It was totally bizarre - she was trying to stop me taking a picture of the orange WNBR flag on the back of a clothed steward's bike. Said steward was outside the painting area. At that stage there was no other participants there. She then tried to harangue me into getting a press pass and going inside the painting area to take pictures
I personally consider that area off limits as the ride isn't underway at that point.
I was talking to a freelance press snapper who said WNBR Brighton is heading the way of many (non-nude) events and the heavy handed attitude of certain so-called official people connected to the ride is losing them a lot of friends in the media. They'll be happy the year absolutely no one turns up to cover the ride.
I spoke to main organiser Nick Sayers and explained why I post on here. The WNBR threads on this forum remain the best source for unbiased information re the UK rides. So it's a porn forum - no one involved with these bikes rides has ever looked at a bit of porn, I'm sure
Could you imagine this sort of utterly ludicrous situation at any other event? It's nothing to do with the riders. Myself and my snapping buddy found the participants great fun and perfectly happy to be photographed - they wouldn't be taking part if they weren't. A little bit of respect goes a long way.
As ever, I would always be more than happy for anyone I snapped to see the pictures I took. For me, these rides are just fun events, the nudity is pretty much irrelevant. I know there's interest in the rides from people who enjoy seeing naked people - it's laughable for some folks to pretend otherwise.
Meanwhile, as serious snappers were being harassed, you had obvious pervs getting up to see sorts of things. The notorious 'Mr Cloth' was there and getting spoken to by the police for his inappropriate behaviour - and allowed to remain on the ride
One tourist was seen holding a guy's penis while a friend photographed him. One guy was spotted by someone I spoke to later giving another guy a hand job in the painting area, albeit discretely. Various of the well known pervsters such as Mr Willy Scaffold were there with their point and shoots with no one taking any notice of them because they had their bits out. Mr Folding Bike, previously banned from every ride in the UK, now seems to be an accepted part of all the rides, despite his long history of making crude and inappropriate comments to women. The list goes on.
Despite all this and foul weather, it didn't spoil the day and I was glad I decided to do both London and Brighton this year, after at first thinking I wouldn't. Despite the madness, the London stewards are very professional and sensible in their approach and do a great job. Brighton is a little clique and while most stewards are fine, they always manage to find one or two who behave ridiculously. I would definitely have been more forthright and probably involved the police if faced with someone repeatedly obstructing me from going about my lawful business at any other event. As it was, I knew that that vast majority of my shots would come with the ride underway and at the end of the day, the one and only picture I was prevented from taking was of a flag, and mine being CC usually end up in various media sources reporting on the ride, so it's just a little less publicity for their cause.