Everybody Wants to be Naked and Famous

I'm all about traditions. Especially if they still seem non-traditional.

In keeping with my own tradition, I ventured to Philly for the Naked Bike Ride this past weekend, my fifth consecutive:

For those of you unfamiliar with the event, it's part of the World Naked Bike Ride, which strives to create awareness of positive body image and environmentally conscious transportation. Yes, it's anything but normal, and that's one of the reasons why I love it so much and I'll keep doing it every year that I'm capable (there is one in Columbus every June that my girlfriend and I missed - I couldn't miss both, right?). It's a special experience, put quite simply.

One of the things that makes the ride so special is body painting, where people get to be creative and even more expressive than their bodies can be alone: 

I usually rack my brain trying to come up with something politically inspired or motivational, but I chose to go creatively simple this year:

I actually broke one of my traditions by riding The Bike With No Name for a second time in this ride. It's OK. He really needed a Philly reunion. Anyway, my message ended up being somewhat ironic, because WHYY name dropped me in its review of the event mostly because of the great distance I traveled to be here. Speaking of, as a Columbus, OH transplant, I've now started looking forward to the ride for another reason - reconnecting with old friends from Philly:

And occasionally you make new friends, too:

I started talking to these fine folks because her shirt promotes "Sunny Rest Resort," which is less than 5 miles from my home town. Believe it or not, I've never been. I'm now certain I'll see them again next year.

The ride meetup had been at Glendinning Rock Garden for the past three years, but this year we began at FDR Park in South Philly. It was a welcome change of pace, and despite being an extremely public park, I noticed no opposition from bystanders like I had in the past (admittedly I wasn't paying too close attention for that sort of thing). It was also nice to start out the ride on a very wide street so everyone could find their place and find their friends:

Sunny Rest showed up again, this time on an old timey bike:

I have to say this route was one of (if not my most) favorite so far, because it went past several neighborhoods I used to spend a lot of time frequenting. Here's East Passyunk Avenue near Los Caballitos (I briefly played softball for their team):

And further up East Passyunk near the Acme and Triangle Tavern:

We also happened upon one of Philly's most famous tourist traps. There were a few jeers here, but nothing too serious:

We continued on to the Italian Market:

And finally back to Broad Street on our way to Rittenhouse Square and City Hall:

I ran into another friend along the way:

We even went underground on 5th Street:

And of course, gotta take an obligatory selfie or two once in a while:

We ended up on the Ben Franklin Parkway where we would eventually end near the Art Museum:

To cap off an amazing ride, Joe Cox, one of Philly's favorite bike messengers and organizer of the PMA Bike Ride, had some leftover tomato pie for those who were lucky enough to be close by (he had delivered several more pies before the ride as well):

And I had to pause for one more obligatory celebratory pic after all was said and done:

And with that, one of my favorite days of the year has come and gone all too quickly. I'd like to take a second to point out that although it's a very fun and enjoyable experience, I do actually take this quite seriously. It's not just about getting naked and riding a bicycle.

I once used to weigh almost 200 pounds. I never used to take my hat off because I was embarrassed by my baldness. I had skin blemishes all over my body. At some points in my life I was on several medications from which there may never have been an end if I didn't change what I did. I was not happy with who I was or what I was doing. In addition to changing my diet, finding cycling and making it a part of my daily lifestyle has helped me make dramatic changes in my life that have made me feel better than ever, physically and mentally. I'm grossly understating here, but I think four plus years of blogging about biking is testament enough for how much its done for me...and so for at least one day a year, when I get the chance to feel one with my bike and myself, I'll continue to keep up with tradition. I owe it that much.



Special thanks to my incredibly supportive girlfriend Rachel, who couldn't join me this weekend but totally understood why I had to be here. I love you, baby. We'll do this again together next time. Promise.


Also, bonus points if you get the reference in the title without Googling.