7 Reasons to Cycle Naked
Police in London are currently hunting a naked cyclist. Harassing our womenfolk is not a good reason to cycle naked. Here are seven better ones.
1. Fine Tuning. Chafing can be a problem when cycling. Your clothing, posture, the angle and height of the handlebars and saddle are all factors that can cause chafing in places where you really don’t want to be chafed. It’s hard to tell, when riding, exactly where and how chafing is occurring. If you remove your clothes, however, you remove one of the variables and can more easily make the necessary adjustments to your bicycle. This will help you get to the bottom of the problem (the problem of the bottom) more quickly.
2. Accidents. Accidents happen to cyclists. The naked cyclist, however, will not tear his new jacket when falling off. If hospitalized, he will not have to worry about whether he is wearing clean underwear. If the hospitalized naked cyclist is a lady, she will also not have to worry about whether her bra and pants match.
3. Wide Berth. Studies have shown that motorists give less room to cyclists that wear helmets and high-visibility cycling gear. This is because motorists believe that correctly attired cyclists are competent and unlikely to make suddenly and erratic manoeuvres. People are generally wary and sometimes frightened of nudity (it gives them the willies). Imagine how much room they’ll give you if you cycle naked.
4. The Chain. No, not the Fleetwood Mac song. The bicycle chain is an oily, abrasive clothing magnet that excerpts a mysterious force on your trousers, unerringly drawing them toward the teeth of the chain-ring. This is messy and annoying. If you ride a fixed-gear cycle it’s very messy, very annoying and very dangerous. If you cycle naked you can’t get your clothes caught in the chain.
5. Helmets. At least 50% of naked cyclists always ride with a helmet.
6. Naked Bike Ride. Going on the Naked Bike Ride is a very good reason to cycle naked. You can draw attention to oil-dependency and body-painting is encouraged. Who wouldn’t want to cycle around in the all-together painted as Spiderman or a mermaid?
7. Annoy James Martin. “Celebrity” chef James Martin hates cyclists. Last September in his Fail On Sunday column, he spoke of his joy at inflicting “sheer terror” on cyclists, and boasted of having run a group of them off the road while testing the Tesla Roadster. These lycra-clad cyclists, “with their private parts alarmingly apparent” managed to annoy him quite a lot. If the private parts of clothed cyclists manage to irritate him that much, imagine how much we could annoy this vacuous dullard by cycling naked. Hopefully to the point of spontaneous combustion.
I don’ know what is more extraordinary. The article or the fact that you have researched a Naked Bike Ride.
Research may be overstating matters. I’m very well aware of the naked cycle ride. If it weren’t for trees and buildings, I’d be able to see York’s annual one from my house.
.-= Marc´s last blog ..Handbag Theory =-.
“People are generally wary and sometimes frightened of nudity (it gives them the willies)”
Superb. I laughed outloud.
Thanks Simon. I too am easily amused.
.-= Marc´s last blog ..Handbag Theory =-.
My friend did this years London one. No clothes – but she worry about her body paint.
We need to see pictures of that, SixSixEight.
.-= Marc´s last blog ..I’m in Australia =-.
Cycling… in the buff….?! I’m well up for this but the long, cold London winters would play havoc with my bits 🙂
The invisible man cycled naked in the 1933 movie. I always worry about the invisible skid-mark on the saddle.