Ready or not, here it comes.
The World Naked Bike Ride will be back on Portland streets this summer, taking over an as-yet-unannounced area of the city on June 24, 2017.
The free public event is officially a protest against dependence on oil, for cycling safety and in support of body positivity, drawing thousands of nude cyclists to the city each year. Attendance for the mass ride peaked at 10,100 riders in 2015, falling to 8,735 last year – as planned.
The starting location for the ride won’t be announced until a few weeks before the ride, and the actual route won’t be announced at all. Organizers and Portland police strike a deal every year to keep the route under wraps to discourage big crowds of onlookers that have been a nuisance in the past.
In 2016, the ride began at Mt. Scott Park off S.E. 74th Ave., a good distance from previous starting spots: Colonel Summers Park in southeast Portland (2015), Normandale Park in North Portland (2014), and the Portland Art Museum downtown (2013).
The event will likely take place farther out, as organizers continue to try to lower attendance numbers.
“We’re the largest ride in the world and we never meant to be,” organizer Meghan Sinnott said before the 2016 ride. “10,000 is a really awesome number, we don’t need any more.”
As you anxiously await the return of Portland’s biggest, most naked cycling event, here are some links to our previous coverage of the ride:
What it’s like to bike nude at Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride
Naked and famous: How the World Naked Bike Ride took over Portland
Photos from the 2017 World Naked Bike Ride
Thousands strip for Portland’s naked bike ride, but why do they do it?
Portland’s naked bike ride plagued by accidents, alcohol? Not true, police say
Does Portland’s naked bike ride make the city safer for cyclists?
Judge clears nude bicyclist in Portland
Riding with the 2015 World Naked Bike Ride in Portland
–Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
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