That was more fun than should be legal...
oh, I suppose technically it's not.

Despite the light drizzle, about 75 cyclists showed up at Sunset Beach to take part in the annual bare-as-you-dare city ride (www.worldnakedbikeride.org). It was timed to coincide with several other participating cities throughout the world. What a party.

Admittedly, I was a tad apprehensive at first. Wreck Beach is one thing, but riding around downtown? Yet once the idea was implanted in my brain, I would never live down the railings of my internal critic telling me what a cowardly skulker I was. The appeal being that as an inovative, daring way to protest oil dependency and rampant consumerism (nude cycling being free 'n' all), it gets us out of the rut of run-of-the-mill street marches. Another thing that I thought made it more enjoyable than the peace marches I'd bladed with: an absence of factionalism. There were people head-to-toe in body paint, wearing boas, wigs, sarongs, flowers, bike helmets, or just shoes and a tan. One unified radical silly voice.

And it reached the my-face-hurts-from-non-stop-grinning level of fun. M and I arrived just before the group got on the move, so we didn't have much time to entertain inhibitions (yes, we were completely sober).

We cruised right through the busiest parts of downtown and through the shopping district (Robson Street to Granville). Traffic stopped for us, and we had the right-of-way at every stoplight ("We aren't stopping traffic; we *are* traffic!"). The greatest part of it was the support for bystanders and people in their cars, honking and cheering, families with their kids laughing and waving. A few cyclists we met along the way stripped down and joined us. We crossed over Granville Bridge and Burrard Bridge (main artery bridges heading into the city from the south) taking over all three lanes of traffic. As we crested each bridge, we stopped en masse and lifted our cycles over our heads raising a chorus of cheers and car horns. It was glorious. I don't know if we would have had this kind of reception in Los Angeles.

Quotes from the rally: "Cars expose us to death; cars expose us to pollution--someone arrest these cars for indecent exposure!" (general chant)

"Less gas, more ass!" (general chant 2)

"Lose the oil dependency, biking nude is totally free!" (3)

"We come in peace."

"We're all artists, no one wants to lead." (response to a general okay, where to next? at a major intersection)

"I bet your outfit cost more than mine!" (addressed to the shoppers along Robson)

I can hardly wait til next year.