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After announcing that Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride would be on hiatus this year, a 20th anniversary ride is indeed happening this Saturday, Sept. 21. After a split in leadership, though, this ride is independently organized and unaffiliated with the groups that have typically run it in the past, including cycling organizations PDXWNBR, Pedalpalooza or Umbrella.
Spokesperson Máximo Castro says the ride is being hosted by 20 local group ride leaders who are committed to proceeding with the community event.
“Ultimately, it’s a global event that anyone can lead or do,” Castro says. “This is the 20th year. We wanted to celebrate that 20th year and not let it pass us by.”
Bike-event nonprofit organization Umbrella typically sponsors Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride. Adam Zucker, Umbrella’s board president, hopes that riders do not confuse the Sept. 21 ride with the annual event that Umbrella helps organize.
“The Umbrella board supports the Portland World Naked Bike Ride (PDXWNBR) organizers’ decision to forgo this year’s [ride] and their request that other rides refrain from using ‘World Naked Bike Ride’ or ‘WNBR,’” Zucker says.
The ride—which has moved the city to the end of its moniker, World Naked Bike Ride Portland, to help differentiate it—will meet at 3:30 pm from Colonel Summers Park in the Buckman neighborhood and take off at 4:15 pm to Southwest Naito Parkway between the Morrison and Burnside bridges. It will be a celebration of cycling, body positivity and resistance against oil dependency.
Castro says there will be an increased focus on the protest elements of this World Naked Bike Ride, including a “die-in” symbolizing the impacts of oil dependency on the environment. They also hope the event focuses attention on the public comment period for opposing Zenith Energy’s DEQ air permit application.
The Portland World Naked Bike Ride is a summer event, though the ride this weekend will be on the first day of fall. (For those worried about chilly bits on the ride, the current forecast is calling for a lovely 77-degree day.) Attendance has sometimes topped 10,000 riders, though with the DIY nature and short notice of this year’s ride, organizers aren’t expecting that large of a turnout.
As years have gone on, Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride has developed a raucous party atmosphere, which Castro says was part of what caused the group’s fracture.
“A lot of people weren’t feeling safe in prior rides because there was such a party element,” he says.
There will be volunteers wearing pink safety vests available to answer questions and provide support to riders, Castro says, in addition to volunteers who can provide medical help. The 3:30 pm start time will theoretically keep the event tamer than an evening event, plus send a valuable political message, Castro says: “There’s no shame in our bodies. And what better way to bring attention to a matter than by doing it in the legal way we are afforded to doing in Portland?”
The next Portland World Naked Bike Ride as organized by PDXWNBR will be held in summer 2025. PDXWNBR is currently recruiting volunteers for multiple leadership roles, including treasurer, volunteer coordinator, safety lead, and a diversity coordinator.