Naked bike ride attracts attention
By Bob Strott
June 23 (AGR)— On Saturday, June 12, Asheville’s
first naked bike ride (of an organized nature) took place. The event
was intended as a protest of both our society’s dependence on petroleum
and the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. Part of a worldwide phenomenon,
the ride was well-publicized beforehand and had drawn a wide range of
reaction, ranging from enthusiastically supportive to outraged, before
it even occurred.
About 50 riders and 250 supporters gathered around noon at the French
Broad Food Co-op. This location had been advertised as the starting
point in flyers distributed in preceding weeks. The number of participants
in the event were further swelled by overwhelming police presence, with
upwards of 100 members of the APD and Buncombe County Sheriff’s
Department, complete with paddywagon, in attendance. Their ranks included
their soon-to-be-anointed new chief, William Hogan.
According to one of the organizers, the intimidation factor was intense,
and it was decided that the ride should start somewhat earlier than
planned. He further stated that cyclists who were plainly undercover
police officers took advantage of the prevailing nervousness and confusion
to seize control and lead the ride, a truly interesting twist for an
event that did include some public nudity. Another witness reported
that many of the police visible had video cameras and were actively
filming participants.
Local corporate media coverage was spotty at best. The Citizen Times
ran a dismissive essay and a brief blurb in the days leading up to the
ride; they followed up with a short, insulting mention about a week
after. WLOS aired two different stories the day of the event: one at
6pm that included shots of riders’ backs and another at 11pm that
consisted of an intro and then several seconds of blank screen while
audio rolled.
A subsequent e-mail from WLOS to an event organizer explained that the
blacking out of video footage was due to “catastrophic failure.”
Apparently this “catastrophic failure” was of a generic nature
and did not affect any other portion of their late evening infotainment.
In a culture of rapidly evaporating freedoms, it is somewhat remarkable
that the naked bike ride, replete with naked police repression as it
was, met with no arrests. However this is largely due to the fact that
fear and intimidation, supplied in abundance by the “authorities,”
kept a celebration of human power and the bodies that provide it from
blossoming into the joyous rolling party it might have been.
There have been conflicting reports as to whether or not any arrests
were made.
