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RIDE! RIDE! RIDE! Ride to demonstrate against fossil fuel addiction, for safe human-powered transportation, against car culture, and for bodily freedom. Meet at Super Happy Fund Land about 7 pm on 8 June; the ride starts at 9 pm.
NOTE: The pages linked below may contain photographic depictions of boobs and butts. Viewer discretion is advised.
- The Facebook event for the Houston ride
- The new H-Town WNBR website, including a list of rides in other North American cities and the dates for those
- The main website for the WNBR movement
Bare in mind that the dress code does not require riders to be fully exposed. The term of art is "Bare As You Dare." Consider your comfort zone and the possibility of encounters with law enforcement. The City of Houston does have a nudity ordinance.
This year's theme in inspired by the Build 50 Challenge, a rapid implementation of 50 miles of high-comfort bike lanes funded by a grant to the city from Harris County Precinct 1. For cyclists, to be certain, the city and county working together to provide safe cycling infrastructure is cause for celebration. However, even more worth celebrating is that cyclists and cycling advocates have worked for the past several years to make that happen as with the Houston Bike Plan in general.
Austin and New Orleans are two cities a road-trip away from Houston. Like Houston, New Orleans is also riding on the standard Northern Hemisphere date, the second Saturday in June. Austin has moved its ride this year to the 22nd. Cities in the Southern Hemisphere typically ride in March.
In the true spirit of WNBR, I would advised against a fossil fuel–burning road-trip just to get to a city that has a ride. If you can get to the ride by bicycle or even horse-drawn carriage, then do.
The Bike Easy
The New Orleans group plans to start at 4 pm, when it's still ridiculously hot. It's noteworthy that NOLA can ride during daylight hours, not because New Orleanians are blasé about public nudity outside of the French Quarter, but because the group has enlisted a police escort. This has become something of a trend, similar to when Houston's Critical Mass started working with the city a few years ago to make CM rides safer. (Depending on whom you ask, whether that goal has been achieved remains in doubt).
Houston's WNBR facilitators reached out to the city to inquire about starting in a public park and hiring HPD as escort/security, as NOLA does. Based on the information we received and the dollar figures quoted, we decided not to do any of that this year.
Two of the WNBR H-Town facilitators are scheduled to appear on KPFT's Living Art Thursday 6 June between 6 and 7 pm.