, not as flat and travel longer distances to scattered locations for everything thing we do over and above daily commuting.
A person might cover a hundred miles in a days shopping. :)

Jag's experience on this board is sufficient in my estimation that he would know better than to attribute to mrnoodle any vice(s). More likely it was the continental spelling.

But you knew that.

continental? English (though it is the same in french). As opposed to American. Which is not English. It involves more letters and less zs.

Bruce - arguably that's the problem. Same thing to a degree applies in inner London, where I live it'd be mad to get a car, it's far faster and cheaper to take the bus or undergraound anywhere than a car. Because of the concentration of shops etc there's nowhere I'd want to go that isn't easily accessiable by either bus or underground and I don't just mean the 'square mile' of London either.

Yeah, got to love that fresh, clean air.

Here in the New World, we have this substance called "land" that separates our cities. Unless you want to make a week out of it, you gotta drive. There are still horse rental places, but only in the tourist towns.

People are going to take the easiest mode of transportation that their budgets and schedules will allow, unless they're exercising. This is a nearly universal law, and one that will never change as the result of morons getting naked and riding their bikes around.

And my I.Q. is 165. so thpthpthtphtpphp

or it was before college. I might've drank some points away.

Actually, until I got a job outside the city, I never even got a driver's license in DC, because of the subway. Of course, now that I have a car...

We're not ditching the car, just moderating and sharing. One car, one family. Oh, and I just got a new bike for city driving and a rack (not mine, a metal one for the back), so I can really make some mileage. And save a lot of money and headaches.

Not only that, but public transportation isn't available everywhere in the states like it is in Europe. There are few places that have subways or undergrounds, usually metropolises, and even in L.A. where there is a metro rail, it's usually another 45 minute drive from the metro stop to your job.

Out here in podunk NC, there is a bus system available for the college students. No student ID, no bus. and it's 3 miles to the nearest bus stop to my house.

So it's not about IQ or closed mindedness on noodles part, jag, and shame on you for getting personal with it.

yeah, jag. here, have some of my shame too, I got extra.

:rolleyes:

Not only that, but public transportation isn't available everywhere in the states like it is in Europe.

Maybe we should address this. A little civic planning and investement? Better rail? Workable bus? even promoting hybrids? It would be a good economic, political, and environmental strategy.

Most people who drive, drive less than 20 mile a day. I read that somewhere. It might not be true. Is for me though.

If public transit were ever cheaper and more convenient than owning and operating a car, I would consider it.

In my current circumstances, I could get TO work, but would be stuck there over night. From the end of my shift to the next bus there is a 6 hour gap.

The one time (my job interview) I used public transit to get from home to my job, it took about an hour and a half each way, transferring from one subway to another to a bus that zigzagged through VA neighborhoods. I work 9 hour days, so that's not feasible. But if there were a way to do it in an hour or less (driving takes 30-45 minutes), I'd probably do it, just for the reading time.

Mpls finally got light rail running between the airport/Mall of America in the south and downtown (metrodome area) Its been wildly popular. Convenient, less time than driving, and saves $ on parking. Great for visitors. Plans are to expand to St Paul- that will be terrific, also swamped, and then to connect to regional cities like St Cloud, maybe Rochester. On the right track.

I should be going to a convention at Mall of America in Oct 06, so I'll have to keep that in mind.

If your IQ is 165 maybe it's your comprehension that's so poor, I was talking about Amsterdam, not London. We also have these newfangled things called trains, inter-city routs come in both overnight and far-faster-than-you-can-legally-drive flavours between all major cities. I've heard of an even newer one called an aeroplane as well but I think that's still classified, let me know if you hear anything kthxbye. Anyway, I thought you were ignoring me, fucknut.

I wouldn't make it personal if everything he said wasn't so deeply irritating and very often, as in this case, factually incorrect.

Here's a bit of a revelation. I found that if I stopped taking things personally, it no longer bothered me. So regardless of the intent of the poster, I really gotta stop getting mad at people calling me a poo poo head. It only adds to my irritation, and matters not a whit to the person I'm mad at.

Plus, having him on my ignore list drastically reduced my production of stomach acid, a necessary component of proper digestion. I have my health to look out for.

Public transportation is a choice. You can choose to live near public transportation or not. Sure, it costs more to live close to public transportation. But that's the trade-off. We bought a house 1.5 miles from a metro station. I do that walk every morning and every night. Keeps me in shape. My house is smaller and more of a dump than if we bought something outside the Beltway for the same price. It was a choice we made so I could use public transportation. I drive my car on the weekend. Put maybe 5 miles on it in a typical week. My wife is at home with the kids, and she drives a lot more running errands during the day.

I have considered riding my bike in to work. I work in the District, about 8 - 10 miles away. There is a great bike path right next to my house that would take me straight into the District without having to deal with traffic or stop for traffic lights. Faster than driving! Only problem is that once I cross the river into downtown, the bike paths end, and I'd have to deal with dangerous drivers for the last 2-3 miles. It would just be a matter of time before I got hit by a car. Maybe a few years, but it would happen. We even have lockers and showers at work, so I could shower and dress once I got in. But I won't do it unless they extend the bike paths.

The USA is dependant on cars. The country was built, for the most part, with cars in mind. It's unfortunate. I think it may be our undoing once the oil gets turned off. (Unless we make the transition to nuclear power and electric cars before then. But that's another thread.)

Hmmm. I know where the good beer is.

I hear the one to Hogwarts is very fast. :biggrin:

I will bear that in mind.

The convention hosts will be a bunch of EMTs and Firefighters from that area. They are usually as good or better at finding good beer as they are small children in closets in smoke-filled houses.

You know how at most conferences the sessions start at 8am and everybody misses the first few? This one has built in hangover recovery time. Really.

Have you tried one of these? Sorry a bit nerdy. http://www.flashback.ca/products/accessories.html Sorry a bit nerdy.

Whilst surfing I found this http://www.bicyclinglife.com/Practic...mmuteguide.htm I think Rule 6 applies (no not “No PoofdaHs)

Seems a shame not to, if the bike path runs by your place.