WNBR 2014

[barefoot]

and a few more

[Davidavin]

A sea of naked humanity, as Fango put it (I added the "naked" part) is what it was all right last night in Portland. I was so happy that there was no restricted space where entry was be denied if you were not a rider. They seem to be inconsistent in how they manage things. A few years back, I thought restricted pre ride spaces was becoming the norm. But then they ditched it the last two years. Go figure.

But I like this park (Normandale Park) which I had never seen before where everyone assembled this year. It has this nostalgic quality to me somehow, like that old fashioned neighborhood park where you used to hang out and play solftball, drink beer and eat hot dogs late into the afternoon. Now imagine you are sitting there in your lawn chair, when two incredibly built babes arrive, plop down, and promptly strip to the buff right in front of your very eyes. Thats what happened to me about 6:30 last night. That got me off of my chair in a hurry! No one seemed to be very shy about the fact that it was not dark yet. Later I tried to capture these two girls for the fond memory that they will leave me with, but I wasn't too successful (see the last pic). I was a little hesitant to just whip out the camera at will because I know this ride can get a bit.....um....difficult for photogs. As it was, I was gently chided a few times and so later I just decided to enjoy the sights but not try too hard to capture them. Others were getting chided too. I will always prefer to do it this way in Portland I think, regardless of the incredible temptation to shoot given all the sunlight yesterday.

But probably what I will remember most about last night was how much fun it was watching the ride TRY to depart! If you find yourself the right vantage point, you can get all the riders walking their bikes right up to you, then hanging there, stalled, for minutes at a time, while the incredible mass of humanity struggles to take wings. Girls will brush by you, then stop to chat, right under your nose. At one point, a sextet of totally naked lovelies stalled for 3-4 minutes like this. My distance to them could be measured in inches, not feet. Anyway, but this happens like this every year. Ten thousand plus? I'll wait and see what the numbers are. And the vast majority are in the under 25 yo category. Its no wonder this event remains the highlight of my naked year..

But unfortunately this year, they rode a different route after they departed Normandale, and I'm still trying to find out where the ride ended. Possibly someplace like Irving Park in North Portland. They rode along Alberta Street which is near the park. Otherwise few cruised downtown this year, it seemed, possibly because of the Rose Festival and them not wanting to disturb the kiddies there (nevermind causing a traffic nightmare too). So that was a big disappointment because I missed all the post ride gyrating to music. I did manage to make it over to the afterparty on Mississippi though. There was a fenced area restricted to entry but you could still watch everyone gyrating from beyond the fence. Happily, one beautiful naked blonde decided to do her gyrating outside the fence, right next to the other voys like me. It was a real treat..

Anyway, attending this ride every year always inspires me to write. That post-ride fizzled and I ended up spending so much time late in the evening trying to figure out where all those kids zooming by me were going to or coming from, doesn't take away from the memories I'll have of that incredible throng assembled at Normandale in broad daylight. I was right to cruise down there early. Nudity was about as early as 6PM, which is unprecedented for this ride. That gave me a full 3 HOURS to soak up the sights in broad daylight, and almost made me inclined to categorize last nights affair as a daylight ride. A dream come true? Absolutely! I mean, hey, that was always the one thing about this ride that could use improvement. Riders well lit by street lights are cool, but add a splash of sunshine, and those ten thousand bodies are now almost more than the eyes can handle. I did survive the onslaught to my senses and live to tell you all about it. I suppose I could have wound up in the hospital after passing out in my raptured state...

Davidavin (Klondike)

[nacko2]

OK first batch of many. I need to sleep, eat and work so this may take time.

I'm doing them in the order taken if anyone is interested.

[jacobite]

nacko2, if I were to thank you over and over again, words would fail me on how immense your work is to all of us - thumbs up for your quality pics last year too!
Any rough idea of the turnout? 2010 was a landmark year, looks like this one has scaled new heights...

[Davidavin]

here's one for the ol' Irishboy.

I take it Irish was in Portland last night. Knowing Irish, he will more than make up for my lack of output out there in Normandale Park. We'll see what he has to say too...

Davidavin (KLondike)

[Davidavin]

most of these shots were taken around 7:30-8:00..

Davidavin (Klondike)

[kuryaki]

I attended to yesterday's wnbr @ Barcelona. Got to say I was quite disappointed with the few girls that showed up. I think even last year we had more! Oh well, at least a couple of cuties and two fully naked.

Here's a video of yesterday's ride: youtube.com/watch?v=ujKMRa0NhoM
And last year's for comparison: youtube.com/watch?v=1Wc_6IovRlM

[daveduchovny]

I don't normally do WNBR but I had nothing to do today, it has been an absolutely beautiful summer's day, I decided to head down and just lie on the beach. I knew full well the WNBR would be finishing there but to be honest I might have gone anyway even if there was no bike ride, just because of the weather.

Anyway, the whole bunch of them were rolling down the main promenade as I arrived, it seemed rude not to take a few pictures. By and large the quality is atrocious, I have got dozens of shots of bike wheels and the shoulders of beautiful women who just rode past too quick. I couldn't see the viewfinder because of the sun, so I was just pointing and pressing the button and hoping for the best. Statistically, I had to get one or two decent shots, right?

I'll let you decide...

[daveduchovny]

I'm just posting everything where there is a woman in the picture, it's all part of the grand mosaic we're building together here.

[nacko2]

Jacobite you are too kind. When an event happens in your home town seems part of the giving back that you go out with the camera