A Bunch of New Orleanians Just Rode Bike Share in the Nude
The number of cyclists at the New Orleans World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) who rode bike share increased this year.
Questions of hygiene were raised regarding what happened to the bikes following the ride in the 90-degree weather.
Event organizers plan to take action and ensure that if Blue Bikes are used next year, they will be sanitized.
Cyclists who dared to bare gathered in New Orleans last weekend for the 2019 World Naked Bike Ride, an event that seeks to promote cleaner, greener forms of transportation. The naked part comes in to raise awareness for cyclists’ vulnerability on the streets, while also highlighting the importance of body confidence.
The ride, which takes place throughout the year in cities across the globe, first came to New Orleans in 2009. And over the last decade, it’s seen some changes.
One big change? More and more participants are choosing bike share for the clothing-optional ride.
This year, a larger and unanticipated group decided to join the pants-less ride on the city’s Blue Bikes-something perfectly in line with the mission of the event, of course, but not-so-expected for the fleet of public rentals. Blue Bikes launched in 2017, a relative latecomer among American bike share programs, but has quickly grown into a staple form of transportation in NOLA.
Last year, only 13 riders out of the total of 499 used Blue Bikes, Shane Steinkamp, a volunteer organizer of the ride, told Bicycling. They haven’t yet finalized their total count for this year yet, but they do know that the number of public shares more than doubled. This year, 32 people joined the nude ride on public rentals.
“We did not anticipate so many people would ride Blue Bikes,” said Steinkamp. “I was actually surprised to see a Blue Bike rack installed at the park.”
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On the day of the ride high temperatures reaching into the 90s, raising some concerns about hygiene.
Not to panic, however, as Steinkamp assured us that of the 32 riders, 30 were either wearing a garment, or had utilized a seat cover.
As for the other two? The ride provides seat cleaning and disinfecting supplies, but Steinkamp cannot confirm if they were used by Blue Bike riders.
A Blue Bikes representative did not respond to our questions about hygiene concerns.
In the future, Steinkamp said, they plan eliminate any of the guesswork: They will disinfect any bikes left after next year’s ride, and offer plastic bags as seat covers to riders to use during the ride.
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