Dare to Bare

96 days after vacating the City of Brotherly Love (not that I'm counting, or anything), I made a rather expected return for my very favorite day of the year. I'm referring of course to the Philly Naked Bike Ride. If you're new here, it's an annual celebration of positive body image, fuel consumption consciousness, and cycling advocacy. And yes, some of us are naked:

This year happened to be my fourth year participating, and of course every year is just a little bit different (even if the starting location has stayed the same for the last three). By equal parts accident and design, I kept up my tradition by using a fourth different bike:

"My Therapist" was also celebrating her first birthday this weekend, and after the completion of the ride, had also officially broken the 500 mile mark. Happy birthday, beautiful. What a celebration, right?

The weather, as you can probably see above, wasn't so beautiful in comparison to some of the past rides, but from what I saw, that didn't lower the turnout or deter people very much from getting into the spirit. New this year, my girlfriend decided to join me!

I mean, why wouldn't she? She's seen how much fun I've had in the last few years, and I dare say she had more fun than I did (we always remember our first time). She even came up with our body paint slogans. I usually come up with some sort of clever pun, but she's used this phrase before and it seemed quite appropriate. One thing's for certain, we both found out that we have excellent body painting "handwriting." So much so that several bystanders asked for our help with their messages.

Due to the weather being misty, I mostly kept my phone in my bike bag. I also didn't bring my camera along for the ride for the same reason, so my pictures from this year's installment are at a premium (a quick Google search can show you more, if you dare). I pulled it out from hiding at a few choice spots so you can get a sense of the size of the crowd, seen here on Broad Street:

There may have been a similar amount of nudity here on February 4th. Who knows for sure? At any rate, we hit most of the usual spots, including Rittenhouse Square, The Art Museum, and South Street:

And we finished at the newly redesigned Love Park just across from City Hall:

By this time, the rain had started to pick up, so what is normally a casual post-ride hangout (pun intended) was a little truncated as people scrambled to put their clothes back on for warmth. Still, everyone I saw enjoyed themselves, and one couple took advantage of the special occasion by getting married on the spot (no photos, sorry).

I happened upon a few old friends during the course of events, plus some new friends I'd never met, like this lady who took a picture of us and then selfie bombed us:

Photo credit: Dan Fernando

I didn't catch her name, but what's in a name anyway?

I feel like the cold quickened our pace this year, but we certainly weren't short-changed in the mileage department. 10 miles is typical:

Another PNBR in the books, and I already can't wait for next year. Neither can my girlfriend. Ha! Special thanks to the organizers for always providing a great experience from start to finish, my friend Dan Hoyles for hosting us this weekend, and all the participants and bystanders who appreciate what we're really all about. Until the next one...